@PhysicsQED,where have you been?

bokohalal: @PhysicsQED,where have you been?

I've been busier recently. I can't post on NL as consistently as I did during the summer. But I'll be around.

PhysicsQED:

I've been busier recently. I can't post on NL as consistently as I did during the summer. But I'll be around.

That's alright. We miss you,though.

Thanks.

Esin waju: Yoroslaves? I have read all manners of condescending stuff about my tribe here on nairaland. I laugh at some of those posts because of the witty nature and crafty play with words while some do get under my skin for real but this one? I can't laugh because it ain't even funny and even you know it's pretty lame, that's why you had to laugh to your own post just to make yourself feel good about your mental inadequacy and it's just too asinine to have me riled up. And you called them useless because they are of Yoruba ancenstry but if they had been of Igbo descent you would by now be shooting off that misfiring gun you call a mouth about how you guys are everywhere like the jews and what have you? Deal with the hurt in your butt. It will heal.

My friend you are trying to make me look racist that I am not. Not that I really care. You ignore all your mgbati brothers here causing havoc and forget that every action has an equal and opposite reaction (yes this is also true in humanity). If you Yorubas don't want to see the sons of chukwu here insulting your race, desist from insulting anything from Alaigbo, even if you disagree with any thing concerning Alaigbo. It is not your business. I love all African nations and really regret having to insult any of them. But I won't standby and watch my race ridiculed by some lowlifes. Respect is a reciprocal. If you don't respect yourselves, I ebere would not respect you or your nation.

.

amor4ce: ebere1712, your people have been murdering and slandering since the beginning, yet you talk of reciprocal respect. Your people have acquired the notoriety of being the most slanderous even in the land and midst of your hosts but, in spite of warnings from others you still continue and then cry wolf when they react.

Give me any concrete proof of your statement, and if you are correct. I will apologise to you and other nations. And would try everything within my power to get my people to stop any activities that you are referring to.

Abagworo: https://www.nairaland.com/550757/some-unknown-facts-igbos-america

An old thread.

As a result of the existence of Igbos as dinstinct tribes during slavery lead to the wrongful labelling of Igbo slaves as other ethnic groups.I bumped into a Cuban book and think I should share some of the things I read.


Many historians have arguedthat the Ìgbo of West Africa were among the largest groups taken, yet Ìgbo cultural
material is difficult to discern in present day Cuba, especially as compared with other
ethnolinguistic groups like Yorùbá and Kongo.

Because the possibilities offered by their traditions were useful, some groups—
even those who seem to have come in smaller numbers—were more successful than
others in establishing their homeland institutions in American slave societies. In
Cuba, Cross River peoples initiated into Ékpè were among them.
A great diversity of peoples brought to the Americas from the Niger Delta and
Cross River Basin were labeled by merchants as Carabalí, as Cuban historian Deschamps
discovered: “The carabalí. The tribes brought to Cuba under this denomination
are innumerable . . . part of those [“carabalí’] who founded cabildos responded
to the following denominations: Abalo, Acocuá, Agro, Apapá, Bibí, Bogre, Bogre
Isuama, Abate Singlava, Brícamo, Ecunaso, Ibo Induri, Isicuato, Isiegue, Isuama,
Isuama Aballa Ocuite, Isuama Ibi, Isuama Isiegue, Isueche, Oquella, Ososo, Ososo
Eche, Ososo Omuma, Oxó, Ugri, Unigini, Aballa Otopa, Isuama Umofina, Isuama
Osulerisna, Orú, Elugo, Orate, Bané, Yudusi.”13 Of this partial list of thirty-three
ethnic denominations, only five survived into the twentieth century as components
of the Abakuá society (Efí, Efó, Orú, Bibí, Suáma); today there are two main ethnic
lineages: Efí and Efó, with Orú as an important third lineage.
The spellings might be confusing but anybody that knows those towns in Igboland will notice that 99% are Igbo towns.Funny how Isuikwuato was spelt.

