President Zelensky of Ukraine recently visited South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to seek diplomatic support as the Russian-Ukraine war moves from the hot phase to a phase where President Trump seeks a ceasefire and diplomacy to end the war. in this episode Ebimo Amungo and Weruche Ozoka wonder if Zelensky is too late in his effort to attract African support. #africansinamerica #africanimmigrants #werucheuzoka #africanimmigrants #ebimoamungo #Putin #Zelensky
Captain Ibrahim Toure, the military ruler of Burkina Faso has drawn the ire of some American lawyers. in this episode Ebimo Amungo and Weruche Uzoka discuss the causes and implications of American anger against Captain Toure. #africansinamerica #ebimoamungo #werucheuzoka #africanimmigrants #africanmigrants
Ethiopian cuisine has firmly established its presence in the United States over the past few decades. Known for its flavorful wot (stews) served atop injera – a tangy, spongy flatbread made from the grain teff that doubles as both plate and utensil – Ethiopian dining offers a unique communal experience.
Diners traditionally share a large platter, tearing off pieces of injera to scoop up bites of richly spiced meats, lentils, and vegetables.
The first Ethiopian restaurant in the U.S. opened in 1966 in Long Beach, California , marking the beginning of Americans’ introduction to this ancient cuisine. Since then, Ethiopian restaurants have spread to numerous cities across the country, becoming beloved establishments in many urban dining scenes.
It has emerged that Nigerian-American, Bayo Ogunlesi, is at the heart of the takeover of two ports at the Panama Canal from Hong Kong-based Chinese Port operators. During his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump announced that America was taking control of the Panama Canal. It turns out that American firms Blackrock and Global Infrastructure Partners as well as Swiss-based Terminal Investment Limited have acquired ports at the Panama Canal for the sum of 22 billion dollars. Global Infrastructure Partners was founded by Nigerian-born Ogunlesi but was recently acquired by Blackrock.
Addressing a special joint session of the two chambers of the US Congress on Tuesday, the US president claimed he is making a successful diplomatic push to reclaim the Panama Canal, which he describes as a vital infrastructure project created by Americans for Americans.
At the 2024 African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum in Washington DC, Katherine Tai, US trade representative at the time, recounted her experience at the Made in Africa Exhibition near Soweto, South Africa. “I saw first hand the variety of products from massive drones to delicious food stuffs, beautiful jewellery, really excellent Peri Peri sauce as well.
“I could see the pride the business owners have in the things that they are making, and for me it was an incredibly important reminder of the impact that AGOA has on real people and real lives,” she said.
The African Growth and Opportunity Act, which provides tariff-free access to the US market for African manufacturers, has been at the heart of US trade policy towards Africa since its approval by Congress in May 2000.
Ethiopia has held a tourism promotion event in Washington, D.C., highlighting its historical sites, cultural traditions, and natural beauty. The event, hosted at the Embassy of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, aimed to introduce American visitors to Ethiopia’s tourism potential.
The event featured presentations and displays designed to attract American tourists. In his address, Ambassador Binalf Andualem, Ethiopia’s Special Envoy and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to the United States, emphasized Ethiopia’s significance as the cradle of humankind, its ancient civilization, its contribution of coffee to the world, and its UNESCO-listed heritage sites. He urged attendees to explore Ethiopia’s immense tourism potential and encouraged foreign investment in the sector.
Video by Sgt. Kylejian Francia U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa
U.S. Army Pfc. Albright Ndemnyie, a supply specialist assigned to 1st Battalion, 182nd Infantry, 51st Troop Command, 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Massachusetts National Guard, talks about her experience during Justified Accord 2025 (JA25) at the Counter Insurgency Terrorism and Stability Operations center in Nanyuki, Kenya, Feb. 20, 2025. JA25 is the premier U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM) exercise in East Africa, designed to enhance multinational combat readiness, strengthen crisis response capabilities and empower allies and partners in the region. Led by U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) and hosted by Kenya, Djibouti and Tanzania, JA25 integrates high-intensity training scenarios that sharpen warfighting skills, increase operational reach and enhance the ability to execute complex joint and multinational operations. The exercise runs from Feb. 10–21, 2025. (U.S. Army video by Sgt. Kylejian Francia)
The Mayor of Brampton in Canada, Patrick Brown, has honoured the General Overseer of the Seed of Christ Golden Church (Land of Reality), and his wife, Eunice. This happened on February 11, 2025, during their Apostolic visitation Gbara mi fun mi programme in Canada.
The award, personally presented by Mayor Brown, came as a surprise upon their arrival in the nation. The recognition highlights the couple’s commitment to fostering community spirit and uplifting those around them through their ministry.
Despite Stanford’s declining Black enrollment, Nigerian students and students of Nigerian descent stay connected with their heritage through the Stanford Nigerian Students Association (NAIJA), which allows them to celebrate their culture and address shared concerns.
