| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 3,016 (ancestry or ethnic origin, 2000 US Census) [1] 11,000 (Guinean born, 2008–2009 US Census) [2] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Mainly Washington, DC, New York City, Georgia, Texas, Ohio, Illinois and Rhode Island | |
| Languages | |
| Religion | |
| Islam, Christianity, Traditional religions | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| African American, American groups of West Africa (Ivorian, Malian, Senegalese, Sierra Leonean, Liberian, etc.), French |
Guinean Americans are an ethnic group of Americans of Guinean descent. According to estimates by 2000 US Census, there were 3,016 people who identified Guinean as one of their two top ancestry identities. [note 1] However, in November 2010 the New York Times estimated that as many 10,000 Guineans and Guinean Americans reside in New York City alone. [3]
The first Guineans who emigrated to the United States were bought as slaves in colonial times. Many of them came from peoples such as Baga and the Susu [4] and hailed from places such as Fouta Djallon. [5] So, many slaves of day-present Guinea were Muslims (case of the Fulbes and the Susu people). Many Guineans were bought in places as the Boké village and the Pongo River, since where were exported to places such as New York, [6] The Carolinas or Louisiana. So, since Boké were sent many slaves to the plantations of The Carolinas to work in the rice fields of this territory. [7] The Pongo River highlighted as slavery area in the 1800s after the trade was legally abolished. [8]
In addition, in 1712 a boat arrived with slaves from the Guinean Coast to French Louisiana, and did so every year thereafter, when the Frenchman Antoine Crozat, who was the first owner of the private property of French Louisiana, obtained the monopoly of trade in Louisiana by the French government and was allowed to use slave labor with the permission of the Company of Guinea. [9] So, in the early stages of the slave trade to Louisiana, most of the slaves were almost entirely from Senegal and Guinea, probably because those slaves could favor the rice plantations of this state already that they were familiar with rice plantations which was commonly grown in Senegambia and Guinea. [10]
One of the earliest notable Muslims in the USA was Bilali "Ben Ali" Muhammad, a Fula man from Timbo's Guinean region, who emigrated at Sapelo Island, Georgia, during 1803. While enslaved, Ben Ali wrote the Bilali Document and served as the religious leader and Imam for eighty slavered Muslim men that lived on his plantation. [11]
After slavery abolition (1865) and until 1990, few Guineans emigrated to the United States and, these were mostly scholars and professionals. On the late 1980s, Guineans began to immigrate to the U.S. as a way to escape poverty and the harsh military regime in their country - Guinea. So, they settled initially in New York City, Boston and Atlanta, forming important communities. Over time, Guineans were migrating to other parts of the U.S., such as Chicago (whose Guineans came also from New York). Like other African immigrant groups, Guineans work in a diverse professional sectors, but mostly in the taxi industry for men, and hairbraiding sector for women. [12]
The Guinean American communities with the most significant population are Washington, DC, New York City, Texas, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, Rhode Island and Illinois. Guinean immigration into the U.S. has been increasing since the 1990s. Guinean Americans speak several African languages, being the most spoken the Pular (Fulfulde, Fulani, Fula or Peul), Maninka (Malinke), Susu, Kissi and Kpelle languages. They also speak French and English (as second language).
The Guinean community participates in Muslim and Christian festivals and "informal social events throughout the year". The Guineans have diverses associations in the USA, which are located in states such as New York, Illinois, Texas and Georgia, among others. These associations finance health care of the Guineans, among other things. [12]
| Lists of Americans |
|---|
| By US state |
| By ethnicity or nationality |
The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The outfitted European slave ships of the slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Passage, and existed from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The vast majority of those who were transported in the transatlantic slave trade were from Central and West Africa who had been sold by West African slave traders mainly to Portuguese, British, Spanish, Dutch, and French slave traders, while others had been captured directly by the slave traders in coastal raids; European slave traders gathered and imprisoned the enslaved at forts on the African coast and then brought them to the Americas. Except for the Portuguese, European slave traders generally did not participate in the raids because life expectancy for Europeans in sub-Saharan Africa was less than one year during the period of the slave trade.
Slavery in the colonial history of the United States refers to the institution of slavery as it existed in the European colonies which eventually became part of the United States. In these colonies, slavery developed due to a combination of factors, primarily the labour demands for establishing and maintaining European colonies, which had resulted in the Atlantic slave trade. Slavery existed in every European colony in the Americas during the early modern period, and both Africans and indigenous peoples were victims of enslavement by European colonizers during the era.
The Gullah are an African American ethnic group who predominantly live in the Lowcountry region of the U.S. states of South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida within the coastal plain and the Sea Islands. Their language and culture have preserved a significant influence of Africanisms as a result of their historical geographic isolation and the community's relation to their shared history and identity.
Abdul Rahman Ibrahima ibn Sori was a Fula prince and Amir (commander) from the Fouta Djallon region of Guinea, West Africa, who was captured and sold to slave traders and transported to the United States in 1788. Upon discovering his lineage, his enslaver, Thomas Foster, began referring to him as "Prince", a title used for Abdul Rahman until his final days. After spending 40 years in slavery, he was freed in 1828 and returned to Africa the following year, but died in Liberia within months of arrival.
