Afro-Russians


Afro-Russians are people of Black African descent that have migrated to and settled in Russia. The Metis Foundation estimates that there were about 50,000 Afro-Russians in 2009.

Terminology

Representatives of African peoples in the Russian language are commonly called negry. The word negr comes from negro through other European languages. In the Russian language the word does not carry a negative connotation.

Russian Empire

There was never a significant number of people of African descent in Russia, even after Western European colonization of the continent. For centuries Russia was too isolated to interact with Africa. Russia's lack of involvement in the colonization of African or the Atlantic slave trade prevented it from developing significant relationships with African tribes or colonies. Despite this, Abram Petrovich Gannibal, a Russian of African descent, became a general and nobleman in the Russian Empire. After being kidnapped from Logone by Ottoman forces as a boy, he was sold to Russian diplomat Fedor Golovin in 1704 and gifted to Tsar Peter the Great, who freed and adopted him. As an adult, he rose to nobility, and served the Russian Empire in both civil and military capacities. He is also a maternal great-grandfather to the famed Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.

Early Soviet Period

After the revolution several black African families came to the Soviet Union under the auspices of the Comintern. They were chiefly specialists in the spheres of industrial production and agriculture. The technical equipment, modest means, and professional experience brought by them were an appreciable contribution to economic development of a new state. Among them were Oliver John Golden and his wife Bertha Bialek, well-known African-American poet Langston Hughes with a group of 22 filmmakers, Paul Robeson with his family and many others. Some of them stayed in Russia and their descendants still live there.

Post-War, the Festival Children

When African nations gained independence from colonialism, the Soviet Union offered scholarships to young people from these nations. About 400,000 Africans studied in the former Soviet Union between the late 1950s and 1990. The first significant arrival of Africans was for the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students held in Moscow in 1957. The mixed race African descended children were called festival children because of their appearance, timing of their birth, and lack of a father figure. Many Africans also attended the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia.

Notable Afro-Russian