Footsteps articles from March 2001

Footsteps archives from March 2001

Why Africans Immigrate TO THE United States.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... When reference is made to the African American population, most people think first of descendants of slaves brought to this country against their will. What these people and history often overlook is the voluntary emigration of blacks...

African Explorers to the Americas.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Historians debate when the first Africans came to the Americas. Some claim African explorers reached the Americas before Columbus. They base their theories on anthropological, botanical, and linguistic evidence, but no written accounts exist....

Africans IN THE United States.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... African-born residents of the United States are exceptional in many ways. On average, they are the wealthiest and most highly educated of all the groups who move to the United States. Among the emigrants from all continents, those from...

THE Gullah AND THE Black Atlantic.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... For years, scholars have studied the Gullah people of South Carolina's Sea Islands in search of what remains culturally African about black North Americans. The fact that many Gullahs live on islands long isolated from the United States...

Become a Storyteller.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Griot and griotte are masculine and feminine terms of respect. They refer to people of African heritage who are knowledgeable about African cultural traditions and the past. The word "griot" is found in many African languages and refers...

Who Can Come.(immigrants in the United States)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... True or false? * Fewer than 1,000,000 immigrants come into the United States every year. * Illegal aliens are only one percent of the total United States population. * Immigrants are likely to be self-employed and start new...

Taking THE Oath.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Tony Morales' first trip to the United States coincided with a uniquely American holiday--Thanksgiving. After his visit with longtime family friends who had moved from Kingston, Jamaica, to Washington, D.C., the focus of his college plans...

AN `African food' Word Search.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Ever eat black-eyed peas, okra, or plantains? All are foods that are native to Africa and are now commonly eaten in the United States. See how many of the African foods listed below you can find in the box of letters. Look for the words...

`New Americans': THEIR STORIES.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Natives of African and Caribbean countries have, since their first arrival on United States shores, made an impact on American society. Although many remain nameless, some have achieved national and international fame for their...

THE Other African Americans.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Voluntary migration and immigration have played a major role in the shaping of "race" in the present-day United States. After the passage of the Hart-Cellar immigration reforms of 1965, millions of non-Europeans immigrated to the United...

More `New American'.(famous Americans who come from other countries)
March 1, 2001... STOKELY CARMICHAEL Born in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, Stokely Carmichael played a key role in the turbulent 1960s civil rights conflicts in America. Unlike his contemporary Martin Luther King, Jr., Carmichael urged a militant approach to...

How I Became an African Woman.(what some people don't know about cultural diversity in Africa)
March 1, 2001... Before I immigrated to the United States in 1991, I was known as a Nigerian of the Yoruba ethnic group. I was also a Western-educated woman with certain privileges and high expectations. In the years since 1991, however, my identity has...

Coming TO America.(experience of a student from Congo living in the United States)
March 1, 2001... My father's high scores in Congo's national exams made him eligible for one of the three scholarships to study in the United States that were offered by The Africa-America Institute, a New York-based foundation involved in African development...

FROM America TO Africa.(experiences of a young American student living in Tanzania)
March 1, 2001... In 1980, my father received a job offer to teach at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, a country in East Africa. After discussing the prospect and then accepting the position, my parents decided that my father would set out for Dar...

Olubunmi Owopetu's Road TO Citizenship.(how an immigrant from Nigeria became an American citizen)
March 1, 2001... When Olubunmi Owopetu came to the United States in 1977, she had not seen her husband, Ola, in five years. Their wedding in 1972 had been a traditional Nigerian ceremony, in which the families came together, witnessed the contract, and...

Dr. Cheick M. Diarra.(space scientist)(Interview)
March 1, 2001... A Malian-born astrophysicist, Dr. Cheick M. Diarra is the director of the Mars Exploration Public Outreach and Education Program of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Why did you immigrate to the United States?...

Personal Notes.(immigrants to the United States)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Personal Notes Marie Jensen's conversation with three nursing colleagues who work with her in the Critical Care unit at New York's Mt. Sinai Hospital takes us to the personal side of immigration. Christal Gittens was only eight when she...

BOOKS.(books and information about people from Africa coming to the United States)
March 1, 2001... Africans in America by Catherine Reef(Facts On File, 1999) clearly describes the spread of Africans to the Western Hemisphere and the influence and development of their culture. Sidebars, contemporary quotes, notes on primary sources all...