The University has not fostered a sense of community and belonging among Nigerian students according to NAIJA member Christopher C. Emodi ’25, who citied long-running difficulties hosting events at the Center for African Studies (CAS) since 2023.
Akâdi is located in a warehouse in Southeast Portland. But the moment customers step inside, they are transported to the Ivory Coast of Africa, where chef Fatou Ouattara grew up and learned to cook.
Walls are painted in an ombré of sunset colors, a display of tribal masks hangs near the door and Mali music lilts through hidden speakers. Lush plants dangling from rafters blur the line between indoor and outdoor decor, something Ouattara remembers being important in her childhood home in Bouake, Cote D’Ivoire.
President Trump recently ordered the closure of USAID and organization that has initiated several healthcare, economic development and democracy promoting programs across the world. Trump and his ally Elon Musk accused USAID of corruption and inefficiency. In the podcast Ebimo Amungo and Wuruche Uzoka examine the implications for Africa of this closure.
American-based teenage fencer Peluola Akinbamiro has pledged her allegiance to Nigeria on the international stage, becoming the second fencer to pick the country after Folayemi Akinyosoye switched his allegiance from Great Britain to Nigeria last year.
The 13-year-old student from Fort Bend Fencing Academy in Houston expressed that her love for Nigeria inspired her decision to reach out to the Nigerian Fencing Federation, aiming to make her international debut for the country.
The Philadelphia Eagles are the New NLF champions and Nigerian-born Moro Ojomo was among those celebrating this feat. The Eagles shut out the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 in a one-sided Super Bowl LIX Finals held in New Orleans where four Nigerians were on the roster of the two opposing teams.
Moro Ojomo was part of the Eagles defensive team that limited Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes. The defensive tackle celebrated his first Super Bowl victory with a Nigerian flag as his team lifted the Lombardi trophy
Afrobeats, Amamapiano, Nollywood are cultural exports from Africa that has gained acceptance around the world and engendered a drastic change in the image of Africa and African immigrants. In this discussion, we examine how starts like Burna Boy, Tems, Tyla, Diamond Platinum are ambassadors and economic agents for Africa and the African diaspora
For the first time in history, twelve African artists from four countries are nominated across multiple categories in the 2025 Grammys. The nominations reflect Afrobeats’ rise and African music’s global impact. Sub-Saharan Africa’s music industry is the fastest-growing worldwide, with revenue up over 20% in 2023 alone. The industry showcases how African youth are transforming the continent’s creative landscape across fashion, technology, and beyond.
Africa is not only undergoing a cultural renaissance but also emerging as a global economic force.
The building at 5115 Fredericksburg Road was home to beloved local hot spot, Sangria on the Burg, for seven years before its chef and owner rebranded the space into a new concept, Saucy Birds, in early 2024. By summer, Saucy Birds was out, and the location sat vacant until recently, as a new restaurant has opened in its stead.
Amen Cafe Eritrean & Ethiopian Restaurant is now open on Fredericksburg Road, offering an assortment of East African dishes. It is not clear when exactly the Ethiopian restaurant moved in, but social media posts show activity around early January. MySA has reached out to Amen Cafe to find out more about the business.
Blessing ‘Yemi’ Mobolade was sworn in as the 42nd Mayor of Colorado Springs on June 6, 2023. This is his first four-year term as mayor. He is the first Black man and immigrant to be elected mayor of Colorado Springs and one of the youngest.
Mobolade moved from Indiana to Colorado Springs in 2010, where he started a church as part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. After identifying a need in downtown Colorado Springs for cultural gathering places, he became one of the first entrepreneurs to invest in downtown after the Great Recession when he co-founded The Wild Goose Meeting House in 2013.
Throughout his time as a college student, Ivory Coast scholar Casimir Komenan dreamt of the opportunity to conduct scholarship at a higher education institution in the United States. He got that opportunity this year, when he spent six months at the University of Arkansas conducting research as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar.
Komenan, an associate professor at Felix Houphouet-Boigny University in the Ivory Coast, researched at the U of A from April to October for his project on acclaimed South African and Nobel Prize winning author J.M. Coetzee. Specifically, the project examines how four of Coetzee’s works – Elizabeth Costello, Slow Man, Diary of a Bad Year, and The Childhood of Jesus – represent “innovative world writing” characterized chiefly by globalized and innovative settings and writing rooted in literary, philosophical and cultural traditions.
President Donald Trump has launched a blistering removal policy for illegal immigrants. In this video, the Editor-in-Chief of Africans-in-America.com, Ebimo Amungo, and Wuruche Uzoka, a journalist, author, and human rights practitioner examine how Trump’s deportation actions impact the African Immigrant Community.
