Tag: African communities in America

People

IBRAHIMA & ABDOULAYE BARR: The Guinean brothers who invented a new alphabet for the Fulanis

How a new alphabet is helping an ancient people write its own future

When they were 10 and 14, brothers Abdoulaye and Ibrahima Barry set out to invent an alphabet for their native language, Fulfulde, which had been spoken by millions of people for centuries but never had its own writing system. While their friends were out playing in the neighborhood, Ibrahima, the older brother, and Abdoulaye would shut themselves in their room in the family’s house in Nzérékoré, Guinea, close their eyes and draw shapes on paper.

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Communities

Ghana Association of Pittsburgh honor Mayor of Pittsburgh, Bill Peduto & Allegheny County Executive, Rich Fitzgerald

By Ebenezer Anangfio 

The Ghana Association of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has recognized and honoured the Mayor of Pittsburgh, Bill Peduto and the Allegheny County Executive, Rich Fitzgerald for their selfless dedication to diversity and inclusiveness to immigrants and minority communities in the Pittsburgh area.

The ceremony took place during the Association’s Annual Dinner Dance and Fundraising held on Saturday, December 21, 2019, in Monroeville, a suburb of Pennsylvania.

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Communities

How New Orleans celebrated Nigeria’s Independence Day

By C.C. Campbell-Rock

Nigerians, Nigerian-Americans, and African Americans gathered on the steps of New Orleans’ City Hall to commemorate Nigeria’s Independence Day and watch the Nigeria flag being hoisted and fly over the entrance of City Hall on October 4.

For more than 20 years, the Nigerian community in New Orleans has kept its African traditions alive, while forging alliances, in the tradition of an African village, among New Orleanians’ and others of African ancestry.

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Communities

Little Senegal: a home for West African food and culture in Harlem


Little Senegal is located just two blocks east of Morningside Park on West 116th Street.

BY NOAH SHEIDLOWER


Shop signs written in both English and French, men and women dressed in traditional boubou garments, chefs cooking up fish stew while chatting with customers in Wolof —this reminds one of Dakar, the capital of Senegal. Yet, Little Senegal brings this scene to NYC—just two blocks east of Morningside Park on West 116th Street.

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Communities

Little Mogadishu on the Mississippi

Minnesota’s Somali Americans strive to free their community from violence

by Onize Ohikere 

The Cedar-Riverside neighborhood in downtown Minneapolis is nicknamed “Little Mogadishu” because of its Somali American population. On Somali Street, a mall rests inside a wide, blue bungalow. There, different vendors in stalls sell traditional clothes, food items, and duvets. 

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Communities

The other African-Americans

The African-born migrant population is doubling every decade.

“I just came to hustle,” explains Gabriel, a recent migrant, as he wields an electric razor to sculpt an impressive structure from a teenage customer’s hair. During shifts at Afrikiko Hair & Fashion Boutique, in northern Chicago, he gets the chance to display a range of skills. Not least, his gift for languages: he speaks four, all from Ghana, besides English. Mostly he chatters in Twi, the most popular tongue in the west-African country.

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Communities

Ethiopians celebrate Meskel holiday together at East Side park, Columbus, Ohio

By Danae King

Members of Columbus’ Ethiopian community, which numbers some 40,000, gathered Friday at Big Walnut Park on the East Side to celebrate Meskel.

The annual holiday celebrates the story of the discovery in Ethiopia of the hidden cross Jesus was crucified on when Queen Helena in the third century lit a fire and the smoke showed her where it was.

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Communities

Kenyans abroad share their “American dream” experiences

Chris Wamalwa is a Kenyan journalist based in the United States who has started a documentary called Diaspora Life. In the program, Kenyans across different states in the United States share their experiences in the United States.

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News

California invites Ethiopian regional governments to join in sister state relationships

By Khubaka Michael Harris

Following the request of the The Ethiopian Embassy to the United States in Washington D.C. and the Ethiopian Consulate General in Los Angeles, the senate of the state of California has passed a resolution extending an invitation to the people of the regional states of Amhara, Oromia, Somali, the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region, and Tigray in Ethiopia to join with California in sister state relationships.

The sister state relationship is intended to promote and assure mutually beneficial educational, economic, environmental, scientific, and cultural exchanges that will lead to a closer relationship between Californians and the citizens of these five key Ethiopian regional states.

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Communities

Ghanaian Council of Ewe Associations of North America conclude gathering in North Carolina

Ghanaians in America of Ewe ethnicity have concluded their annual meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina

Members of the Council of Ewe Associations of North America arrived in Charlotte from all over the USA, Canada and Ghana.

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News

Ghanaian monarch, Asantehene, in US to address UN General Assembly forum

The Asantehene, the absolute monarch of the Kingdom of Ashanti in Ghana, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has arrived America for an official visit.

The monarch is in the country for several high-profile engagements, and is expected to deliver a speech on the Culture of Peace at the United Nations General Assembly’s High-Level Forum on September 13.

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Communities

Ugandans in America elect Henrietta Wamala as president of UNAA

Henrietta Wamala beat 3 other candidates including People Power’s Eng. John Julius Muwulya in the elections that were held at Hyatt Regency Hotel, Chicago Illinois, USA.

By Max Patrick Ocaido

NRM candidate Henrietta Nairuba Wamala has trounced People Power candidate to win the hotly contested elections for President of the Uganda North America Association (UNAA).

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Communities

Speaker of Uganda Parliament urges kinsmen in U.S. not to shun embassies

By Monitor Reporter

The Speaker of Parliament of Uganda, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, has appealed to Ugandans in the diaspora to abandon the idea of shunning the countries embassies on the basis of disliking their government.

Addressing the 31st Uganda North American Association (UNAA) Convention and Trade Expo in Chicago, Ms Kadaga said both government and diaspora would be acting out of ignorance if they shunned one another.

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Communities

Ethiopian Cultural Garden dedication in Cleveland

In the 103-year history of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens, there had never been a garden representing an African nation.

That changes Saturday when the Ethiopian Cultural Garden is officially dedicated in a ceremony starting at 1 p.m. One of the garden’s defining features is a five-paneled ceramic mural with each panel representing a period of Ethiopian history.

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