This book explores the lived experiences of African immigrants in the United States in their pursuit of the fabled American dream. It examines and documents their travails, successes, and fate vis-à-vis the problematics of race, ethnicity, and anti-Black violence.

The population of African immigrants in the United States has grown rapidly over the past few decades. African Immigrants and the American Experience: Race, Anti-Black Violence, and the Quest for the American Dream by Wanjala S. Nasong’o, Imali J. Abala, and Kefa M. Otiso explores contemporary sub-Saharan African immigrants’ experiences with issues of race, ethnicity, and systemic violence in the United States. Each contributor within this volume dissects how these issues have impacted, and in many cases snuffed out, the immigrants’ quest for the fabled American dream. Divided into three sections, each chapter focuses on these main themes: race and anti-black violence, educational attainment among African immigrants in pursuit of the American dream, and African immigrant’s socioeconomics, health, and well-being. Through research and first-hand accounts, the contributors provide perspectives of what it truly means to be a sub-Saharan African immigrant in the United States.

List of Figures and Tables

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction: African Immigrants and the American Experience by Wanjala S. Nasong’o, Imali J. Abala, and Kefa M. Otiso

Part I: African Immigrants, Race, and Anti-Black Violence

Chapter 1: A Geographic, Demographic, and Socioeconomic Portrait of Recent African Immigrants to the United States by Kefa M. Otiso

Chapter 2: “I want my father to tell me how I should deal with being Black in America”: Disruption of Racial Socialization in Black African Immigrant Households by Margaret Gichane and Faith Maina

Chapter 3: Antiblackness and American Exceptionalism: African Immigrants Navigating the Racial Contours of American Life by Brenda Nyandiko Sanya

Chapter 4: Deadly Encounters with American Law Enforcement: African Immigrant Victims of Police Violence by Wanjala S. Nasong’o

Part II: Education and Pursuit of the American Dream

Chapter 5: African Immigrants and the Pursuit of the American Dream in Higher Education by Wycliffe W.S. Njororai

Chapter 6: by Educational and Career Trajectories of African Immigrants by Fatuma Guyo and Gloria Nziba Pindi

Chapter 7: A Fragmented Life in the Land of the Free by Imali J. Abala

Chapter 8: An African Immigrant in Pursuit of the American Dream by Lyndah Wasike

Part III: Socioeconomic Portraits and Health and Wellbeing

Chapter 9: The Lived Experiences of Senegalese Immigrant Entrepreneurs in Little Senegal, New York City in the Period of the COVID-19 Pandemic by David Monda

Chapter 10: African Diaspora and Cultural Identity: West African Immigrant Community Experiences in Memphis, Tennessee by Abou-Bakar Mamah

Chapter 11: African Immigrant Health Issues in the US by Lilian Nyindodo

Chapter 12: Negotiating Race and Health Within African Refugee Immigrant Communities, by Anne Jebet Rotich

About the Contributors