Igbo American

Infobox Ethnic group
group = Igbo American
group = Igbo American
"Igbo nke Amerika"


caption = W.D. Robeson • Paul Robeson [The Undiscovered Paul Robeson , An Artist's Journey, 1898-1939 (Hardcover) ISBN 0-47124-265-9] • M.L. Bustill E.W. Blyden [http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761587404/blyden_edward_wilmot.html "Edward Wilmot Blyden," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2008http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.] • Blair Underwood • Forest Whitaker
poptime = Unknown
popplace = Throughout the entire South (especially Virginia) as well as the New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Houston municipal areas and Puerto Rico.
langs = American English, African American Vernacular English, Igbo
rels = Predominantly Protestant
related = Igbo people, African Americans

Igbo Americans (Igbo: Igbo nke Amerika) are citizens of the United States who can claim whole or significant ancestry from the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria. The vast majority of Igbo Americans have arrived in America by force through the Atlantic slave trade which is the reason why many African Americans who have significant Igbo ancestry do not know that they have this ancestry. The Igbo were one of the common ethnic groups found amongst enslaved Africans in the United states. Igbo people have also arrived in America through migration, one of the reasons being Nigeria's poor infrastructure and the effects of the Nigerian-Biafran War.

History

Atlantic slave trade

The Igbo were affected heavily by the Atlantic slave trade. In the United States the Igbo where found the most common in the state of Maryland (ironically where there is a predominant population of recent Igbo immigrants) [http://www.usefoundation.org/foundation/research/lia/languages_of_the_usa.pdf list of languages #25 along with Kru and Yoruba] Virginia, [http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/513] so much so that some historians have denominated colonial Virginia as “Igbo land.”http://www.historynow.org/03_2005/historian3.html paragraph 11] With a total of 37,000 Africans that arrived in Virginia from Calabar in the 1700s, 30,000 were Igbo. [http://www.nathanielturner.com/igbosinvirginia.htm] Igbo peoples also constituted the majority of enslaved Africans in Maryland. Douglas Chambers, who studies the Igbo diaspora and is the writer of "Murder At Montpelier: Igbo Africans In Virginia" [Murder At Montpelier: Igbo Africans In Virginia ISBN 1-57806-706-5] has been quoted saying:

"My research suggests that perhaps 60 percent of black Americans have at least one Igbo ancestor..." [http://www.usm.edu/pr/prnews/apr05/chiefchambers.htm]

Ebo Landing

Ebo Landing is located in St. Simons, Georgia. It is said that the chanting of Igbo people can still be heard at the mouth of Dunbar Creek. The creek is near Sea Island on the southeast coast of St. Simon Island. In the 1850s a group of chained enslaved Igbo people were being held on the beach. They had just arrived to America on board the slave ship, "The Wanderer", which crashed when the vessal ran ashore. While being held on the beach, the slaves made a suicide pact. Instead of living the rest of their lives in chains, they ran, chained to each other, into the water and drowned. The site is supposedly haunted by their ghosts. People have reported hearing the sound of irons chattering as the slaves ran from the beach into the water.http://www.theshadowlands.net/places/georgia.htm] [http://www.glynncounty.com/cgi-bin/oaktree.pl?dbf=data.txt&ID=00013467]

Igbo village in Virginia

There are plans underway by the Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia to build an Igbo village to acknowledge the prevalence of the Igbo in 19th century Virginia. [http://frontiermuseum.org/exhibits/west_africa/why_the_igbo.php]

ee also

*African American
*Igbo people
*St. Simons%2C Georgia
*Virginia
*Maryland
*Atlantic slave trade
*Gullah

Further reading

*Chambers, Douglas B. (2005). "Murder At Montpelier: Igbo Africans In Virginia". ISBN 1-57806-706-5
*http://www.themoonlitroad.com/archives/ibo/ibo_cbg002.html Igbo landing

References