What a nice knowledge you brought out here. I'll quickly correct the wrong spellings of the above peoples:
Acocua - akokwa in present day imo state
Isicuato - isiukwuato in present day imo state
Oquella - okwelle in imo state
Isiegue - isigwe
Bane - ubani or bonny in rivers state.
Eche - igbo etche in rivers state.
Omuma - omumma (actually umumma) capital of eche lga, rivers state.
Orate - uratta in present day imo state.
Ososo omuma - a sub clan of the etche lga
Isuama - Isu lga in imo state. Every derivative with Isuama being a sub-village within it.
Oru - Oru east LGA in imo state.
Ocuite - Akwete
Aballa - Agbala in Imo state. Etc
This list clearly shows that its was mostly the southern igbo that were sold off to slavery. No wonder the incidence of Osu(outcast) and Oru(slave) is common in Imo and Abia states. In my village in Anambra, the Osu system is non_existent. Every family is free born or amadi.

bigfrancis21:
What a nice knowledge you brought out here. I'll quickly correct the wrong spellings of the above peoples:
Acocua - akokwa in present day imo state
Isicuato - isiukwuato in present day imo state
Oquella - okwelle in imo state
Isiegue - isigwe
Bane - ubani or bonny in rivers state.
Eche - igbo etche in rivers state.
Omuma - omumma (actually umumma) capital of eche lga, rivers state.
Orate - uratta in present day imo state.
Ososo omuma - a sub clan of the etche lga
Isuama - Isu lga in imo state. Every derivative with Isuama being a sub-village within it.
Oru - Oru east LGA in imo state.
Ocuite - Akwete
Aballa - Agbala in Imo state. Etc
This list clearly shows that its was mostly the southern igbo that were sold off to slavery. [size=18pt]No wonder the incidence of Osu(outcast) and Oru(slave) is common in Imo and Abia states. In my village in Anambra, the Osu system is non_existent.[/size] Every family is free born or amadi.

You are a retard ape with the brain of a tuber of yam. . . Since you want to play the smear game, ever wondered why your people are so bleeped up? Your names don't actually sound Igbo. . . This coming from an Enugu boy. Why are people from Anambra always desperate to make the other Igbos look bad? I mean ALWAYS!

too much lies on these thread
Hausa were also taken as slaves, Judge Hatchet traces her ancestry to Yoruba and Hausa people
also, aborigines are genetically different from Africans than Europeans.

bigfrancis21: The Ibo word for you (plural), 'unu' is popularly used all over the carribean patois (pidgin) in Jamaica, belize, haiti, barbados etc. This same unu was sometimes corrupted to una in their pidgin, the same pidgin that was introduced to Nigeria and ghana by the portuguese missionaries along the Niger delta. This is the same 'una' we still use in our pidgin today. In jamaica they still use the igbo words, sooso (igbo for only), unu (you), and say leave me alone as 'hop afa mi' which closely resembles the Igbo, 'hapu m aka'. Some Igbo dialects say 'hafu m aka'. They practice the Obeah (Igbo Obia or Dibia religion) and still celebrate the Igbo Njoku Ji (Jokonnu) festival.
In the US, many African Americans have remarked how they resemble the Igbo more than any other tribe. I watch lots of black movies and I see a lot of our culture among them - in attitudes, mannerisms and diction. The popular black slang, 'ama come see you' has origins in the Igbo 'ama bia hu gi' which the Igbo, esp abia and imo, still say till today. Popular igbo AAs are T. D. Jakes, Wesley snipes (who acted Blade), Neyo, Forest Whitaker etc.

^^^The 'ama see you tonite' ('ama fu gi n'abania) slang is so obvious, but never occured to me b/4.....until you just mentioned it!

Also, i've noticed similiarities in character between Igbo and Jamaicans; like in the headstrong (LOL ), independent and energetic nature we both share.

phreakabit:

You are a retard ape with the brain of a tuber of yam. . . Since you want to play the smear game, ever wondered why your people are so bleeped up? Your names don't actually sound Igbo. . . This coming from an Enugu boy. Why are people from Anambra always desperate to make the other Igbos look bad? I mean ALWAYS!

^^^I've started to notice the bolded too, and it's worrying; but qualify your statement with 'some' as not all or majority are like that.

