Foreign-born Afro-Americans

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Foreign-born Afro Americans are Americans who are not born in the United States but are of Afro-American descent or have assimilated into Afro American society. Foreign-born Afro Americans have slave ancestry and are sometimes of direct Afro American descent. The difference between African immigrants to the U.S. and foreign born Afro Americans is that foreign-born Black Americans are of North American or Caribbean slave descent. Foreign-born Afro Americans can also be a term used to refer to the Americo-Liberian population of Liberia, who are direct descendants of Afro American slaves who settled in Liberia. Foreign-born Afro Americans are not immigrants as they are of Afro American ancestry in most cases; or they have an American grandparent (whether naturalized or not) through which they can claim American ancestry.

Afro-Caribbean population

British African Caribbean people are residents of the United Kingdom who are of West Indian background and whose ancestors were primarily indigenous to Africa. As immigration to the United Kingdom from Africa increased in the 1990s, the term has sometimes been used to include UK residents solely of African origin, or as a term to define all Black British residents, though the phrase "African and Caribbean" has more often been used to cover such a broader grouping. The most common and traditional use of the term African-Caribbean community is in reference to groups of residents' continuing aspects of Caribbean culture, customs and traditions in the United Kingdom.

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Amaro, Saro & Emancipado populations

Countries such as Nigeria, the home of the Yoruba and Igbo cultures, and Equatorial Guinea experienced and influx of ex-slaves from Cuba brought there as indentured servants during the 17th century, and again during the 19th century. In Equatorial Guinea, they became part of the Emancipados; in Nigeria, they were called Amaros. Despite being free to return to Cuba when their tenure was over, they remained in these countries marrying into the local indigenous population. The former slaves were brought to Africa by the Royal Orders of September 13, 1845 (by way of voluntary arrangement) and a June 20, 1861 deportation from Cuba, due to the lack of volunteers. Similar circumstances previously occurred during the 17th century where ex-slaves from both Cuba and Brazil were offered the same opportunity.

Angola also has communities of Afro-Cubans, these are descendants of Afro-Cuban soldiers brought to the country in 1975 as a result of the Cuban involvement in the Cold War. Fidel Castro deployed thousands of troops to the country during the Angolan Civil War. As a result of this era, there exists a small Spanish-speaking community in Angola of Afro-Cubans numbering about 100,000.

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Americo-Liberian population

The Americo-Liberians are descendants of Afro American slaves who returned to Africa through the services of the American Colonization Society. The Americo-Liberians maintained ties to America and modelled the country after the U.S.; the Liberian flag resembles the U.S. flag and Monrovia was named in honor of U.S. President James Monroe. The Americo Liberians considered themselves as Afro Americans in Liberia, and they typically sent their children to study in the United States for college.

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African-American Hebrew population

Main article: African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem

The African Hebrew Israelite Nation of Jerusalem (also known as The African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem or Black Hebrews or Black Hebrew Israelites) is a small spiritual group whose members believe they are descended from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. With a population of over 5,000, most members live in their own community in Dimona, Israel, with additional families in Arad, Mitzpe Ramon, and the Tiberias area. Their immigrant ancestors were African Americans from Chicago, Illinois, who migrated to Israel in the late 1960s. Ben Ammi Ben Israel established the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem in Chicago, Illinois, in 1966. In 1969, after a sojourn in Liberia, Ben Ammi and about 30 Hebrew Israelites moved to Israel.^[1] Over the next 20 years nearly 600 more members left the United States for Israel. As of 2006, about 2,500 Hebrew Israelites live in Dimona and two other towns in the Negev region of Israel, where they are widely referred to as Black Hebrews.^[2] In addition, there are Hebrew Israelite communities in several major American cities, including Chicago, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C.^[3]

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Expatriate population

A number of Afro-Americans have been drawn to permanently live abroad independently, mainly, for work reasons. Many Afro-American professional athletes have relocated to countries such as Greece, Spain and Italy to play in professional sports clubs. Some find lucrative opportunities in various business markets, while others take permanent cultural or spiritual hiatus to places such as Africa and the Middle East.

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Repatriated Rastafarians of Shashamane, Ethiopia

One of the central tenets of the Rastafari movement is the desirability of the repatriation of black people from the Americas and elsewhere back to Africa. In 1948 Emperor Haile Selassie I donated 500 acres (2.0 km²) of his private land to allow members of the Rastafari movement, Ethiopian World Federation (EWF) officers and members and other settlers from Jamaica and other parts of the Caribbean to go to Africa. The return would be under the auspices of the EWF, founded in 1937 by the Emperor's special emissary to Black America, Melaku E. Bayen.^[4]

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Sierra Leone Creole population

The Freetown Creoles are descendants of African Americans who immigrated to Sierra Leone as well as Black Loyalists from the American South who fought for the British in American Revolutionary War. The Creoles speak a language similar to African American Gullah called Krio. The Creoles like the Americo-Liberians sent their children to study overseas; many did not return back to Sierra Leone. Because of the Sierra Leone Civil War there is also a large community of these Sierra Leone Creoles in the East Coast of the United States today, and a contingent on the West Coast of the United States. Some Creoles are related to Americo-Liberians because the early Americo-Liberians are the descendants of the Black Americans who initially settled in Freetown, Sierra Leone and Sherbro, Sierra Leone.

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