The Samaná Americans ( es, Americanos de Samaná) are a minority cultural sub-group of

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

descendants that inhabits the

Samaná Province Samaná () is a province of the Dominican Republic in the Samaná Peninsula located in the eastern region. Its capital is Santa Bárbara de Samaná, usually known as Samaná. The province is on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in the northeaste ...

in the eastern region of

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

History

Most of the Samaná Americans are descendants of

African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

who, beginning in 1824, immigrated to

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and th ...

—then under

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and s ...

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, admini ...

—benefiting from the

Haitian emigration Haitian emigration was a movement to describe the emigration of free blacks from the United States to settle in Haiti in the early 19th century. In an attempt to break out from the United States’ racist filled society, antebellum free blacks im ...

policy facilitated, in part, by the mulatto president Jean Pierre Boyer.

Jonathas Granville Pierre Joseph Marie Granville, known as Jonathas Granville (1785–1839) was a Haitian educator, legal expert, soldier and a diplomat. He was born a free mulatto in Saint-Domingue. He was a musician and poet, skilled swordsman, an experienced dip ...

traveled to the U.S. in May–June 1824 in response to a letter that Loring D. Dewey had sent to Boyer. While in the U.S., Granville met with other

abolitionists Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The Britis ...

, like Richard Allen, Samuel Cornish, and

Benjamin Lundy Benjamin Lundy (January 4, 1789August 22, 1839) was an American Quaker abolitionist from New Jersey of the United States who established several anti-slavery newspapers and traveled widely. He lectured and published seeking to limit slavery's expa ...

to organize the campaign for what was coined the ''

.'' The result was successful, as more than 6,000 of emigrants responding in less than a year. After that, however, the settlements met with multiple problems and many returned. However, many stayed and among those who stayed, enclaves in Puerto Plata and Santo Domingo were clearly evident by the time of

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...

's visit in 1871. But the most distinct of all the enclaves was the one in Samaná, which has survived until today. They constitute a recognizable and sizable cultural enclave and a few of its members are native Samaná English speakers. Aware of its distinctive heritage, the community, whose peculiar culture distinguishes them from the rest of Dominicans, refers to itself as Samaná Americans, and is referred to by fellow Dominicans as ''los americanos de Samaná''.

Cultural distinctiveness

Crucially, they maintain many elements of 19th-century African American culture, such as their variety of African American English, cuisine, games, and community services associations. Cultural exchanges with other groups in the area, like the Samaná Haitian communities and the Spanish-speaking majority, have been inevitable. But for most of its history, the English-speaking enclave has kept to itself, favoring, instead, intermarriages and reciprocal relations with other Black immigrant groups that are also Protestant and English-speakers, like the so-called

cocolo ''Cocolo'' is a term used in the Hispanic Caribbean to refer to Afro-Caribbean migrant descendants. The term originated in the Dominican Republic and is historically used to refer to the Anglophone Caribbean immigrants and their descendants and m ...

s. This is due to the relative isolation of the community, which until the 20th century was accessible only by boat due to the lack of roads connecting them to the rest of the island. Most follow the

African Methodist Episcopal The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a predominantly African American Methodist denomination. It adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology and has a connexional polity. The African Methodist Episcopal ...

and

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

denominations that their ancestors brought with them to the island.

Present day

While it is difficult to estimate the number of Samaná Americans today due to

exogamy Exogamy is the social norm of marrying outside one's social group. The group defines the scope and extent of exogamy, and the rules and enforcement mechanisms that ensure its continuity. One form of exogamy is dual exogamy, in which two groups c ...

and emigration from the peninsula, the number of

Samaná English Samaná English (SE and SAX) is a variety of the English language spoken by descendants of black immigrants from the United States who have lived in the Samaná Peninsula, now in the Dominican Republic. Members of the enclave are known as the Sa ...

speakers was once estimated to be around 8,000. Such numbers have decreased considerably as the linguists doing research in the community relate; a difficulty in finding SE speakers even among the elderly. No monolingual English speakers remain; all Samaná Americans who speak English also speak Spanish. As a result of the influence of mainstream Dominican culture (including compulsory Spanish-language education), many markers of their culture appear to be in decline.

Soraya Aracena Soraya Aracena is a anthropologist and curator from the Dominican Republic, who specialises in the religious and cultural practices of black Caribbean communities. In additional to her research she has also founded cultural festivals and an ethno ...

, ''Los inmigrantes norteamericanos de Samaná.'' (Santo Domingo: Helvetas Asociación Suiza para la Cooperación Internacional, 2000)

References

External links

The website of photographers Andrea Robbins and Max Becher
contains a collection of portraits of present-day Samaná Americans. Scroll down to "Samaná" on the left-hand menu.]
Interview with enclave's historian Martha Willmore

Samaná Afro-Dominican (Dominican Republic) Samaná Province American expatriates in Haiti American expatriates in the Dominican Republic American colonization movement Ethnic groups in the Dominican Republic {{African-American-stub

History

Cultural distinctiveness

Present day

See also

References

External links