Black Studies Across the Americas (BSAA)
BSAA Project & Community Site
Black Studies Across the Americas (BSAA)
A crowd of brightly-dressed multi-racial people of different ages stand together in movement, many holding red horns and gesturing joyfully.
United States

The Black Experience Abroad and in the U.S.

Published

Overview

This BSAA OER highlights Africans, Afro-Latin Americans, and Afro-descendant immigrants from the Caribbean and how they are viewed in the U.S. compared to African-Americans.

Students conducted research about Afro-descendants who moved to the United States to learn more about their experience in comparison to the experience of African Americans in relation to race. In addition to secondary sources, the research group gathered interviews with Black participants who agreed to share their stories. According to a Pew Research Center 2022 report, the Caribbean is the place of origin of most Black immigrants in the U.S. However, the fastest-growing number comes from Africa.  As per Latin American countries, the Dominican Republic ranked 5th among the top sending places for Black immigrants to the U.S. The study ranked the top 10 places and the Dominican Republic is the only Spanish-speaking country included in the region. Francophone Haiti, is ranked as the number two sending country for Black immigrants to the U.S. The countries represented in the series of videos include Belize, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Haiti, Jamaica, Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago, and The United States. More or other countries can be added according to research interest.

Collaborators

Created by Prof. Lissette Acosta Corniel, Emily Agosti, Raquel Heslop, Jacqueline Coelho Sampaio, Kayanara Leeb, and Ricardo Santos

Download Here

Video Interviews

Maria Terrero talks about her experience as a Black person in the Dominican Republic and U.S.
BMCC student Ezio Watts discusses his experience as a Black person in Brazil and in the U.S.

BSAA Brazil Cohort Youtube Channel

Browse through a selection of interviews of Afro-descendants sharing their stories.

Bibliography

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Bhabha, Homi K. The location of culture. London: Routledge, 2004.

 “Black Immigrants in the United States: Status, Challenges, and Impacts.” Boundless, https://www.boundless.com/research/black-immigrants-in-the-united-states-status-challenges-and-impacts/

Blacks Studies Across the Americas. “Ahmed Alwaiz-Ghana,” YouTube Video, 5:56min, May 10, 2022, https://youtu.be/vmhhmLaqwx8

_________. “Christine Angrand-Haiti,” YouTube Video, 4:57min, May 5, 2022, https://youtu.be/Ejjqq9-3kQk

_________. “Susan Babayemi Kofoworola-Nigera,” YouTube Video, 2:34min, May 5, 2022, https://youtu.be/2N3He75M0gA

_________.  “Lucas Dos Santos- Brazil,” YouTube Video, 4:10min, May 5, 2022, https://youtu.be/lCjB1UZ-3K0

_________.  “Kennedy Ehiwe- Nigeria,” YouTube Video, 6:07min, May 5, 2022, https://youtu.be/QtljvP7GmJI

_________. “Nheissa Isidor- Haiti,” YouTube Video, 4:37min, May 9, 2022, https://youtu.be/aTmtkHmLarU

_________.  “Nia Robinson- U.S. with roots in Trinidad and Tobago and Belize,” YouTube Video, 4:42min, May 9, 2022, https://youtu.be/6LS0h4DFWGc

_________.  “Angela Smith- Jamaica,” YouTube Video, 4:49min, May 9, 2022, https://youtu.be/InbCev8rLwI

_________. “Angela Smith- Jamaica,” YouTube Video, 4:49min, May 5, 2022, https://youtu.be/InbCev8rLwI

_________. “Maria Terrero- Dominican Republic,” YouTube Video, 5:18min, May 10, 2022, https://youtu.be/BKRcr_7Cpuk

_________. “Ezio Watts,” YouTube Video, 3:05min, May 5, 2022, https://youtu.be/5S2muHCFc3Y

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Kalunta-Crumpton, A. Race, Ethnicity, Crime and Criminal Justice in the Americas. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

Hall, Stuart. Familiar Stranger: A Life Between two Islands. Durham: Duke University Press, 2018.

_________. Myths of Caribbean identity. Coventry, U.K.: Centre for Caribbean Studies, University of Warwick, 1991.

_________. and David Morley. Identity and Diaspora. Durham London: University Press, 2019.

_________, Tariq Modood, and Pnina Werbner. Debating Cultural Hybridity: Multicultural Identities and the Politics of Anti-racism. Bloomsbury Academic & Professional, 2018

Ibrahim, Awad. Black Immigrants in North America: Essays on Race, Immigration, Identity, Language, Hip-Hop, Pedagogy, and the Politics of Becoming Black. Gorham, Maine, Myers Education Press, 2020.

Tamir, Christine and Monica Anderson. “Key findings about Black immigrants in the U.S.,” Pew Research Center. January 20, 2022. https://www.pewresearch.org/race-ethnicity/2022/01/20/the-caribbean-is-the-largest-origin-source-of-black-immigrants-but-fastest-growth-is-among-african-immigrants/

Ngai, Mae M. “The Architecture of Race in American Immigration Law: A Reexamination of the Immigration Act of 1924.” The Journal of American History, v86 n1, 1999.

Kenin Justin and Jason Fuller. “1 in 10 Black People in the U.S. are Migrants. Here’s what’s driving that shift.” NPR, February 20, 2022.  https://www.npr.org/2022/02/20/1080667639/1-in-10-black-people-in-the-u-s-are-migrants-heres-whats-driving-that-shift

Louis Gates, Henry. “The African-American Migration Story”  https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/on-african-american-migrations/

 Zong, Jie Batalova, Jeanne. “Caribbean Immigrants in the United States.” Migration Policy Institute, 2019. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/caribbean-immigrants-united-states-2017