Africans in Poland
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| Polish, English, French, others | |
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| Islam, Roman Catholicism, Atheism, others |
Africans in Poland, also known as Afro-Poles or Afro-Polish (Polish: Afropolacy), are citizens or residents of Poland who are of Sub-Saharan African descent.
History
[edit]The first people of African descent to arrive on Polish soil were brought as servants to Polish kings and nobles. Among others, John III Sobieski, Augustus II the Strong and Stanisław August Poniatowski had black servants.[1] In the first half of the 17th century a black servant named Aleksander Dynis was in the service of the Bishop of Krakow.[1] In 1752, Hieronim Florian Radziwiłł from Biała Podlaska purchased 12 slaves in London, black servants were also in the service of Jerzy Ignacy Lubomirski in Przemyśl, and Elżbieta Izabela Lubomirska in Mokotów (today part of Warsaw).[1] A black adjutant and butler, Jean Lapierre, was in the service of Tadeusz Kościuszko.[1]
However, the origins of the current Afro-Polish community are rooted in educational immigration to the Polish People's Republic. The Communist government strongly supported anti-colonial movements in Africa as part of broader Soviet policy. From the 1950s to the 1980s, many Africans emigrated to Poland to pursue their educations. While most African students in Poland returned to their countries of origin, many decided to remain in Poland and acquire citizenship. The contemporary Afro-Polish community includes many of these Africans and their descendants.[2]
In 1955, the 5th World Festival of Youth and Students was held in Warsaw. Organized by the leftist, anti-imperialist World Federation of Democratic Youth, the festival invited thousands of delegates from around the world, including almost 1,000 Africans. The Communist leadership of Poland wished to express solidarity and promote socialism to Africans from colonized nations. This was one of the earliest Polish encounters with non-white people, following the end of the multicultural and multiethnic Second Polish Republic following World War II. The Polish Press Agency was given the task of documenting the African visitors, which began an ongoing series of Polish press photography depicting African visitors and residents of Poland.[3]
Notable Afro-Polish citizens or residents
[edit]Historical
[edit]- Jean Lapierre, Haitian-born (probably) adjutant and butler to Tadeusz Kościuszko
- Władysław Franciszek Jabłonowski (1769–1802), Polish-born Napoleonic General of English and African descent
- Eduard von Feuchtersleben (1798–1857), Kraków-born (then in the Austrian Partition of Poland) engineer and writer, whose mother was a daughter of African-born Angelo Soliman
Entertainment and media
[edit]- Mamadou Diouf – Senegalese-born musician
- Sara James – Polish-born singer of Nigerian descent[4]
- Patricia Kazadi – Polish-born actress of Congolese descent
- Omenaa Mensah – Polish-born TV presenter of Ghanaian descent
- Omar Sangare – Polish American actor, academic, poet, and theatre director
- Patrycja Soliman - Actress, Egyptian father
- Aleksandra Szwed – Polish-born actress of Nigerian descent
- Ifi Ude – Nigerian-born singer
Political and social activists
[edit]- Killion Munyama – Zambian-born Civic Platform former member of the Sejm
- John Godson – Nigerian-born Polish People's Party former member of the Sejm
- Krystian Legierski - LGBT activist, of Polish and Mauritanian descent
Sportsmen
[edit]- Babatunde Aiyegbusi – Polish-born professional wrestler of Nigerian descent
- Michael Ameyaw - Footballer of Ghanaian descent
- Ishmael Baidoo - Ghanaian footballer
- Ferdinand Chi Fon - Cameroon-born retired footballer
- Martins Ekwueme - Nigerian footballer
- Sofia Ennaoui - Athlete, Moroccan father
- Kelechi Iheanacho - Nigerian footballer
- Benjamin Imeh - Nigerian footballer
- Maxwell Kalu - Nigerian footballer
- Thomas Kelati - Basketball player of Eritrean heritage
- Tafara Madembo - Footballer of Zimbabwean descent
- Alain Ngamayama - Footballer of Congolese descent
- Emmanuel Olisadebe - Nigerian-born footballer
- Natalia Padilla - Footballer of Moroccan descent
- Artur Partyka - Former high jumper, Algerian father
- Yared Shegumo – Ethiopian-born distance runner, who specializes in the Marathon
- Jeremy Sochan - Polish-Afro-American basketball player
- Mouhamadou Traoré - Senegalese footballer
- Stanley Udenkwor - Former footballer of Nigerian descent
- Izuagbe Ugonoh – Polish-born boxer of Nigerian descent
Other
[edit]- August Agbola O'Browne - Jazz drummer, Polish resistance member
- Abdulcadir Gabeire Farah – Somalian-born historian and social activist.
- Maxwell Itoya – Nigerian immigrant in Poland, who was killed in a police raid on a flea market.
- Robert Mitwerandu - Late footballer of Zimbabwean descent
- Simon Mol - Cameroonian anti-racism activist arrested for knowingly spreading HIV virus
See also
[edit]
Media related to African diaspora in Poland at Wikimedia Commons
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Wittels, Krzysztof (2010). "Początki afrykańskiej diaspory nad Wisła". Afryka w Warszawie. Dzieje afrykańskiej diaspory nad Wisłą (Mamadou Diouf, Paweł Średziński ed.). Warszawa. pp. 23–29.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ "Poland: Sub-Saharan Africans and the struggle for acceptance". Minority Rights Group International. 22 August 2018. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
- ^ "Afro-Poland: a revolutionary friendship, captured in rare photographs from 1955-1989". The Calvert Journal. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
- ^ "Sara Egwu-James z "The Voice Kids" już tak nie wygląda. Dziewczyna przeszła metamorfozę". plejadapl (in Polish). 2021-08-10. Retrieved 2021-09-26.
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| Secondary Afro-American diaspora |
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