Afro-Germans (German: Afrodeutsche) or Black Germans (German: schwarze Deutsche) are people who are citizens and/or residents of Germany and who are of Sub-Saharan African descent.
The majority of immigrants in Germany are from Eastern Europe, Southern Europe and the Middle East. The German Government has been keen to encourage immigration over the past 50 years, to address the low birth rate in the country.
The groups included Swiss Mennonites, Baptist Dunkers, Schwenkfelders, Moravians, Amish, and Waldensians; most German immigrants belonged to the main Lutheran and Reformed churches. The central colonies received the greatest part of this immigration, especially Pennsylvania.
The German ethnicity emerged among early Germanic peoples of Central Europe, particularly the Franks, Frisians, Saxons, Thuringii, Alemanni and Baiuvarii.
The German immigrants took jobs as skilled laborers that included jewelry makers, musical instrument manufacturers, cabinetmakers, and tailors.
There were many reasons for the desire of the Palatines to emigrate to the New World: oppressive taxation, religious bickering, hunger for more and better land, the advertising of the English colonies in America and the favourable attitude of the British government toward settlement in the North American colonies.
The nobles hoped the project would bring them wealth, power, and prestige. It could also, they thought, alleviate overpopulation in rural Germany. Their organization, variously called the Adelsverein, the Verein zum Schutze Deutscher Einwanderer in Texas, or the German Emigration Company, began work in the early 1840s.
The 1850s was the single biggest decade for German immigration, with some 951,000 reaching the United States. Why They Came Irish: Most emigrated to escape grinding poverty in Ireland—or to avoid outright starvation in the years of the potato famine.
The Germans and Irish were frequently subjected to anti-foreign prejudice and discrimination. Ultimately, the Germans and Irish assimilated into US culture and society and became two of the most successful immigrant groups in the country.
The German colonization of the Americas consisted of German Venezuela (German: Klein-Venedig, also German: Welser-Kolonie), St. Thomas and Crab Island in the 16th and 17th centuries.
During WWII, German nationals and German Americans in the US were detained and/or evicted from coastal areas on an individual basis. A total of 11,507 people of German ancestry were interned during the war, comprising 36.1% of the total internments under the US Justice Department's Enemy Alien Control Program.
The "German Triangle" was the area between Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Cincinnati where the majority of German immigrants settled.
Some Germans and German-Americans were attacked during World War I. They could live on city streets or in towns with German names. And while many immigrants assimilated into the English-speaking mainstream, many others sent their children to German-language public schools.
Pushed out of Ireland by religious conflicts, lack of political autonomy and dire economic conditions, these immigrants, who were often called "Scotch-Irish," were pulled to America by the promise of land ownership and greater religious freedom. Many Scotch-Irish immigrants were educated, skilled workers.
The available evidence suggests that immigration leads to more innovation, a better educated workforce, greater occupational specialization, better matching of skills with jobs, and higher overall economic productivity. Immigration also has a net positive effect on combined federal, state, and local budgets.
Although the Irish potato blight receded in 1850, the effects of the famine continued to spur Irish emigration into the 20th century. Still facing poverty and disease, the Irish set out for America where they reunited with relatives who had fled at the height of the famine.
Some German Americans were interned, and one German American man, who was also targeted for being socialist, was killed by a mob. Secondly, in response to this, German Americans began intentionally “assimilating” to avoid becoming targets.
