The first wave of Ghanaians were brought to America as slaves. West Africans were brought from vast areas in Western and Central Africa to the coast of Ghana. The trade routes were established by the Portuguese but changed hands among the European powers from the mid-1500 's to the late 1800 's. Approximately ten million enslaved Africans were transported in the transatlantic slave trade, at rates of up to 100,000 persons per year (Klein 2010). The largest wave of Ghanaians to the United States has been in the decades since obtaining independence on March 6, 1957. Many Ghanaian-American immigrants came to the United States as students. In fact, Ghana’s first president Kwame Nkrumah studied at American Universities Lincoln University and University of …show more content…
According to the Migration Policy Institute, approximately eighteen percent of Ghanaian-Americans twenty-five and older had a bachelor’s degree as their highest credential. This sets Ghanaian-Americans at a largely similar educational attainment as the general U.S. population. Twelve percent of Ghanaian-Americans had an advanced degree compared to eleven percent of the general U.S. population Research also shows that the Ghanaian-Americans share the same employment rate of 90% with the general United Sates population. Ghanaian-Americans have a median annual household income of about $44,000, lower the U.S. population annual household income of $50,000. Eighteen percent of Ghanaian-Americans had an annual income above $90,000 and five percent reported annual household incomes higher than $140,000. There are no reports of a Ghanaian-Americans political presence. This could be due to them being lumped into the popular term “the black vote” which does not take immigration status, socioeconomics status, or education into consideration.
3
Nonverbal Communication and Cultural Expressions of