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→Slavery in the 17th century: Previous source from Breen didn't even mention Anthony Johnson, so provided another source and changed article to reflect that source from breen. See talk page.
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Later, slaves were stolen by English and Dutch pirates to previous owners, the Portuguese, when went out with the slaves from the Angolan port of [[Luanda]].<ref name="Anmelung">[http://bz.llano.net/gowen/melungia/article1.htm ANGOLAN ORIGINS OF MELUNGEONS IN 17TH CENTURY VIRGINIA]. Accessed on 15 October 2010 at 08:29</ref> Many of these slaves were imported by the Dutch to [[New York]], when this place, in this time called [[New Amsterdam]], was Dutch. So, the Angolans also were the first slaves in this city.<ref name="portuguesetimes"/> According to professor of [[Harvard university]], E, Jill Lepore, the slaves of Angola arrived to New Amsterdam were also, as was in the case of the first slaves arrived to Virginia, Ambundu and, in lesser extent, Kongos.<ref>[http://www.congoforum.be/fr/congodetail.asp?subitem=21&id=148530&Congofiche=selected 1620 – 1664 Des Congolais, esclaves à Nieuw Amsterdam] (in French: From Congo: slaves in New Amsterdam). Posted by SOUINDOULA, Simão</ref>
Later, slaves were stolen by English and Dutch pirates to previous owners, the Portuguese, when went out with the slaves from the Angolan port of [[Luanda]].<ref name="Anmelung">[http://bz.llano.net/gowen/melungia/article1.htm ANGOLAN ORIGINS OF MELUNGEONS IN 17TH CENTURY VIRGINIA]. Accessed on 15 October 2010 at 08:29</ref> Many of these slaves were imported by the Dutch to [[New York]], when this place, in this time called [[New Amsterdam]], was Dutch. So, the Angolans also were the first slaves in this city.<ref name="portuguesetimes"/> According to professor of [[Harvard university]], E, Jill Lepore, the slaves of Angola arrived to New Amsterdam were also, as was in the case of the first slaves arrived to Virginia, Ambundu and, in lesser extent, Kongos.<ref>[http://www.congoforum.be/fr/congodetail.asp?subitem=21&id=148530&Congofiche=selected 1620 – 1664 Des Congolais, esclaves à Nieuw Amsterdam] (in French: From Congo: slaves in New Amsterdam). Posted by SOUINDOULA, Simão</ref>


In 1621, an Angolan former servant arrived to Virginia, [[Anthony Johnson (colonist)|Anthony Johnson]], was the first documented negro servant to earn his freedom and, in turn, own slaves himself, in the English Colonies. Anthony Johnson was granted ownership of [[John Casor|John Casor]]) as the result of a civil case in 1654.<ref>Breen 1980, p. 13-15.</ref><ref name="Heinegg" /><ref name="Breen">{{cite book | last = Breen | first = T. H. | year = 2004 | title = "Myne Owne Ground" : Race and Freedom on Virginia's Eastern Shore, 1640-1676 | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Pg 12 | isbn = 9780199729050 }}</ref> The Angolan slavery in the United States reached its greatest magnitude between 1619 and 1650.<ref name="Anmelung"/> So, in year 1644, were bought 6,900 slaves on the African coast to clear the forests, lay roads, build houses and public buildings, and grow food. Most of these were from the company's colonies in the [[West Indies]], but from its established stations in Angola.<ref name="Slhol"/>
Paradoxically, an Angolan former slave arrived to Virginia in 1621, [[Anthony Johnson (colonist)|Anthony Johnson]], was the first true slave owner (the first to hold [[John Casor|a black African servant as a slave]]) in the mainland American colonies.<ref>Breen 1980, p. 13-15.</ref>
The Angolan slavery in the United States reached its greatest magnitude between 1619 and 1650.<ref name="Anmelung"/> So, in year 1644, were bought 6,900 slaves on the African coast to clear the forests, lay roads, build houses and public buildings, and grow food. Most of these were from the company's colonies in the [[West Indies]], but from its established stations in Angola.<ref name="Slhol"/>


=== 18th - 19th centuries ===
=== 18th - 19th centuries ===

Revision as of 21:36, 5 June 2014

Angolan Americans
Total population
1.642 (basically naturalized Angolans and Americans that descend of Angolan immigrant)
Regions with significant populations
Mainly Philadelphia, St. Louis, Phoenix, and Chicago
Languages
Related ethnic groups

Angolan Americans are Americans of Angolan descent or Angolan immigrants. According to estimates, by 2000 there were 1.642 people descended from Angolans immigrants in the U.S. However, the number the Angolan Americans is difficult to know as many African-Americans could be descendants of Angolan slaves, so the number Angolan Americans could exceed by far that figure. So, in the year 1644, of the 6,900 slaves bought on the African coast to clear the forests, lay roads, build houses and public buildings, and grow food, most of these hailed from the established stations in Angola.[1]

