Senegalese Americans
Total population | |
---|---|
18,092 (2019 American Community Survey) Practitioners of traditional religion of Senegal. | |
Related ethnic groups | |
African Americans, American groups of West Africa (Gambian, Ivorian, Malian, Guinean, Mauritanian, Bissau-Guinean, etc.), French |
Senegalese Americans (
History
Slavery
The first people whom Europeans trafficked and enslaved from present-day Senegal arrived in the modern United States from several ports of Senegal. The
However, not all enslaved people collected from present-day Senegal were actually from there: many of them hailed from other African regions, having been trafficked through Senegal ports by the kings and aristocracies of other parts of Africa, as a consequence of war. Through these ports, Europeans trafficked them to the
Regarding specifically the people from present-day Senegal, most of them belonged to ethnic groups
at least.During their stay in the modern United States, West Africans from Senegambia staged some prominent revolts. Thus, in 1765, while the brigantine Hope was bringing West Africans from the coast of Senegal and Gambia to Connecticut, the West Africans provoked a revolt aboard of the brigantine, leveraging the murder of the captain (who had murdered several of his crewmen) for some crewmen. In the revolt, the West Africans killed one crew member and wounded several others. On this day the revolt was suppressed through the murder of seven of them.[9]
Most of the Senegalese whom Europeans trafficked to
Recent immigration
In the twentieth century voluntary Senegalese emigration to the United States rose again. Most immigrants settled in Manhattan, New York City.[12] Many of them soon resettled, emigrating to Chicago and other areas. During the 1970s, many groups of students, employees and Senegalese street vendors arrived in the United States. These immigrants, in places as the aforementioned Chicago, often were traders. However many of Senegalese living in United States also have high professions, such as engineering and accounting.
According the Encyclopedia of Chicago, the number of Senegalese immigrants who arrived to the United States had a higher growth after "the implementation of the structural adjustment programs of the 1980s and the devaluation of the CFA currency in Senegal in 1990". However, the changing of migration occurred not only by the increase in numbers of Senegaleses arriving: Until the late 1990s, the majority of Senegalese who emigrated to the United States were young men, but since the end of the decade, women also began to immigrate, working as hairdressers, waitresses in restaurants and studying in universities.[13]
Demography
The Senegalese population in the United States is diverse, both linguistically and culturally, although the majority of Senegalese are Muslims. There are also Senegalese Christians and animists who still practice their African beliefs. The Senegalese tend to speak a variety of languages. They speak languages that are native to Senegal, especially the Wolof, but also French (the national language of Senegal) and English. Senegalese traders in Chicago have specialized in African art.
Senegalese in New York
In the United States, one of the largest concentrations of people of Senegalese origin is in the state of
According the Association of Senegalese in America, there are an estimated 18,000 Senegalese living in New York as of 2008.[14]
Media and Senegalese publications
Senegal conducted a relations program with the US Senegalese community, so many publications written in this country such as newspapers, magazines and brochures or restaurant menus from Senegal, are sent into the community via email. Most information comes through newsletters, but not there many bulletins of this type. The newsletters report about the events that occur in Senegal. However, there are also three Senegalese programs that are broadcast by radio stations; one is Voices of America. The programs are heard within an hour every Sunday and the radio announcers often speak Wolof. The newsletters are written mostly in French, although there is one written in Wolof. Many others people also are learning Wolof at Columbia University. There are organizations that support the recognition of Senegalese nationality or activism in the United States, as does the Association of Senegalese in America. ASA used to have an FM radio station, a broadcast that discusses the way in which the Senegalese of the US should cooperate in this community, and the kind of life that they have in the US.[12]
Organizations
A Muslim association created by Senegalese immigrants is Tuba Da'ira Chicago, in Rogers Park (Chicago). People who belong to this organization are the disciples of the Murid tariqa (Arabic: Muslim Sufi order). Most of the current members of Da'ira are people who have just arrived from New York to Chicago looking for better markets and better educational opportunities. The Da'ira has held numerous activities in Chicago. The murids usually meet every week to sing the litany of the wali (Arabic: the friend of God or holy leader) Cheikh Amadou Bamba Mbacké. The Da'ira holds an annual conference with the African American and Arab Muslim communities in Chicago. In 1997, the City of Chicago stated that on August 13, the Cheikh Amadou Bamba Day, The Da'ira allows the visit of a Murid marabout, a spiritual leader of Senegal, and a number of Islam. There also is a Senegalese association on Staten island newyorkolars. The Murid tariqa also develop an exchange program with American Islamic College in Chicago.[13]
Launched in 2019, Tékkil is a nonprofit organization dedicated to connecting and advancing Senegalese-American professionals to be leaders in their careers and communities. The mission of Tékkil is to contribute to the success of Senegalese-American professionals through education, training, and community engagement in an effort to foster growth amongst the Senegalese-American community.
Notable people
See also
Notes
- ^ Futa Tooro was, in indeed, one of the main proslavery Kingdoms of West Africa during the colonial period of the Americas.[6]
- ^ Many Senegambians of Louisiana were Wolof and Bambara people in the eighteenth century.[8]
- ^ Outside the five largest population centers of Senegalese trafficked by Europeans to the United States, Senegalese constituted less than 5% of African population in places such as New York or Pennsylvania (numbered in the hundreds of Senegambians). Although the Senegalese were the largest cohort of Africans in North Carolina, Europeans enslaved only 544 West and Central Africans there..
References
- ^ "People Reporting Ancestry - 2019 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
- ^ a b De Senegal a Talcahuano: los esclavos de un alzamiento en la costa pacífica (1804)[permanent dead link]. - (in Spanish: From Senegal to Talcahuano: an uprising of slaves on the Pacific coast (1804)).
- ^ a b Estados Unidos de América: Información general sobre los Estados Unidos de América (in Spanish: United States: Overview of United States).
- ^ a b c The Seattle Times: Nation & World: Senegal Slave House's past questioned Archived 2011-06-04 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ a b Omar ibn Said (1831). "Autobiography of Omar ibn Said, Slave in North Carolina, 1831". University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Archived from the original on 2013-11-13.
- ^ EL ELEMENTO SUBSAHÁRICO EN EL LÉXICO VENEZOLANO Archived 2013-11-14 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish: The Sub-Saharan element in the Venezuelan lexicon).
- ^ Transatlantic linkage: The Gullah/Geechee-Sierra Leone Connection Archived 2012-02-25 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved December 29, 2011, to 20:51 pm.
- ^ a b Encyclopedia of Slave Resistance and Rebellion Archived 2018-02-18 at the Wayback Machine, Volumen 2. Writing by Junius P. Rodriguez
- ^ Austin Meredith (2006). "The Middle Passage Traffic in Man-Body" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-06-13. Retrieved 2007-02-20.
- ^ a b c Africans and Their Descendants in the Americas: Restoring the Links Using Historical Documents and Databases Archived 2013-11-13 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 14, 2012, to 20:20 pm.
- ^ a b Uncovering African Roots. DNA Tests, New Technology Reveal African Heritage Archived 2013-05-10 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved September 8, 2012, to 16:45 om.
- ^ a b c "New York Voices". New York University. 2001. Archived from the original on 30 November 2009. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
- ^ a b Encyclopedia of Chicago: Senegaleses in Chicago Archived 2012-07-06 at the Wayback Machine. Posted by Beth Anne Buggenhagen. Retrieved September 3, 2012, to 1:47 pm.
- ^ "Harlem's Little Senegal: A Shelter or a Home? A Conversation with Senegalese Immigrants in New York City". Humanity in Action. January 2008. Retrieved 2021-07-01.