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Extended Lives EXTENDED LIVES The African Immigrant Experience in Philadelphia By Leigh Swigart FROM AFRICA TO PHILADELPHIA from sub-Saharan Africa. While Africans started coming voluntarily to the United States in the “Immigration has been an opportunity 1960s, mostly for higher education, the largest to live the best of two worlds. I am able influx has occurred since 1990. A combination to earn a decent living and go home of economic and political factors leads Africans every year.” to turn increasingly to the United States as a – Nigerian immigrant on the benefits of her destination. England and France, the global new life. powers of a previous era, have enacted stiff policies that discourage immigration from their Philadelphia has long been home to people of former colonies in Africa. And the idea that African origin. As W.E.B. Dubois chronicled in America is a land of unlimited opportunity and his landmark 1899 sociological study The freedom, reinforced by films and other popular Philadelphia Negro, Philadelphia has been home media, has made it the first choice of most of to successive Black immigrants and migrants – Africa’s youth. from African slaves in the 17th and 18th centuries, to freedmen in the 19th century, to These new African immigrants represent a wide waves of the “Great Migration” from the South variety of nations, cultures, languages, and in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In recent religions. Their immigration experiences are also years, Philadelphia has come full circle and is once again playing host to a new population arriving directly from the continent of Africa. Philadelphia is not the only American city welcoming this new influx of Africans. During the last decades of the 20th century, the United States as a nation has experienced a wave of immigration Fatou Ndiaye, Senegalese Restaurateur Photograph by Vera Viditz-Ward very diverse. Some are sojourners seeking their refugees have also been resettled in the fortune in the U.S. Many come as students and Philadelphia area by agencies, usually following stay on to work as professionals. Others are the principle of "family reunification." Moving fleeing political turmoil in their countries of to a city with a large and active population of origin and come as refugees or as asylum compatriots is an important factor in choosing a seekers. Africans also arrive in the United States destination for many African immigrants following a variety of immigration scenarios. arriving in the United States. The most common are coming to attend university, obtaining a work visa to practice a Africans who have left their home countries and specialized profession, marrying an American immigrated to the United States have different citizen, being resettled as refugee, obtaining ideas of what the future holds. Some arrive with political asylum, winning the U.S. Diversity the idea of resettling forever. Many others view Lottery, or overstaying a temporary visa to their time here as temporary. One Ivorian become an "undocumented immigrant." immigrant’s comments are typical: “We have no Whatever these immigrants’ reasons for coming, problems with American society. We do what we and however they manage to stay, their have to do. If we are students we go to school, businesses, social networks, and lifestyles are we have American friends. In the workplace we changing the character of the cities and get along fine with people. But we ultimately neighborhoods where they are concentrated. think of going back home someday. I would like to stay here a long time and then retire home.” Africans embody a new phenomenon of transnationalism, characterized by the maintenance of identities that extend across national borders and by the ongoing, active participation of immigrants in both their home countries and new societies of settlement. A growing number of African immigrants have These immigrants dream of returning home settled in various Philadelphia neighborhoods, when they have accomplished their goals or including the West, Southwest, and Northeast conditions improve in their country of origin. parts of the city. They come from over 30 different countries and speak dozens of different Longing for home, many immigrants find languages. They practice Christian, Muslim, and adaptation to American life a difficult process. In sometimes traditional religious beliefs. Their particular, Africans must learn to lead more presence can be seen in the new businesses and solitary lives in Philadelphia than they would in religious institutions that cater to Africans, the Africa, where the daily routine is oriented around sale of African merchandise and services to family, and one's place in the community is Philadelphia natives, and simply the colorful understood and recognized by all. Many Africans dress of passers-by. also express a dislike of the Philadelphia climate, being unused to the cold winter months. A Sierra Philadelphia is often the second American Leonean summed up the shock of her first week destination for these new immigrants. Its in Philadelphia: “It was the crowd, the cold, and convenient location between the hubs of New no one talks to you on the street. No one is York City and Washington D.C., along with its recognizable.” cheaper real estate and slower pace of life, have attracted many Africans who initially settled in But as initial distress gives way to acceptance of these other cities. One Liberian immigrant local ways, most African immigrants readily described how she ended up in Philadelphia, admit the many benefits of life in the United which hosts one of the largest Liberian States. "I can't deny it, the comfort level is better populations in the United States: "I had no here. Things function and I do what I want to do. money, nothing. So I decided to be with other I am able to get a job here, while unemployment Liberians that had experienced war like myself, is so high at home,” commented one Kenyan maybe they would be more patient and immigrant, who lives and works in a small city sympathetic. And then people said Philadelphia outside of Philadelphia. is an easy place to get by for immigrants." Many 2 Extended Lives FAST FACTS Despite their diversity of background, African ABOUT PHILADELPHIA’S immigrants in Philadelphia (and in the U.S. more generally) have many common experiences. AFRICAN IMMIGRANTS African immigrants experience immigration in ways that are both similar and different from the • There are an estimated 40,000-55,000 immigrants who arrived in the United States in African immigrants living in the the late 19th and early 20th centuries and from Greater Philadelphia area. (These contemporary immigrants from either Europe or figures are based on community leader Asia. Most find that their lives become extended estimates.) in various ways. • There are immigrants from almost African immigrants extend their lives across every African country in Philadelphia. national borders. All immigrants since 1965 have The largest communities are from come at a time when global travel and Nigeria, Liberia, Ethiopia, and Ghana. communication are relatively easy and inexpensive. As a result, connections are rarely • African immigrants in Philadelphia severed with home as they might have been in an speak many different languages. Some, earlier era. Africans embody a new phenomenon like Amharic in Ethiopia and Wolof in of transnationalism, characterized by the Senegal, are spoken by a majority of maintenance of identities that extend across the community as a first or second national borders and by the ongoing, active language. Other languages are spoken participation of immigrants in both their home by just a small ethnic group. In countries and new societies of settlement. In communities with great linguistic particular, refugees – such as those from diversity, English or French, the Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea, and, more official language of the home country, recently, Sudan, Liberia and Sierra Leone – may be the preferred language of remain emotionally, politically, spiritually, and communication. financially invested in their home countries’ struggles. Even Africans who have immigrated • Immigrants from Africa have the voluntarily are expected to make substantial highest educational levels among all economic contributions to the extended family immigrants to the United States. They left behind, and most dream of returning home at have on average over 3 years of a later time. The possibility of being connected college, and over half are college to both one's host society and home country does graduates. not exist everywhere in the world. One Sudanese immigrant expressed his appreciation of • Philadelphia is the resettlement site for American society, which allows for the many African refugees. The largest coexistence of cultures: "If someone in Sudan number are from Ethiopia, Sudan, asked me whether they should immigrate to the Liberia, and Sierra Leone. U.S., I would tell them not to hesitate. But at the same time you have to keep your ties with people • The majority of African immigrants in back home. This is one of the strengths of culture the Philadelphia area come from large in this country." Immigrant lives in the United cities in Africa. Some of these cities States may be extended to encompass two have much larger populations than continents but they are not necessarily stretched Philadelphia. thin. Transnational lives may be fulfilling and enriching in ways not possible in the home • There are over 40 African community country. associations in the Philadelphia area representing 15 countries of origin. African immigrants extend their identities • There are eleven African churches and In many parts of Africa, one's ethnic or national three African mosques in the identity may be at the center of one's sense of Philadelphia area. self. Adaptation to American society, however, 3 leads many African immigrants to think about bi-cultural and, if the American parent is black, themselves differently; they are required to of having a "diasporic" identity.
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