History

Slavery in the 17th century

Angolan immigration in the United States has taken place since the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries, when many Angolans were brought as slaves to the United States. So, according the researcher in cultural anthropology and American filmmaker Sheila Walker, Angolan slaves were the first Africans to arrive to the Thirteen Colonies, specifically in Jamestown, Virginia in 1617, when they were diverted by a Spanish ship to an English ship bound for Mexico.[2] These first Angolan slaves of Virginia (15 men and 17 women[2]) were Mbundu[3] and Bakongo, who spoke Kimbundu and Kikongo languages respectively. Many of these early slaves were literate.[4] [note 1]

Later, slaves were stolen by English and Dutch pirates to previous owners, the Portuguese, when went out with the slaves from the Angolan port of Luanda.[3] Many of these slaves were imported by the Dutch to New York, when this place, in this time called New Amsterdam, was Dutch. So, the Angolans also were the first slaves in this city.[4] According to professor of Harvard university, E, Jill Lepore, the slaves of Angola arrived to New Amsterdam were also, as was in the case of the first slaves arrived to Virginia, Ambundu and, in lesser extent, Kongos.[5]

In 1621, an Angolan former servant arrived to Virginia, Anthony Johnson, was the first documented negro servant to earn his freedom and, in turn, own slaves himself, in the English Colonies. Anthony Johnson was granted ownership of John Casor) as the result of a civil case in 1654.[6][7][8] The Angolan slavery in the United States reached its greatest magnitude between 1619 and 1650.[3] So, in year 1644, were bought 6,900 slaves on the African coast to clear the forests, lay roads, build houses and public buildings, and grow food. Most of these were from the company's colonies in the West Indies, but from its established stations in Angola.[1]

18th - 19th centuries

During the colonial period, the people from the region Congo-Angola were a 25% of the slave imported in North America. Based on the data mentioned, many Angolan slaves came of ethnics such as Bakongo, the Tio[9] and Northern Mbunbu people (from Kingdom of Ndongo).[3] However, not all slaves kept the culture of their ancestors, the Bakongo were Catholics, because the kingdom of Kongo had voluntarily converted to Catholicism in 1491, after of the Portuguese conquer of this territory.[10] The slaves of Angola were the most of slaves in South Carolina[11] and one of the main slaves´s groups in other places as Virginia (where most of slaves came from within the boundaries of the modern nation-states of Nigeria and Angola). Although, between 1710 and 1769, only the 15% of the slaves arrived to Virginia and South Carolina were from Angola.[12] Others places from United States such as Delaware and Indiana also had Angolans slaves.[4]

Many of the Bakongo slaves that arrived to United States in the 18th century were captured and sold as slaves by African Kings to others tribes or enemies ethnics, because to the several civil wars that suffered this Kingdom. Some of the people sold from Kongo to United States were trained soldiers.[10] So, in 1739, there was an uprising in South Carolina, where it seemed, 40% of the slaves were Angolans. Led by an Angolan, Jemmy, a group of 20 Angolan slaves, likely Bakongos and described as Catholic, mutinied and killed at least other 20 white settlers and several children, and then marched to Charlestown, where the uprising was harshly repressed, 40 slaves of the revolt (some them were Angolans) were decapitated and the heads strung on sticks to serve as a warning to others. This episode, known as the Stono Rebellion, led the U.S. government to ban the importation of more slaves, because the country faced two serious problems: the first was racial discrimination and the second is that he had more blacks than whites.[4] Later, some 300 Angolans former slaves founded their own community in Braden River delta, near what is now downtown Bradenton, Florida and they gave it the name of Angola, in honor to the land where many came, and tried to live as free men. However, this Angola was destroyed in 1821. Rich hunters slaveholders hired 200 chiefs that captured 300 black persons and burned their houses. It is believed, however, that some Angolans fled into rafts and succeeded reach Andros Island in The Bahamas, where they were established.[4]

Recent emigration

After the abolition of slavery in 1865 and until the 1970s, were few Angolans that emigrated to the United States. Large-scale Angolan immigration to the United States began not until the 1970s due to start of regional wars in his country. Although initially, most Angolans refugees emigrated to France, Belgium, and Portugal - country to which the Angola belonged in colonial times and to that gave him their language -, the restrictions conducted by European Economic Community on immigration forced many of them to emigrated to others countries such as the United States in the 1980s.[13] So, before of those years, only 1.200 Angolans entered to the United States. Since this moment the number of Angolans who emigrated to the United States would start increase: Between 1980 and 1989 entered to the United States 1,170 Angolans people, and between 1990 and 2000, were established in the country a total of 1,995 Angolans more. 4,365 Angolans were registered as living in United States this year.[14]

