by Omenka Egwuatu Nwa-Ikenga

This weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the official dedication of the Igbo farm village at the Frontier Cultural Museum in Staunton, Virginia. This museum is the first of its kind, and it includes live recreations of the living conditions of some of the various immigrants who helped in the creation of America. These exhibits include English, Irish, German as well as West African, with a special emphasis on Igbo.

By all accounts, the Igbo represented a large number of Africans transported to the Americas, especially to the state of Virginia. At one point in time, Ndi Igbo (Igbo people) constituted 70% of the enslaved Africans in the state (source). If you are an African American with family ties to Virgina (including West Virginia), its almost guaranteed that you have some Igbo ancestry. In fact, according to Dr. Douglass Chambers, 60% of ALL African Americans probably have at least one Igbo ancestor (source). Below are some of the pictures that I took from the dedication weekend. In the future, there will be ALOT more posts about Igbo culture in the Americas, as well as photos from the village as it evolves.