Just because yoruba language and some customs are practiced in the west (caribbean and south america) it doesnt mean they were the majority. They most definitely werent. The yoruba entered the picture in bulk much later and their ways were adopted by the other west africans and central afrian descendants who were there before them...that includes the igbo. If you do genetic testing on afro. Brazilians, cubans, jamos, trinis etc who have strong yoruba influence...you will see what i am saying is truth. Africans were not segragated in our neck of the woods and often mixed with each other culturally as well as intertribally.

https://www.nairaland.com/1054196/pictures-unilag-africarribean-carnival-2012/1#12279896

We come from sierra leone, ivory coast, benin, liberia, guinea, both congos, cameroon, angola, ghana, etc. - hell, even MOZAMBIQUE (lol) as well. And some of their descendants are in the west speaking heavily yoruba, igbo and even kongo influenced dialects again due to cultural fusion.

So please stop trying to divide us and claim we are islands full of specific tribes. Thats nonsensical and offensive.

*Kails*:
Just because yoruba language and some customs are practiced in the west (caribbean and south america) it doesnt mean they were the majority. They most definitely werent. The yoruba entered the picture in bulk much later and their ways were adopted by the other west africans and central afrian descendants who were there before them...that includes the igbo. If you do genetic testing on afro. Brazilians, cubans, jamos, trinis etc who have strong yoruba influence...you will see what i am saying is truth. Africans were not segragated in our neck of the woods and often mixed with each other culturally as well as intertribally.

https://www.nairaland.com/1054196/pictures-unilag-africarribean-carnival-2012/1#12279896

We come from sierra leone, ivory coast, benin, liberia, guinea, both congos, cameroon, angola, ghana, etc. - hell, even MOZAMBIQUE (lol) as well. And some of their descendants are in the west speaking heavily yoruba, igbo and even kongo influenced dialects again due to cultural fusion.

So please stop trying to divide us and claim we are islands full of specific tribes. Thats nonsensical and offensive.

Thank you for the re-iteration. What country are you from?

PROUD-IGBO:


^^^The 'ama see you tonite' ('ama fu gi n'abania) slang is so obvious, but never occured to me b/4.....until you just mentioned it!

Also, i've noticed similiarities in character between Igbo and Jamaicans; like in the headstrong (LOL ), independent and energetic nature we both share.

The 'ama' part is so boldly obvious. Are you aware that the original name for the corrupt english spoken by blacks in the US was called 'ebonics'? Most likely derived from the ebo-like english spoken by the black slaves (of which 60% and higher which were igbo slaves)?

*Kails*:
Just because yoruba language and some customs are practiced in the west (caribbean and south america) it doesnt mean they were the majority. They most definitely werent. The yoruba entered the picture in bulk much later and their ways were adopted by the other west africans and central afrian descendants who were there before them...that includes the igbo. If you do genetic testing on afro. Brazilians, cubans, jamos, trinis etc who have strong yoruba influence...you will see what i am saying is truth. Africans were not segragated in our neck of the woods and often mixed with each other culturally as well as intertribally.

https://www.nairaland.com/1054196/pictures-unilag-africarribean-carnival-2012/1#12279896

We come from sierra leone, ivory coast, benin, liberia, guinea, both congos, cameroon, angola, ghana, etc. - hell, even MOZAMBIQUE (lol) as well. And some of their descendants are in the west speaking heavily yoruba, igbo and even kongo influenced dialects again due to cultural fusion.

So please stop trying to divide us and claim we are islands full of specific tribes. Thats nonsensical and offensive.

I think this concludes the thread. Yorubas are very likely to retain their culture and language because they are deep rooted. The Igbo, Kongo and other groups on the other hand are quite adaptative as they adjust to any means to move on including change of name and language.

*Kails*, there are Yoruba peoples known by names other than 'Yoruba' who live in Benin, Togo all the way to Ghana, and they can be identified as such because they remember Ile-Ife and venerate the Orisha till this day. Trans-Atlantic slaves were also taken from among them. Given that peoples with similar cultures tend to cluster together (clustering can be seen all over the universe), it is not impossible that these slaves would have bonded/clustered together resulting in their being identified together by themselves and others as Yoruba. The strong Yoruba influence is probably because Yoruba people from the current geographical entity called Nigeria were not the only source of slaves who are culturally and genetically Yoruba. If you find that 'nonsensical and offensive,' it is your choice to find that 'nonsensical and offensive.'

It's been a long time since I was in the Culture section...