They settled primarily in Philadelphia, St. Louis, Phoenix, and Chicago.[13] There are also some Angolans in Brockton, Massachusetts; they were attracted to the area by the presence of an already-established Cape Verdean community.[15] This was due to Cape Verdeans speaking Portuguese as do many of the immigrants from Angola. In 1992 leaders of the Angolan communities of these cities formed the Angolan Community in the USA (ACUSA). The Chicago branch has aided new immigrants.[13]

Demography

Currently, most Americans that are descent of Angolans that emigrated to United States since the 20th century speak Portuguese and English. Despite of that in Angola are mostly large families, most Angolan immigrants in United States are single men or small family groups. Angolan communities tend to have, in cities as Chicago, holiday festivals, Angolan music or newspapers on news events that occur in Angola.[13] The main communities are concentrated in Philadelphia, St. Louis, Phoenix and Chicago. Meanwhile, the states with the largest Angolan American communities are Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New Jersey. According to estimates by 2000 there were only 1.642 people descended from Angolan Americans of immigrants origin in the U.S. Moreover, according to the same census, lived in United States this year 4,365 people born in Angola, of which 1,885 were white, 1,635 of blacks, 15 of Asian race, 620 racially mixed and other 210 unspecified race.[14]

Legacy

  • The term "Gullah" (referred to an ethnic group of African origin and African language and culture - Gullah people - established in parts of Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia) may derive from a word of Angola.[16]
  • "Angola" became the name given to the communities created by Angolan slaves fugitives and the term itself also came to represent the struggle for freedom.
  • Several anthropologists and American historians are involved in Project called Angola, the historical study of the various Angolans existing U.S.
  • In Louisiana, about 50 miles from Baton Rouge there a place called Angola. This is an old plantation of 7,200 hectares, where most of the slaves were from Angola and in 1835, was built to prison State of Louisiana, known today by The Farm or Angola.
  • There are also cities from U.S. named "Angola" as the of New York, Delaware and Indiana, where there were also Angolan slaves.
  • In Virginia also had a farm called "Angola", owned by Anthony Johnson, an Angolan who took the name of his boss when he was released.[4]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Following the Portuguese conquest (and according to the Washington Post), many of this first slaves had had contact with Europeans "for many years", specifically since 1484, when the Portuguese ships of Cão reached the Zaire or Congo rivers, the second largest in Africa (after the Nile) and the portugueses established relationships with the king Kongo, Manicongo.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b SLAVERY in NEW YORK. Retrieved in September 14, 2012, to 01:20 pm
  2. ^ a b Hoge Lusofonia. Angolanos participaram na criação dos EUA (In Portuguese: Angolans participated in the creation of USA). Retrieved September 8, 2012, to 19:45 pm.
  3. ^ a b c d ANGOLAN ORIGINS OF MELUNGEONS IN 17TH CENTURY VIRGINIA. Accessed on 15 October 2010 at 08:29
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Portuguese Times (In Portuguese). Retrieved in September 07, 2012, to 20:40 pm
  5. ^ 1620 – 1664 Des Congolais, esclaves à Nieuw Amsterdam (in French: From Congo: slaves in New Amsterdam). Posted by SOUINDOULA, Simão
  6. ^ Breen 1980, p. 13-15.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Heinegg was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Breen, T. H. (2004). "Myne Owne Ground" : Race and Freedom on Virginia's Eastern Shore, 1640-1676. Pg 12: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199729050. {{cite book}}: no-break space character in |title= at position 19 (help)CS1 maint: location (link)
  9. ^ The Black collegian online. Posted by James A. Perry. Retrieved in September 07, 2012, to 17:10 pm.
  10. ^ a b John K. Thornton: "The African Roots of the Stono Rebellion", in A Question of Manhood, ed. Darlene Clark Hine and Earnestine Jenkins, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1999, pp.116–117, 119, accessed 12 Apr 2009
  11. ^ South Carolina – African-Americans – Buying and Selling Human Beings. Retrieved in September 11, 2012, to 00:14 pm Written by Michael Trinkley
  12. ^ VEA-Angola - Musées - www.vivreenangola.com
  13. ^ a b c d Poe, Tracy N. (2005), "Angolans", The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago, Chicago Historical Society, retrieved 2009-03-15
  14. ^ a b lusotopia: Emigração Angolana (In Portuguese: Angolan Emigration).
  15. ^ Latour, Francie (2000-06-25), "Trouble's Temptations: Angolan-American activists worry that young immigrants from their homeland will be drawn into the cycle of violence that plagues Cape Verdeans", The Boston Globe, retrieved 2009-03-15
  16. ^ "Geechee and Gullah Culture", The New Georgia Encyclopedia
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