Migration from Africa to the US 1820-1957

Historical migration from Africa to the United States is a delicate and complex issue. Although African-Americans make up more than one eighth of the current US population, the majority of their ancestors would most likely trace back to chattel slavery, which was prevalent throughout the Americas from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. Although the slave trade was abolished in the US in 1808, illegal smuggling continued for years after (particularly from the Caribbean, as it was not abolished throughout the British Empire until 1833), and the practice of slavery continued until 1865. Another noteworthy point to remember is that the term "African-American" is generally applied to those with Sub-Saharan roots, and not to those from the predominantly Arabic, North Africa.The data shown here applies only to free, documented migrants from the continent of Africa to the United States, between 1820 and 1957. In the nineteenth century, migration from Africa to the US was very low, and it was rare that more than one hundred migrants arrived in the US in any given year. Migration did increase in the first half of the twentieth century, however it was still the lowest out of all continents, including Oceania, which had a much lower overall population than Africa.

非洲向美国的移民历史是一个复杂且微妙的议题。尽管非裔美国人占当前美国人口的八分之一以上，但他们的祖先大多可追溯至16至19世纪在美国盛行的奴隶制。尽管奴隶贸易在1808年被美国废除，但非法走私活动在数年后仍持续存在（尤其是从加勒比地区，因为在大英帝国内部，奴隶制直到1833年才被废除），奴隶制一直持续到1865年。值得注意的是，术语“非裔美国人”通常用于指代具有撒哈拉以南根源的人群，而不包括以阿拉伯为主要民族、来自北非的人群。此处所示数据仅适用于1820年至1957年间从非洲大陆移居美国的自由、有记录的移民。在19世纪，从非洲向美国的移民数量极低，任何给定年份抵达美国的移民数量通常不超过一百人。然而，在20世纪上半叶，移民数量有所增加，但相对于所有其他大陆，包括人口总数远低于非洲的大洋洲，其移民数量仍然是最少的。