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The Newark Experience

Newark African Commission

The Motherland Comes to Newark with Formation of African Commission
G. Townes. New York Amsterdam News January 17, 2008.
Announcement of the formation of the first-ever African Commission in Newark.
Newark African Commission
Now one of three Newark Diaspora commissions.

Africans in Newark

Untold Stories: Newark's Burgeoning West African Population and the In-School Experiences of African Immigrant Youth
Michael Simmons and Mahako Etta. IN West African Youth: Challenges and Opportunity Pathways. Mora L. McLean, editor. Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, pp. 79-100.
African Immigrants to the United States: The Influence of Culture in Academic Achievement Among Nigerian Immigrants and Their Children in Northern New Jersey Post-1960
Robert Uyi Igbinovia. Thesis (Ph.D.), Rutger University Newark, 2021.
"I have gathered information about the Nigerian community in Newark through written documents, interviews, and observations of Nigerian immigrant students and their families. The purpose of these interviews and observations is to determine what role cultural and social structures play in shaping academic achievement among young Nigerian adults."
Interrogating Diasporic Identity and Media Distribution Flows, Reception Practices, and Video Film Interpretations of Nollywood Audiences in Newark, New Jersey
Kaia Niambi Shivers. Thesis (Ph.D.). Rutgers University New Brunswick, 2015
"This dissertation examines how the distribution, consumption, and interpretation of “Nollywood” contribute to identity among African-Americans, Africans, and Afro-Caribbeans who live, work, or socialize in Newark, New Jersey. It also shows how the influx of movies from Nigeria and Ghana changes the media landscape of a city that has a place identity of being a 'black city.'"
Immigrant Entrepreneurship, Institutional Logics, and Informality: A Study of Entrepreneurs and Urban Entrepreneurship Policy in Newark, New Jersey
Lutisha S. Vickerie. (Ph.D. Thesis) Rutgers University--Newark, 2018.
"This qualitative study profiles the way immigrant entrepreneurs from African and Caribbean countries navigate a different institutional environment than their home country."