KEEP IT REAL

Bantus were taken from their native lands of northern Tanzania and Mozambique to be sold as slaves in Somalia in the 18th and 19th centuries

1930: Slavery ends in Somalia, but the Italian colonial government sets up an exploitative system in which the Somali Bantu are forced to work as farm laborers

1960: The Somali Bantu are freed but denied opportunities for land ownership, education, and political representation

Bantus held a low social status in Somalia for more than 200 years: no tribe membership, could perform only menial labor, were not allowed to marry non-Bantus

1991: civil war broke out in Somalia, forcing about 12,000 Somali Bantus (and many others) to flee in order to escape clan militias who were stealing, burning, raping, murdering

1992: Many refugees traveled from Somalia to Dadaab, a Kenyan UN refugee camp of 130,000 just across the border

After failed attempts by UNHCR to resettle Somalis in Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania, in 1991 US State Dept. agreed to begin to resettle some refugees in the US

Many Somali Bantus stayed in Kenyan camps for about ten years, still persecuted by other Somali clans: makeshift huts, long lines for limited food rations, constant danger of rape for women, little access to education (especially for girls)

1999: US State Dept. identified Somali Bantus as “persecuted” and a slow immigration process was set in motion to Kakuma, a safer and more accessible refugee camp farther from the border: INS began screening and State dept. offered a limited literacy program and cultural orientation program

2003: US resettlement began, family groups placed in 50 US cities and towns

Spring of 2004: Somali Bantu families began settling in Pittsburgh

On arrival, less than 5% spoke English. Community almost completely illiterate (in English and Somali)

There are now more than 200 Somali Bantu living in Pittsburgh and more than 14,000 nationwide