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The Nigerian Immigrant to US

The story of the migrants who can now be considered Nigerian-Americans cannot ignore the historical context in which
Nigerians first stepped on the American soil as slaves. Their assimilation and that of other Africans as citizens of the

United States of American qualifies their designation as African Americans. The arrival of Nigerians in the US as
migrants can be traced back to the first few who came as students, most prominent of whom is Nnamdi Azikwe.
Popularly called “Zik” by Nigerians, he graduated in 1930 from Lincoln University in Chester County, as the first
Nigerian-born individual to study in the United States. When, in 1960,

Nigeria as a British colony obtained political independence, Zik was
appointed the first President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
As part of the New African Diaspora of the mid-twentieth century

in the US were Nigerians who migrated to Greater Philadelphia largely
to pursue higher education, soon they constituted a significant

presence in the Greater Philadelphia area by the 1960s.

A 1943 photograph of, from the left, Judge James S. Watson of Philadelphian, noted educator Alain
Locke, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigerian statesman Kingsley O. Mbadiwe, U.S. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt,
Clarence Holt, and a guest at an African Dance Academy Festival hosted by Mbadiwe in New York.

Many of the students arriving in the 1960s and the 1970s primarily received scholarships from their government and

from the universities they attended.
Some had travelled on a journey that took them from huts to ivory towers.
Majority in the early wave of Nigerians who came to the United States

reflected the diversity of more than 250 ethnic groups speaking
distinct languages, including the Yoruba, Igbo, Edo, Ishan, Isoko, Ibibio
and Efik, which are from the southwestern and southeastern parts
of Nigeria. Subsequent waves of immigrants from Nigeria would

include the Hausas, from the Northern part of the country. Due to the
high rate of academic attainment among the group, many Nigerian

immigrants became professionals in diverse fields. However, for various reasons, not all of them could readily

transfer their education to professional positions, due in part to, different social challenges such as negative stereotype
and licensing or other requirements in some fields.
Not a group to readily give up, several find temporary menial jobs, while the same predicament led some Nigerians to
become entrepreneurs, establishing their own thriving businesses that have become commercial and social hub for

Nigerians and many other Africans.

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