Abagworo:

I think this concludes the thread. Yorubas are very likely to retain their culture and language because they are deep rooted. The Igbo, Kongo and other groups on the other hand are quite adaptative as they adjust to any means to move on including change of name and language.

I don't believe that people would naturally give up their identities easily, therefore I don't agree with the bolded. Slaves fought to keep their identities and resisted their masters' attempts to strip them of the only thing that they had brought along them from their motherlands (their cultures). That is why their masters often had them forecefully change their names because once you strip someone of his/her identity, then they're easier to control.

This reminds me of the scene in the movie "Roots" in which a plantation owner whipped his slave because he asked him "what's you're name" and he kept on answering "Kunta Kinte" instead of "Toby". To cut the story short, after several strokes, the slave finally answered "my name is Toby".

bigfrancis21:
Thank you for the re-iteration. What country are you from?

I am Jamaican and African American.

Abagworo:

I think this concludes the thread. Yorubas are very likely to retain their culture and language because they are deep rooted. The Igbo, Kongo and other groups on the other hand are quite adaptative as they adjust to any means to move on including change of name and language.

Well, those other groups especially the Igbo, Fulani, Akan and Kongo peoples were very much anti enslavement. By any means they fought against oppression both on and off the slave ships (esp. the Akan and Kongo ppls who many whites revered but also resented.)

The Yoruba (esp. in the case of Brazil) were granted their own settlements and unlike those before them, were allowed to practice their traditions because by then, although the trade was in continuation, the laws banning drumming, dancing, and praying to one's deities were no longer outlawed as it was when the central africans made up the majority of those enslaved (1600-1700s). The Yoruba also assimilated because they too (by force) converted to Christianity and Catholicism but were "slick" because they used the names of their deities in place of the European/Eastern ones.

Again their influence on the other Africans was to have an identity that was taken from them. It doesn't mean they felt the Yoruba were superior, it was a way to connect back to Africa some way.

@Amor, I am aware that the Yoruba can be found outside of Nigeria.
I never implied that they weren't. I am saying it is nonsensical to assume the were the majority based on influence. There were more Igbos in Haiti than the Yoruba yet they still practice a form of Santeria which is Yoruba influence...lol so please save the emotional retorts.. Africans mixed and TIME was on the side of the Yoruba..not numbers.

@Odumchi, the problem many people have (no offense to you) is that that they talk about the slave trade as if it happened in one day, week, or month. As if 12-30 million Africans were sold/taken in thousands of vessels in one setting and it was over.

NO SIR!...

I want to discuss two issues people miss: TIME & PLACE.

The physical and psychological suffering the enslaved Africans felt most were ON the ships. Which they spent most of their time laying on their backs..and mind you for [size=18pt]3-4 MONTHS[/size]!!!



They had to deal with knowing someone who looked like them and probably eat with, laughed with and cried with them, SOLD/stole them. One was in total fear of not knowing where their destination would be or what would happen. Then they'd have health risks from being packed in ships like sardines and only being fed once a day - IF there was food to be given.

Every other morning they were forced to watch groups of others like them being whipped or killed while tied to the flag poles on the ships to "set an example". They witnessed suicides of those who didn't want to know what awaited them (mostly women and members of the Kru tribe of Liberia/Ivory coast who were known to be suicidal and hated for it lol). Then they'd see people being thrown off the ships because they've become too ill or sick to work and watch them drown...etc.

So if you are not warrior like (not talking about tribes here, but individually) that alone is enough to weaken you mentally into submission. Not to mention when you land in foreign soil, beaten to be sure you can withstand it and understand your "place", then you were immediately rubbed down in animal fat and grease and put on a block and sold. That is enough trauma to make even the physically strong "give up".

Now we know there were many who rebelled. We know a lot of them did not go down that easily. Toby/Kunta Kinte is an epic example. And not to mention revolts like La Amistad, and then the Kongo/Akan peoples who reeked havoc in the new world. We know this but they were still few in numbers which is why they stood out.

Now let's talk time.
Again let's not forget we are talking about as early as the 1500s to as late as the 1800s, Odumchi. Revolts took place every year that the slave trade occurred but it was still not enough to allow the Africans to run things their way because of three things:

lack of weaponry, no where to escape, and traitors .