By GERALD IMRAY Associated Press, MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press, FARAI MUTSAKA Associated Press, and MARK BANCHEREAU Associated Press
Four days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order freezing almost all U.S. foreign aid, an email landed in Claris Madhuku’s inbox in rural Zimbabwe. Stop all activities immediately, it said.The message confirmed Madhuku’s fears that Trump’s return to office might affect his organization’s efforts to save African girls from child marriages.
Many Africans had known that Trump’s “America First” outlook meant their continent was likely to be last among his priorities. But they hadn’t expected the abrupt halt to foreign aid from the world’s largest donor that stops money flowing for wide-ranging projects like disease response, girls’ education and free school lunches.
An African music festival formerly known as “Afrochella” is coming to the U.S., and it’s making its American debut in the Motor City. Now called AfroFuture, the event bills itself as “a premier cultural platform dedicated to celebrating the beauty, creativity, and innovation of Africa and its diaspora.”
South Africa defended itself against attacks on its land confiscation policy by Donald Trump and his South African-born billionaire backer Elon Musk after the U.S. president said he would cut off funding to the country over the issue. Trump said on Sunday, without citing evidence, that “South Africa is confiscating land” and “certain classes of people” were being treated “very badly.”
“I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!” he said.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the government had not confiscated any land, and he looked forward to engaging with Trump to foster a better understanding over the matter.
Nigerian afrobeats star Tems has won her second Grammy with her hit “Love Me JeJe”, seeing off a line-up heavily dominated by Nigerian artists vying for “Best African Musical Performance”.
The song, which beat four others by star afrobeats performers, has notched up some 20 million views on YouTube.
In her acceptance speech at the 67th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles , Tems — whose real name is Temilade Openiyi — paid tribute to her mother.
Canadian doctor with Nigerian heritage, Dr Amos Akinbiyi, has taken legal action against the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), accusing the organisation and some of its employees of intimidation, breach of contract, conspiracy, and defamation.
Akinbiyi, who has been practicing in Saskatchewan since 1996, claimed he was compelled to intervene in a medical emergency to save his daughter’s life while she was in labour at Regina General Hospital, a decision he believes contravened both professional and cultural boundaries.
We’ve handpicked a selection of museums across the U.S. that you’ll want to recommend to clients interested in exploring Black history.
National Museum of African American History and Culture, D.C. In D.C., the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), part of the Smithsonian Institution, features exhibits on slavery, the Civil Rights Movement, arts, music, sports and more. Highlights include Harriet Tubman’s hymnal; Nat Turner’s bible; a plantation cabin from South Carolina; guard tower from Angola prison; Chuck Berry’s red Cadillac convertible; and works by prolific artists such as Charles Alston, Elizabeth Catlett, Romare Bearden, and Henry O. Tanner.
ChòpnBlọk Montrose continues to pull in the crowds, the fast-casual West African restaurant from Ope Amosu offering not only food and drink, but a vibrant community space for the neighbourhood.
Beginning life as a 670 square foot food stall in the Downtown culture, food, and recreation hub POST Houston in 2021, ChòpnBlọk Montrose is the concept’s first bricks-and-mortar location, the deliberate expansion strengthening Amosu’s mission to “make West African cuisine a vibrant part of everyday life, all within a city that is home to one of the largest communities of Nigerians in the country.”
The Rockets recently hosted a series of flagship events to celebrate Nigerian heritage. Current head coach Ime Udoka is of Nigerian descent, while former center Hakeem Olajuwon — who led Houston to its only two NBA championships in 1994 and 1995 and is now a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame — was born and raised in Nigeria.
Olajuwon was also a two-time NBA Finals MVP and won Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the NBA’s 1993-94 season, which ended with Houston’s first title.
Action has been taken by the Nigerian government to address perennial delays in the renewal and issuance of new passports to Nigerians living in America. The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has directed the Nigerian Immigration Service to deploy new printers to the Atlanta and New York Consulates in the United States of America.
This directive followed a petition by Nigerians, who under the umbrella of the Organization for the Advancement of Nigerians (OAN), had appealed to the Minister to address the persistent passport printing crisis at consulates.
Nigerian-American private equity titan Adebayo “Bayo” Ogunlesi has joined the Board of Directors of Open AI. The company made the announcement recently in a release where it stated that Mr. Ogunlesi’s counsel will be invaluable as it navigates the global transformation of AI infrastructure, drive innovation, and foster economic growth.
OpenAI is one of the preeminent companies in America accelerating the growth and adoption of artificial intelligence with ChatGPT.
Black-owned businesses in the U.S. employ around 1.6 million Americans, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Studies show that Black entrepreneurs face more challenges than their white counterparts to secure the capital they need. This is true, even if they have a stronger credit profile.
Black-owned businesses play an essential role in reducing the racial wealth gap.
Minority-owned businesses are those that are at least 51 percent owned, operated and controlled by a minority group. Black- and African-American-owned businesses fall under this umbrella.
You must be logged in to post a comment.