Guyanese Americans are American people with Guyanese ancestry or immigrants who were born in Guyana. Guyana is home to people of many different national, ethnic and religious origins. As of 2019, there are 231,649 Guyanese Americans currently living in the United States. The majority of Guyanese live in New York City – some 140,000 – making them the fifth-largest foreign-born population in the city.[2]
History
After the independence of Guyana from the United Kingdom, in 1966, Guyanese immigration to the United States increased dramatically. Political and economic uncertainty, and the internal strife two years earlier as well as a radical change in US immigration policy opening up opportunities to non-Europeans prompted many Guyanese who could make the move to seek opportunities abroad. An average of 6,080 people a year emigrated from Guyana between 1969 and 1976, increasing to an average of 14,400 between 1976 and 1981.[3][4]
Many of the first Guyanese immigrants to the United States were of African descent. They were women who were recruited as domestic workers or nursing assistants.[5] Prior to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 Guyanese of Asian descent faced immigration restrictions by the Asiatic Barred Zone. However, many Guyanese who had studied in the US in the mid 20th century or earlier stayed on in the US; although some like Cheddi Jagan returned to Guyana. Shirley Chisholm's father represents one of the earliest of Guyanese immigrants to the US during the 20th century; emigration from Guyana at that time was mostly to Caribbean or Commonwealth countries.[6]
Many Indo-Guyanese immigrants emigrated to New York City during the upheavals of the 1970s and 1980s, a group descended from the original Indian indentured servants that arrived to Guyana in the early 1800s after the abolishing of slavery by the British Empire.[7][8]
The United States has the highest number of Guyanese people outside of Guyana. The Guyanese-American community mostly consists of people of Indian and African origins although there are a few Indigenous Guyanese living in the United States.[10]
As of 1990, 80 percent of Guyanese Americans lived in the northeastern United States, especially around New York City, which is home to over 140,000 people of Guyanese descent. In Queens, 82,000 Guyanese represent the second largest foreign-born population in the borough.[2]
Many Indo-Guyanese immigrants emigrated to New York City during the upheavals of the 1970s and 1980s and settled in South Richmond Hill. The 2000 census identified 24,662 people in Richmond Hill who were born in Guyana, the majority of whom were of Indian descent.[7] The large concentration of Indo-Guyanese residents in Richmond Hill and the neighboring South Ozone Park, has led the area along Liberty Avenue to be referred to as "Little Guyana", with the portion of the avenue being officially co-named Little Guyana Avenue in 2021.[11][12] The majority of NYC's Afro-Guyanese population lives in Brooklyn's West Indian neighborhoods, most notably Flatbush and Canarsie.[7]
Indo-Guyanese are mostly Hindu, but some are Muslims or Christians.[13][8]
Politics
Guyanese have organized many of the U.S. Caribbean organizations. There are many associations of nurses and police from Guyana. Although the group has not made a collective impact on U.S. national policy, they have organized, through their churches, with other ethnic groups to promote knowledge about and find solutions for the problems in their neighborhoods and have entered local politics.[6] Despite being the 5th largest immigrant group in NYC, there are no council members of Guyanese descent.[14]
Some of the associations are the Guyana Cultural Association of New York, Indo-Caribbean Alliance, The Indo-Caribbean Federation of North America, and the Association of Guyanese-Americans.[10][15][16] Around springtime, the Hindu Indo-Guyanese population in Richmond Hill, Queens traditionally hold a Phagwah Holi Festival and Celebration and during the time of Diwali they have a motorcade on Liberty Avenue with a show.[17]
Relations with Guyana
The Guyanese-American community has close ties with Guyana and sends financial aid back to family members. There are large ongoing academic exchanges between Guyana and the United States.[6] The Journal of the Caribbean is a Caribbean newspaper important to inform the Indo-Guyanese and other Caribbean groups of their achievements and inform them about the events in Guyana. This newspaper is published weekly and distributed throughout North America. The publications of these papers are written in English. However, there are also publications in other languages. Newspapers offer services to help people. In the newspaper there is tax air tickets and visa forms, applications and service support for the elderly, advertisements for charities for children in Guyana and India.[10]
Dindayal, Vidur. Guyanese Achievers USA & Canada: A Celebration (New York: Trafford, 2011).
McLeod, Jacqueline A. "Guyanese Americans." Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 2, Gale, 2014), pp. 293–303. online
Palmer, Ransford W. In Search of a Better Life: Perspectives on Migration from the Caribbean (Praeger, 1990).
Ramsaroop, Yuvraj. Realizing the American Dream: The Personal Triumph of a Guyanese Immigrant (2010).