No matter how warrior like they were based on tribe or personal will, in the end they had to submit in two ways: by force or death. So don't think for one minute I am saying the other Africans were docile and the Yoruba were not. That would be FALSE to the highest degree! As influential as they were culturally, the Yoruba were not known to be the rebellious type in the new world.

The Igbo had more of a reputation for being hostile than the Yoruba and took part in many famous revolts along side the Akan and Kongo ppls yet still the Yoruba were more influential culturally than the others. And once again this is because of TIME. The Yoruba came in large numbers during the later years when the other Africans had already assimilated into their new cultures adopting European (and Eastern) names, religion and unfortunately for many, the mentality.

The Yoruba provided an identity for them because mind you the idea of Pan Africanism and wanting to "connect to mama africa" is not a recent ideology. It was born during the slave trade. Physically Africans from other tribes fought alongside because of their similarities and shared oppression. And then culturally they achieved their connection to Africa through the Yoruba. (Again, some of these people were not even from West Africa but were "lost" culturally as they had no identity of their own to hold on to).

And there are still evidence of each different enslaved group of African in the new world such as Fulani influence in Jazz/Islam, Igbo banking systems/stubbornness /proverbs/terminology. Kongo dancing/forms of worship/martial arts; etc.

So, I'm not calling your people weak, I'm just saying let's not make this into a contest. If I could revive an Igbo and a Yoruba ancestor of mine from the slave days and show them what is happening throughout NL or this thread even, they would be highly disappointed I am sure. Because they learned the hard way, there is more to life than tribal competition. By the time the realized it, it was too late.

Sorry for the novel.

bokohalal:

Do not go there. Edos/Binis were NEVER slaves!

really?

Yujin:
Yeah, some Equitorial Guineans are Igbos. It was during the slave trade that they were taken there. Check their female national team, you would notice some Igbo names. The british knew this that was why they tried in 1930s to relocate some erosion prone communities in the east there but Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe refused.

true.
very true.

there are a lot of resettled african descendants who were given the right to return but sent there indiscriminately. I guess they didn't feel obligated to return them back to their ancestral lands...which I can understand since they were inter-tribally mixed and it would have been time consuming.

Virgin Finder: So many hidden posts.

I guess some people are jealous hence are posting trash cos the opening article centered around Yoruba.

The Igbo element was intentionally introduced by the Ukoh guy in order to belong.

I'm proud to be Yoruba anytime anyday.

Among other reasons, I'm Yoruba therefore I'll be great.

By God's grace.

^^^THIS! is the bull I am talking about.
smh...

A Santería ceremony known as "Cajon de Muertos". Havana, Cuba, 2011.

Santería is a system of beliefs that merges the Yoruba spirituality which was brought by enslaved West Africans sent to the Caribbean to work on sugar plantations) with Roman Catholic and Native American traditions. These Africans carried with them various religious customs, including a way of communicating with their ancestors and deities, and sacred drumming and dance. In Cuba, this spiritual Yoruba tradition evolved into what we now recognize as Santería.

*Kails*:


really?

Really.

*Kails*:


true.
very true.

there are a lot of resettled african descendants who were given the right to return but sent there indiscriminately. I guess they didn't feel obligated to return them back to their ancestral lands...which I can understand since they were inter-tribally mixed and it would have been time consuming.

On the contrary, some Igbo and Yoruba slaves did return back to Nigeria. These slave returnees were called 'saros' (a corruption of sierra leone) and came mostly from freetown, sierra leone, where many african slaves were repatriated to from the americas at the end of the slave trade. The yoruba returnees had mostly spanish/portuguese and english surnames and they were welcomed back with much hospitality and acceptance from their yoruba brothers. Many of them settled in Lagos and in time assimilated into the Nigerian culture, changing names where necessary while some kept their english surnames. Desmond Elliot is an example of a descendant of a yoruba slave returnee from sierra leone. He also mentioned this in a recent interview. http://www.awoko.org/2012/08/17/desmond-elliot-claims-sierra-leonean-lineage/ .Another example of a saro descendant is the Ransome Kuti family.
On the other hand, the Igbo returnees were met with hostility from their Igbo brothers. These igbo saros returned back to sierra leone with feelings of disappointment and rejection while the rest settled at onitsha (at the saro quarters, onitsha), aba, owerri and port-harcourt. In onitsha, these saros were known for their English names and being English-speaking. With time, they assimilated culturally and changed names. In port-harcourt many of the igbo saros settled along the creeks with the Ijaw community where they were fully welcomed. Saro-wiwa is an example of a saro descendant who settled in Port-harcourt.
I take a quote from a research work published by the University of Liverpool. The full PDF material can be found here: pcwww.liv.ac.uk/~dvdb/CH_3.pdf

