Angolan Americans (Portuguese:angolano-americanos) are an ethnic group ofAmericans ofAngolan descent or Angolan immigrants. According to estimates, by the year 2000 there were 1,642 people descended from Angolan immigrants in the United States.^[1] However, the number of Angolan Americans is difficult to determine. Many African-Americans are descendants of Angolan enslaved people. In 1644, most of the 6,900 slaves bought on the African coast to clear the forests, lay roads, build houses and public buildings, and grow food came from the established stations in Angola.^[3]

From the 17th century to the early 19th century, many Angolans were transported via theAtlantic slave trade to the United States. Enslaved Angolans were thefirst Africans in Virginia, and likely the first in all of theThirteen Colonies, according to Sheila Walker, an American film maker and researcher in cultural anthropology. This refers to an event in 1617 inJamestown, Virginia, when Angolan slaves were captured by pirates from a Spanishslave ship bound forNew Spain and sent to Jamestown.^[4] These first Angolan slaves of Virginia (15 men and 17 women^[4]) wereMbundu^[5] andBakongo, who spokeKimbundu andKikongo languages respectively. Many of these early slaves were literate.^{[6][note 1]}

Later, Angolan slaves were captured by Dutch pirates from the Portuguese when Portuguese slavers left with the slaves from the Portuguese colonial port ofSão Paulo da Assunção de Loanda (present-day Luanda).^[5] Many of these slaves were imported by the Dutch toNew York City, which, at this time, was calledNew Amsterdam and was under Dutch control. Thus, the Angolans also were the first slaves in New York City – among these slaves wasReytory Angola.^[6][7] According toHarvard professorJill Lepore, the slaves of Angola who arrived in New Amsterdam were also Ambundu and, to a lesser extent, Kongos, as was the case with the first slaves who arrived in Virginia.^[8]

In 1621, Angolan former slaveAnthony Johnson arrived in Virginia and was the first documented black slave in theThirteen Colonies to earn his freedom and, in turn, own slaves himself. Anthony Johnson was granted ownership ofJohn Casor after a civil case in 1654.^[9][10] The Angolan slavery trade in the United States reached its greatest magnitude between 1619 and 1650.^[5] In 1644, 6,900 slaves on the African coast were purchased to clear the forests, lay roads, build houses and public buildings, and grow food. Most of these were from the company's colonies in theWest Indies, but came from its established stations in Angola.^[3]

During thecolonial period, people from the region Congo-Angola made up 25% of the slaves in North America. Based on the data mentioned, many Angolan slaves came from distinct ethnic groups, such as the Bakongo, the Tio^[11] and Northern Mbunbu people (fromKingdom of Ndongo).^[5] However, not all slaves kept the culture of their ancestors. The Bakongo, from thekingdom of Kongo, were Catholics, who had voluntarily converted to Catholicism in 1491 after the Portuguese established trade relations in this territory.^[12] Senegambian slaves were the preferred slaves inSouth Carolina but Angolans were the most numerous and represented around a third of the slaves population.^[13] InVirginia, most slaves came from within the boundaries of the modern nation-states ofNigeria and Angola. Between 1710 and 1769, only 17% of the slaves who arrived in Virginia were from Angola.^[14] Others places in the United States, such asDelaware andIndiana, also had Angolan slaves.^[6]Georgia imported also many slaves from the Congo-Angola region. Many of these early enslaved people from Angola along with others from theCongo were brought to the royal colony ofNew York while the other enslaved people in the French colony ofSaint-Domingue (modern-dayHaiti) in the coastal port city ofCap-Français (now Cap-Haïtien) were also from various parts of Africa including Angola.

