Monthly Archives: February 2021

Detroit is the largest city in the state of Michigan and the second largest metropolitan area in the Midwest (after Chicago).  Detroit is better known by its nickname “Motor City”, or “Motown”, because of its prominence as the global center of the automotive industry.  Although the city has certainly had its share of ups and downs, Detroit remains an important and influential American city.  The Detroit metropolitan area, known as Metro Detroit, has a population of 4.3 million and is the fourteenth-largest metropolis in the United States.  Metro Detroit includes the towns of Dearborn, Royal Oak, Auburn Hills, Livonia, Southfield, Rochester Hills, Warren, Pontiac, Sterling Heights, and other municipalities.  There are nearly 40,000 African-born immigrants throughout Metro Detroit, including a few immigrants from Togo.  Togo and the city of Detroit share a common thread of being former French colonies.  While France's cultural influence in Detroit has nearly vanished in modern times, it is making a comeback through events such as the annual Marche Du Nan Rouge that celebrate the city's French traditions.  Of course, French culture and language is alive and well in today’s Togo, but the cultural influences of Detroit can also be found in Togolese music, from its soul and Afro jazz to its contemporary hip-hop. 

Charlotte is the 23rd-most populous city in the United States and is the most populous city in the state of North Carolina.  Known as the Queen City, this metropolis of 2.6 million people has been one of the country’s fastest-growing cities the past two decades.  Charlotte’s youthful population, low cost of living, and geograph location in America’s Sun Belt, have made it an attractive destination for business investment.  The Charlotte metropolitan area is a sixteen-county region that stretches into the state of South Carolina and includes the towns of Concord, Gastonia, Huntersville, Kannapolis, Indian Trail, Mooresville, Monroe, Salisbury, Matthews, Statesville, Rock Hill (SC), and Fort Mill (SC).  Charlotte has connections to Togo due to the handful of churches and humanitarian groups doing work in the country.  About half of Togo’s population is Christian, many of whom are Roman Catholic on account of this country’s history as a former colony of Germany and France.  French is the official language of Togo, but the main indigenous languages are Ewe, spoken in the south, and Kabiye, spoken in the north.  The population of Togolese immigrants in Charlotte is small but the city is home to community organizations such as the Ewe Association of Charlotte and Togolese of Charlotte.

Atlanta has a population of over 6 million people, making it the 9th most populous metropolitan area in the United States.  Atlanta is the capital of Georgia, which is the 8th most populous of the 50 states.  The city and surrounding area—known as the Atlanta metropolitan area—is also the commercial capital of the Southeast United States and has the third-largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the country.  The metropolitan area includes the municipalities of Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Chamblee, Roswell, Alpharetta, Marietta, Duluth, Norcross, Tucker, Lithonia, Decatur, Mableton, Clarkston, Conyers, and others.  Atlanta has become an extremely diverse and international city.  The Atlanta metropolitan area has nearly 85,000 immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa and has one of the largest populations of West Africans in the country, including some immigrants from Togo.  Atlanta even has a Togolese restaurant, Le Nouveau Maquis in Stone Mountain, where local Americans can get a taste of this West African country before starting their journey.  As a former colony of France, this is a French speaking country and American visitors from Atlanta can also prepare for their trip by enrolling in language courses at the Alliance Francaise d’Atlanta in Midtown.

Boston is one of America’s oldest cities and has a rich history that attracts over 20 million tourists each year.  Known as the “intellectual capital of the United States”, Boston is a center of education that has more than 350,000 college students from around the world, making up over 7% of the metro area’s population.  Boston University has one of the oldest and largest African Studies programs in the country and offers courses in eight indigenous African languages, including Twi, one of the languages spoken in Ghana.  The African Language Program at Harvard also offers Twi language courses.  Greater Boston is the eleventh-most populous metropolitan area in the United States with a population of 4.9 million people, and includes towns such as Cambridge, Brookline, Quincy, Brockton, Lynn, Newton, Waltham, and Medford.  Although not officially part of Greater Boston, the city of Worcester (an hour outside of Boston) has one on the largest Ghanaian immigrant communities in the United States.  In fact, Worcester has nearly 40,000 immigrants from Ghana, making this one of the largest Ghanaian communities outside of Ghana.  The current president of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, has visited this city on two different occasions.

The Republic of Georgia has opened its doors to digital nomads and entrepreneurs through its “Remotely from Georgia” program.

The Eurasian country is one of several nations that introduced “digital nomad” programs in mid-2020 to boost tourist industries devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Remotely from Georgia” allows freelancers, full-time employees, and business owners from 95 countries (including the United States) to temporarily relocate to Georgia. They can stay for 180 to 360 days without a visa while continuing to work for overseas employers or for themselves. According to an MBO survey cited recently by The Wall Street Journal, there are more than 10 million U.S. citizens who combine travel with remote work.

