{{short description|Americans of Guinean birth or descent}} {{about|US residents with origins in the Republic of Guinea|the group of Americans formerly known as Guinea people|Chestnut Ridge people}} {{Infobox ethnic group | group = Guinean Americans | image = | population = '''3,016''' (ancestry or ethnic origin, 2000 US Census)<ref name=ancestry2000>{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/ancestry/ancestry_q_by_DAC_2000.xls |title=Table 1. First, Second, and Total Responses to the Ancestry Question by Detailed Ancestry Code: 2000 |access-date=2010-12-02 |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau}}</ref><br /> '''11,000''' (Guinean born, 2008–2009 US Census)<ref name=foreignborn2008-09>[http://www.migrationpolicy.org/.../africanmigrationus.pdf New Streams: Black African Migration to the United States]. Posted by Randy Capps, Kristen McCabe, and Michael Fix.</ref> | popplace = Mainly Washington, D.C., New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island | languages = {{hlist| Main American English | French | Maninka (Malinke) | Susu | Pular (Fulfulde or Fulani) | Kissi | Kpelle }} | religions = Islam, Christianity, Traditional religions | related-c = African American, American groups of West Africa (Ivorian, Malian, Senegalese, Sierra Leonean, Liberian, etc.), French }} {{Black and Afro African American topics sidebar}} '''Guinean Americans''' are an ethnic group of Americans of Guinean descent. According to estimates by 2000 US Census, there were 3,016 people who identified Guinean as one of their two top ancestry identities.{{#tag:ref|People who filled out the long form could identify two ancestries. They could also identify only one, so if someone had four grandparents who had come from four countries they could not identify all four countries.|group="note"}} However, in November 2010 the ''New York Times'' estimated that as many 10,000 Guineans and Guinean Americans reside in New York City alone.<ref name=nytimes>{{cite news |first=Kerry|last=MacDonald|title=Far From Home, Guineans Prepare to cast their vote |url=http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/05/far-from-home-guineans-cast-their-vote/ |work=New York Times |date=2010-11-05 |access-date=2011-07-02}}</ref>
== History == The first Guineans who emigrated to the United States were bought as slaves in colonial times. Many of them came from peoples such as Baga and the Susu<ref>[http://www.africanaheritage.com/Gullah_and_Sierra_Leone.asp The Gullah: Rice, Slavery and the Sierra Leone-American Connection] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130116061409/http://www.africanaheritage.com/Gullah_and_Sierra_Leone.asp |date=2013-01-16 }}. Posted by Joseph A. Opala, 1987. Retrieved September 10, 2012, to 12:30pm.</ref> and hailed from places such as Fouta Djallon.<ref name="pbs">{{Cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/princeamongslaves/ |title=Prince Among Slaves |website=PBS |access-date=2017-08-29 |archive-date=2008-02-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080214095059/http://www.pbs.org/princeamongslaves/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> So, many slaves of day-present Guinea were Muslims (case of the Fulbes and the Susu people). Many Guineans were bought in places as the Boké village and the Pongo River, since where were exported to places such as New York,<ref name="book">{{cite book |last= Whalin |first= W. Terry |title= Sojourner Truth |publisher= Barbour Publishing, Inc.|year= 1997 |isbn= 978-1-59310-629-4 }}</ref> The Carolinas or Louisiana. So, since Boké were sent many slaves to the plantations of The Carolinas to work in the rice fields of this territory.<ref>[http://www.africa-ata.org/gu_cosmopolis.htm Guinea's Atlantic Coast and the Slave Route]. Posted by Muguette Goufrani. Retrieved September 7, 2012, to 20:51 pm.</ref> The Pongo River highlighted as slavery area in the 1800s after the trade was legally abolished.<ref>[http://www.compasscayman.com/observer/2012/04/08/Delegation-from-Guinea-visits-where-slaves-landed/ Delegation from Guinea visits where slaves landed]. Posted in World and Regional News, by Bruce Smith on 8 April 2012</ref>
In addition, in 1712 a boat arrived with slaves from the Guinean Coast to French Louisiana, and did so every year thereafter, when the Frenchman Antoine Crozat, who was the first owner of the private property of French Louisiana, obtained the monopoly of trade in Louisiana by the French government and was allowed to use slave labor with the permission of the Company of Guinea.<ref>[http://www.legendsofkansas.com/slavery.html LEGENDS OF KANSAS. History, Tales, and Destinations in the Land of Ahs]. Retrieved September 7, 2012, to 23:20pm.</ref> So, in the early stages of the slave trade to Louisiana, most of the slaves were almost entirely from Senegal and Guinea, probably because those slaves could favor the rice plantations of this state already that they were familiar with rice plantations which was commonly grown in Senegambia and Guinea.<ref name="Africansdescend">[http://www.ahc.umn.edu/bioethics/afrgen/html/Africansandtheirdescendantsintheamericas.html Africans and Their Descendants in the Americas: Restoring the Links Using Historical Documents and Databases]. University of Minnesota. Retrieved October 14, 2012, to 20:20 pm.</ref>