Many of the Bakongo slaves who arrived in the United States in the 18th century were captured and sold as slaves by African kings to other tribes or enemies during several civil wars. Some of the people sold from Kongo to the United States were trained soldiers.^[12] In 1739, there was an uprising inSouth Carolina, where possibly 40% of the slaves were Angolan. This uprising, known as theStono Rebellion, was led by an Angolan named Jemmy, who led a group of 20 Angolan slaves, probably Bakongos and described as Catholic. The slaves mutinied and killed at least 20 white settlers and several children. They then marched toCharlestown, where the uprising was harshly repressed. Forty of the slaves in the revolt (some Angolans) were decapitated and their heads strung on sticks to serve as a warning to others. This episode precipitated legislation banning the importation of slaves. The ban was aimed at solving two serious problems: the inhumanity toward the black slaves and the fact the country had more blacks than whites.^[6] Later, some 300 former Angolan slaves founded their own community in theBraden River delta, near what is now downtownBradenton, Florida. They gave it the name of Angola, in honor of the homeland of many of them, and tried to live as free men. However, this Angola was destroyed in 1821. Rich hunters and slaveholders hired 200 mercenaries and captured 300 black people and burned their houses. It is believed, however, that some Angolans fled in rafts and successfully reachedAndros Island inThe Bahamas, where their lives were established.^[6]

Large-scale Angolan immigration to the United States began in the 1970s, fleeing regional wars in their country. Initially, most Angolans refugees emigrated toFrance,Belgium, andPortugal – the country to which Angola belonged in colonial times and with which they share a language. But in the 1980s,European Economic Community restrictions on immigration forced many of them to emigrate to other countries, such as the United States.^[15] Before that, only 1,200 Angolans had emigrated to the US. Between 1980 and 1989, 1,170 Angolans entered the US; between 1990 and 2000, 1,995 more arrived. 4,365 Angolans were registered as living in the United States in 2000.^[16]

They settled primarily inPhiladelphia,St. Louis,Phoenix, andChicago.^[15] There are also some Angolans inBrockton,Massachusetts, attracted to the area by the presence of the established, Portuguese-speakingCape Verdean community.^[17] In 1992, leaders of the Angolan communities of these cities formed the Angolan Community in the USA (ACUSA). The Chicago branch has aided new immigrants.^[15]

Currently, most Americans who are descendants of Angolan immigrants to the United States speak Portuguese and English. Despite the large family sizes in Angola, most Angolan immigrants in United States are single men or small family groups. In cities such as Chicago, Angolan communities tend to celebrate Angolan festivals, listen to Angolan music or read newspapers about events that occur in Angola.^[15] The main communities are concentrated inPhiladelphia,St. Louis,Phoenix andChicago. Meanwhile, the states with the largest Angolan-American communities areMassachusetts,Pennsylvania,Connecticut andNew Jersey. There is also a growing population inMaine.^[18] Although according to estimates, by 2000 there were only 1,642 people of Angolan origin in the U.S., according to the same census for that year, 4,365 Angolan-born people lived in the United States, of whom 1,885 were white, 1,635 black, 15 of Asian origin, 620 racially mixed and another 210 of unspecified race.^[16]

• The term "Gullah" (referring to an ethnic group of African, and Caribbean origin and African language and culture –Gullah people – established in parts of Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia) derive from an Angolan word.^[19]
• "Angola" became the name given to the communities created by Angolan slave fugitives and the term itself came to represent the struggle for freedom.
• Several anthropologists and American historians are involved in Project called Angola, the historical study of the various Angolans living in the U.S.
• InLouisiana, about 50 miles fromBaton Rouge, there is a place called Angola. This is an old plantation of 7,200 hectares, where most of the slaves were from Angola and, in 1835, became theprison State of Louisiana, known today by The Farm or Angola.
• There are several U.S. cities named "Angola" – such as ones inNew York,Delaware andIndiana – where there were Angolan slaves.
• Virginia also had a farm called "Angola", owned by Anthony Johnson, an Angolan who took the name of his boss when he was released.^[6]

• Anthony Johnson
• Gullah Jack
• Chris Tucker

• Southern Africans in the United States
• Angola–United States relations

• Angolan Community of Southern California

• American people of Angolan descent
• Angolan-American history
• Angolan diaspora in the United States
• Southern African diaspora in the United States

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