New York is America’s most-populous city, and its metropolitan area has over 20 million people.  New York City contains the five boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx.  The New York metropolitan area includes New York City, Long Island, and the Mid and Lower Hudson Valley.  It also includes several large cities in New Jersey such as Newark, Edison, Elizabeth, Paterson, Jersey City, and Hoboken, along with several large cities in Connecticut that include New Haven, Bridgeport, and Stamford.  New York is one of the most important economic regions in the world and has the highest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the United States. It is also one of the most linguistically diverse cities in the world with over 600 languages spoken in the metropolitan area.  Nearly 5% of New York’s immigrants come from Africa, and Ghanaian tribal languages such as Twi, Ewe, Ga, and Fante are spoken here.  There are well over 35,000 Ghanaian immigrants living in New York City and nearly double that number living throughout the state of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.  The Bronx has over 20,000 Ghanaian immigrants and is home to “Little Ghana”, one of the largest Ghanaian immigrant communities in the United States.  

The city of Dallas and the surrounding metropolitan area is the most populous metropolis in the southern United States and fourth-most populous in the country.  The Dallas metropolitan area—known as the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, or DFW by local residents—has a population of 7.6 million people and includes the cities of Fort Worth, Arlington, Plano, Irving, Garland, Richardson, Frisco, Mesquite, Denton, Grand Prairie, and McKinney.  The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, located in North Texas, is one of the fastest growing regions in the country thanks to its low cost of living, low taxes, abundance of resources, and ease of doing business.  Dallas has the second-highest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the United States and there is a long list of corporations that have been relocating to the area from other parts of the country.  Dallas has a growing population of immigrants, which includes an increasing number of Ghanaian immigrants that use their professional experience, high academic attainment levels, and commitment to hard work to achieve success in America.  There are now several thousand immigrants from Ghana living in DFW and the community now has its own GhanaFest, an annual festival celebrating Ghanaian culture, food, and music. 

Greater Houston is the fifth most-populous metropolitan area in the United States and has a population of over 7 million residents.  Houston is one of America’s most ethnically diverse cities.  With over 145 different languages being spoken in this global city, it is no surprise that Houston has plenty of great restaurants offering delicious cuisine from all over the world, including several West African restaurants.  This is a fast-growing and youthful city that attracts entrepreneurs, corporate businesspeople, international investors, and students.  Houston is home to the country’s oil and gas industry, and Ghana is now a player in this industry thanks to the discovery of oil in the Jubilee oil field.  Greater Houston encompasses nine counties and includes the cities of Sugar Land, Baytown, Conroe, Pasadena, Pearland, The Woodlands, and Galveston.  Greater Houston has a large West African immigrant population that includes a few thousand immigrants from Ghana.  Houston is home to nonprofit organizations that represent this community including the Ghana Association of Houston and Ghana-Houston Chamber of Commerce.  The city also has several Ghanaian churches, restaurants, and grocery stores such as Makola Marketplace, named after the famous shopping district in Ghana.

Washington, D.C. is the capital of the United States and is an important global city that attracts visitors from all over the world.  The Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area—which includes the District of Columbia and parts of Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia—is America’s sixth-largest metropolis and has a population of 6.3 million people.  Cities within this area (apart from the District of Columbia) include Alexandria, Annandale, Arlington, Fairfax, Falls Church, and Reston—all in Virginia—along with the Maryland towns of Bethesda, College Park, Frederick, Gaithersburg, Rockville, and Silver Spring.  The Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area has the second largest population of Ghanaian immigrants in the United States and there are several nonprofit groups representing this community, including the Council of Ghanaian Associations Washington Metro.  Morgan State University (in nearby Baltimore) is helping the Washington, D.C. area establish strong links with Ghana through its recent decision to offer degree programs in Accra, the nation’s capital and most populous city.  Professors from the university will travel to Ghana to teach the courses, allowing Ghanaian students to earn a degree from an American university without having to leave home.   

Philadelphia is the largest city in the state of Pennsylvania and is one of the oldest cities in the United States.  Founded in 1682 by Englishman William Penn, a social reformer and champion of liberty, he named the city Philadelphia using the Greek term meaning “brotherly love”.  Philadelphia has the nickname “City of Brotherly Love” and is nowadays more casually known by locals and non-locals alike as “Philly”.  The Philadelphia metropolitan area has over 6 million people (America’s eighth-largest metropolis) and includes cities and towns in the states of New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, in addition to Pennsylvania.  Philadelphia has a large population of West Africans immigrants and there is a neighborhood in the southwest part of the city known as “Little Africa”,  Immigrants from Ghana have been coming to Philadelphia for decades; some Ghanaians come here to attend school at one of the dozens of colleges and universities in the metropolitan area.  Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, came to Philadelphia in 1935 to study at Lincoln University and would later attend graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn).  Coincidentally, Penn is one of only a few universities in the United States that teach Twi—a major language spoken in Ghana.