Sierra Leone returners (who became known as Saro) do not
appear to have had the same impact on Igbo society as the Yoruba Saro had in West Nigeria.
One reason seems to be that the links of the Igbo returners with their home towns were less
close than those of the Yoruba. While a couple of the Yoruba missionaries from Sierra Leone
saw their mothers again,18 the same was not reported for the Igbo. Another difference from the
Yoruba situation lies in the fact that no British enclave, such as Lagos in the West, existed in
the East. Notwithstanding the ideology of a return to the home country, the majority of the
Yoruba returners stayed permanently under British protection in Lagos, because they feared
that if they returned to their places of birth in the interior, they would be converted back into
slaves for export. Consequently, when a small group of Sierra Leone Igbo went to Old Calabar
on a reconnaissance visit, they dared not move into Igboland. It was to Old Calabar and
Fernando Po that Sierra Leone Igbo `returned', though not in considerable numbers. The
mission stations and commercial stations on the Niger were manned mainly by non-Igbo Saro.
The few Igbo mission agents who were among them did not venture into the interior.19

*Kails*:
@Amor, I am aware that the Yoruba can be found outside of Nigeria.
I never implied that they weren't. I am saying it is nonsensical to assume the were the majority based on influence. There were more Igbos in Haiti than the Yoruba yet they still practice a form of Santeria which is Yoruba influence...lol so please save the emotional retorts.. Africans mixed and TIME was on the side of the Yoruba..not numbers.

@Odumchi, the problem many people have (no offense to you) is that that they talk about the slave trade as if it happened in one day, week, or month. As if 12-30 million Africans were sold/taken in thousands of vessels in one setting and it was over.

NO SIR!...

I want to discuss two issues people miss: TIME & PLACE.

The physical and psychological suffering the enslaved Africans felt most were ON the ships. Which they spent most of their time laying on their backs..and mind you for [size=18pt]3-4 MONTHS[/size]!!!



They had to deal with knowing someone who looked like them and probably eat with, laughed with and cried with them, SOLD/stole them. One was in total fear of not knowing where their destination would be or what would happen. Then they'd have health risks from being packed in ships like sardines and only being fed once a day - IF there was food to be given.

Every other morning they were forced to watch groups of others like them being whipped or killed while tied to the flag poles on the ships to "set an example". They witnessed suicides of those who didn't want to know what awaited them (mostly women and members of the Kru tribe of Liberia/Ivory coast who were known to be suicidal and hated for it lol). Then they'd see people being thrown off the ships because they've become too ill or sick to work and watch them drown...etc.

So if you are not warrior like (not talking about tribes here, but individually) that alone is enough to weaken you mentally into submission. Not to mention when you land in foreign soil, beaten to be sure you can withstand it and understand your "place", then you were immediately rubbed down in animal fat and grease and put on a block and sold. That is enough trauma to make even the physically strong "give up".

Now we know there were many who rebelled. We know a lot of them did not go down that easily. Toby/Kunta Kinte is an epic example. And not to mention revolts like La Amistad, and then the Kongo/Akan peoples who reeked havoc in the new world. We know this but they were still few in numbers which is why they stood out.

Now let's talk time.
Again let's not forget we are talking about as early as the 1500s to as late as the 1800s, Odumchi. Revolts took place every year that the slave trade occurred but it was still not enough to allow the Africans to run things their way because of three things:

lack of weaponry, no where to escape, and traitors .

No matter how warrior like they were based on tribe or personal will, in the end they had to submit in two ways: by force or death. So don't think for one minute I am saying the other Africans were docile and the Yoruba were not. That would be FALSE to the highest degree! As influential as they were culturally, the Yoruba were not known to be the rebellious type in the new world.