One of the earliest notable Muslims in the USA was Bilali "Ben Ali" Muhammad, a Fula man from Timbo's Guinean region, who emigrated at Sapelo Island, Georgia, during 1803. While enslaved, Ben Ali wrote the Bilali Document and served as the religious leader and Imam for eighty slavered Muslim men that lived on his plantation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.middle-east-studies.net/?p=2763 |title=History of American Muslims (2) « Middle East Studies Online Journal |publisher=Middle-east-studies.net |date=November 25, 2009 |access-date=December 6, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111212034756/http://www.middle-east-studies.net/?p=2763 |archive-date=December 12, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>
After slavery abolition (1865) and until 1990, few Guineans emigrated to the United States and, these were mostly scholars and professionals. On the late 1980s, Guineans began to immigrate to the U.S. as a way to escape poverty and the harsh military regime in their country - Guinea. So, they settled initially in New York City, Boston and Atlanta, forming important communities. Over time, Guineans were migrating to other parts of the U.S., such as Chicago (whose Guineans came also from New York). Like other African immigrant groups, Guineans work in a diverse professional sectors, particularly in the taxi industry and hairbraiding sector.<ref name="Enchgui">[http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/3204.html Encyclopedia of Chicago: Guineans in Chicago]. Posted by Tracy Steffes. Retrieved September 2, 2012, to 23:35 pm.</ref>
== Demography == The Guinean American communities with the most significant population are Washington, DC, New York City, Texas, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, Rhode Island and Illinois. Guinean immigration into the U.S. has been increasing since the 1990s. Guinean Americans speak several African languages, being the most spoken the Pular (Fulfulde, Fulani, Fula or Peul), Maninka (Malinke), Susu, Kissi and Kpelle languages. They also speak French and English (as second language).
== Organizations == The Guinean community participates in Muslim and Christian festivals and "informal social events throughout the year". The Guineans have diverses associations in the USA, which are located in states such as New York, Illinois, Texas and Georgia, among others. These associations finance health care of the Guineans, among other things.<ref name="Enchgui"/>
== Notable people == thumb|Ms. Tiguidanke Camara, Chairman & CEO Tigui Mining Group (TMG) * Tigui Camara – former model and mining entrepreneur * Bolokada Conde – master drummer * Hamidou Diallo – NBA basketball player * Bilali "Ben Ali" Muhammad – enslaved Muslim writer * Yarrow Mamout – formerly enslaved businessman * Abdul Rahman Ibrahima Sori – enslaved prince and military commander * Killing of Amadou Diallo
==See also== {{Portal|Guinea|United States}} *Guinea–United States relations
== Notes == {{reflist|group=note}}
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * [http://www.prb.org/Articles/2008/blackImmigrantsdc.aspx African-Born Blacks in the Washington, D.C., Metro Area] * [http://www.rikidscount.org/matriarch/documents/Immigrants%20in%20Rhode%20Island.pdf Immigrants in Rhode Island] * [http://www.ghanaweb.net/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=24998 Awakening Of The Political Sleeping Giant] * [http://ourtimepress.com/2010/04/01/200000-call-for-immigration-reform-on-national-mall/ 200,000 Call for Immigration Reform on National Mall : Welcome to Our Time Press] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20100823020304/http://www.missguineapageant.com/ Miss Guinea U.S.A.] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20101025194050/http://africanevents.com/GuineanPeacefulProtest07.htm Guineans in US hold peaceful protest For positive change in Guinea] * [http://www.nohum.k12.ca.us/tah/TAH5Topics/Walsh%20-%20The%20Transatlantic%20Slave%20Trade%20and%20Colonial%20Chesapeake%20Society.pdf Transatlantic of slave Trade]
{{Guinean diaspora}} {{African immigration to the United States}}
Category:West African diaspora in the United States * Category:Guinean diaspora in the United States