The Baga are a West African ethnic group who live in the southern swampy lands of Guinea Atlantic coastline. Traditionally animist through the pre-colonial times, they converted to Islam during the mid-eighteenth century under the influence of Muslim Mandé missionaries. Some continue to practice their traditional rituals.
The Bilali Muhammad Document is a handwritten, Arabic manuscript on West African Islamic law. It was written in the 19th century by Bilali Mohammet, an enslaved West African held on Sapelo Island of Georgia. The document is held at the Hargrett Rare Book & Manuscript Library at the University of Georgia as part of the Francis Goulding papers. It is referred to as the "Ben Ali (Bilali) Manuscript".
Jamaica is a predominantly Christian country, with Islam being a minority religion. Due to the secular nature of Jamaica's constitution, Muslims are free to proselytize and build places of worship in the country.
Thomas Spalding was a United States representative from Georgia. He was born in Frederica, Georgia, St. Simons Island, Glynn County, Georgia. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1795, but did not practice. He engaged extensively in agricultural pursuits.
The Susu people are a Mande-speaking ethnic group living primarily in Guinea and Northwestern Sierra Leone, particularly in Kambia District. Influential in Guinea, smaller communities of Susu people are also found in the neighboring Guinea-Bissau and Senegal.
Caribbean Americans or West Indian Americans are Americans who trace their ancestry to the Caribbean. Caribbean Americans are a multi-ethnic and multi-racial group that trace their ancestry further in time mostly to Africa, as well as Asia, the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, and to Europe. As of 2016, about 13 million — about 4% of the total U.S. population — have Caribbean ancestry.
The 1811 German Coast uprising was a revolt of slaves in parts of the Territory of Orleans on January 8–10, 1811. The uprising occurred on the east bank of the Mississippi River in what is now St. John the Baptist, St. Charles and Jefferson Parishes, Louisiana. The slave insurgency was the largest in U.S. history, but the rebels killed only two White men. Confrontations with militia, combined with post-trial executions, resulted in the deaths of 95 slaves.
Afro-Grenadians or Black Grenadians are Grenadian people of largely African descent. This term is not generally recognised by Grenadians or indeed Caribbeans. They usually refer to themselves simply as Black or possibly Black Caribbean. The term was first coined by an African Americans history professor, John Henrik Clarke (1915–1998), in his piece entitled A Note on Racism in History. The term may also refer to a Grenadian of African ancestry. Social interpretations of race are mutable rather than deterministic and neither physical appearance nor ancestry are used straightforwardly to determine whether a person is considered a Black Grenadian. According to the 2012 Census, 82% of Grenada's population is Black, 13% is mixed European and black and 2% is of Indian origin.
Senegalese Americans are an ethnic group of Americans of Senegalese descent. In the surveys of 2019, 18,091 people claimed to be of Senegalese origin or descent in the United States. However, many West Africans trafficked by enslavers to the United States were also of Senegalese origin. Thus many African Americans may also have some ancestors of this country.
Sierra Leonean Americans are an ethnic group of Americans of full or partial Sierra Leonean ancestry. This includes Sierra Leone Creoles whose ancestors were African American Black Loyalists freed after fighting on the side of the British during the American Revolutionary War. Some African Americans trace their roots to indigenous enslaved Sierra Leoneans exported to the United States between the 18th and early 19th century. In particular, the Gullah people of partial Sierra Leonean ancestry, fled their owners and settled in parts of South Carolina, Georgia, and the Sea Islands, where they still retain their cultural heritage. The first wave of Sierra Leoneans to the United States, after the slavery period, was after the Sierra Leone Civil War in the 1990s and early 2000s. According to the American Community Survey, there are 34,161 Sierra Leonean immigrants living in the United States.
Malian Americans are an ethnic group of Americans with ancestry originating in Mali. According to the US Census Bureau ancestry survey, approximately 1,800 Americans stated they had Malian ancestry, making them Malian Americans. The survey did not take into account illegal immigrants or people who did not participate in the survey, which could mean that many more uncounted Malians live throughout the United States.
Nunez River or Rio Nuñez (Kakandé) is a river in Guinea with its source in the Futa Jallon highlands. It is also known as the Tinguilinta River, after a village along its upper course.
Bissau-Guinean Americans are Americans of Bissau-Guinean descent. As was the case with almost all current West African coastal countries, the first people in the United States from present-day Guinea-Bissau were imported as slaves. Thus, in the 21st century, there are many African Americans who have discovered, through DNA analysis, they descend mainly or at least partly, from Bissau-Guinean enslaved people.
Fula Americans, Fulani Americans or Fulbe Americans are Americans of Fula (Fulani) (Fulbe) descent.
Gambian Americans are an ethnic group of Americans of Gambian descent. There are about 8000 Gambians living in the United States, involving themselves in activities ranging from business and entrepreneurship to college education. Additionally, during the Atlantic slave trade, many Africans from what is now The Gambia were traded and were subsequently sold by Europeans and Americans into forced labor in the United States. Gambian immigrants arriving in the United States include members of ethnic groups such as the Mandinka, Wolof, Fula, Jola, and Serahule.
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