The Igbo had more of a reputation for being hostile than the Yoruba and took part in many famous revolts along side the Akan and Kongo ppls yet still the Yoruba were more influential culturally than the others. And once again this is because of TIME. The Yoruba came in large numbers during the later years when the other Africans had already assimilated into their new cultures adopting European (and Eastern) names, religion and unfortunately for many, the mentality.

The Yoruba provided an identity for them because mind you the idea of Pan Africanism and wanting to "connect to mama africa" is not a recent ideology. It was born during the slave trade. Physically Africans from other tribes fought alongside because of their similarities and shared oppression. And then culturally they achieved their connection to Africa through the Yoruba. (Again, some of these people were not even from West Africa but were "lost" culturally as they had no identity of their own to hold on to).

And there are still evidence of each different enslaved group of African in the new world such as Fulani influence in Jazz/Islam, Igbo banking systems/stubbornness /proverbs/terminology. Kongo dancing/forms of worship/martial arts; etc.

So, I'm not calling your people weak, I'm just saying let's not make this into a contest. If I could revive an Igbo and a Yoruba ancestor of mine from the slave days and show them what is happening throughout NL or this thread even, they would be highly disappointed I am sure. Because they learned the hard way, there is more to life than tribal competition. By the time the realized it, it was too late.

Well said. You couldn't have said it any better. The fact that the Yoruba were shipped off later in the era of the slave trade makes much sense. This accounts for the fact that their traditions and beliefs were still fresh and hence were easily held on to and retained as against the traditions of the Igbo, Kongo and Akan groups, who were shipped off earlier, which had almost been obliterated completely, except a few. Bishop T. D. Jakes confirmed that his family had always known they were Igbo from the records their ancestors kept. He went further to confirm this when he went for DNA testing which turned up Igbo. Monteith Archibald(Igbo name: Aniaso) was an Igbo slave who was captured and shipped to Jamaica. His slave story was written and documented. Below is an account of the numbers of slaves shiiped off between 1690 and 1870. from the figures, the bight of biafra ranked the highest! This confirms that way early into the slave trade era, more Igbo slaves were sold. Their yoruba counterparts were to come in their numbers later. From the figures the Igbo numbers were higher than their conuterparts at any given slave trade era. They were more favoured by the English. Also observe that from the Bight of Benin region, Igbo slaves were also taken given the western-igbo (delta Igbo) communities who were under the King of Benin rule.

Abagworo:

I think this concludes the thread. Yorubas are very likely to retain their culture and language because they are deep rooted. The Igbo, Kongo and other groups on the other hand are quite adaptative as they adjust to any means to move on including change of name and language.

And dat is the sad thing about igbo people.

The roots of the word Redbone originate in Jamaica where they used the word ‘Red Ibo’ to describe certain fair-skinned people who lived in the harbour areas. Merchant seamen, sailors’ cargo ships and so on bring foreigners who slept with local women and had many mixed race children in these areas. The term ‘Red Ibo’ was used (it is no longer in common use) to describe fairer than average Jamaicans. The term came into use because originally among the slaves taken to Jamaica there were a good number of Igbo’s who were comapratively lighter among dark skinned Igbo. They exist to this day in Africa. Igbo are the lightest population of the Bantu populations, in fact, the term for Whites was Oyibo, which comes from Onye Igbo, Which means "Like an Igbo."

Many use the term "redbone" for African Americans with medium toned skin, adopting the term from the Caribbean. The term also come to identify two separate ethnic classes, one of mixed African, European and Native American ancestry and the other usage is to designate some groups of Native Americans. This still seems to cause controversy and confusion among people. The first ethnic group who were called "Redbones" were groups of multi-ethnic families with similar or the same English surnames who were labeled as Free Persons of Color, Mulatto or Indian by early American census takers. The term was used for these mixed race multi-ethnic groups of families in Louisiana, South Carolina, Mississippi and East Texas

One crucial part that the information left out was that, do to the fact of that the majority of the Africans brought to the US were Igbo, thus the African-American black population was/is majorly an Igbo population, the term Redbone rather fluidly transgressed into the society as in the early 1800's some Jamaican slaves began being taken to the US to help fuel the rapidly growing Cotton plantations of the Deep south, in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas, and in in the process passed on some of their unique slangs.