From Little Senegal in Harlem to Little Liberia in Staten Island to Little Accra in the Bronx and Little Nigeria in Queens, New York City has always been a place where African immigrants arrived and thrived. To celebrate, Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani recently held the city’s first-ever African Heritage reception at Gracie Mansion, welcoming immigrants from the continent’s many nations.
“I want to be very clear: I’m not going to be getting into whose jollof is best today,” joked Mamdani at the reception on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026.
Mamdani, who is Ugandan-born, attended the reception with his parents, aunt, and uncle. He expounded about the meaning behind his middle name, given to him by his father because of his admiration for Kwame Nkrumah — Ghana’s first prime minister and a stark Pan-Africanist. Mamdani and his family settled in New York City when he was 7. He was happy to discover that every borough had African communities.
“That is the New York that I love. When strangers come up to me and start speaking Luganda, it strikes me as a small miracle — proof of the decision that so many African New Yorkers have made, both alone and together, to never leave Africa behind,” said Mamdani.
He vowed to follow his namesake’s legacy of fighting for freedom and liberty.
Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office photos
Over the first nine months of his term, Mamdani has appointed several people to positions in his administration, such as African Liaison for the NYC Mayor’s Office of Mass Engagement Salim Drammeh; Delia Awusi, the first-ever mom-and-pop czar; Commissioner Nadia Shihata, the first-ever African head of the Department of Investigation; Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Dr. Helen Arteaga; and Chief Equity Officer and Commissioner Afua Atta-Mensah.
Attendees at the reception included African advocates and organizers, such as Amy Andrieux, the executive director of MoCADA, and Adama Bah, chief executive and founder of Afrikana. They enjoyed loads of food, delicacies, and drinks from various countries, including coconut water, jollof rice, beef suya skewers, and plantain cakes.
“Our language, our culture, our food, our faith, our tradition crossed the ocean with us,” said Bah, who is from Conakry, Guinea. During the migrant influx in 2022 under former Mayor Eric Adams, Bah was instrumental in helping Black immigrants who were newly arrived from southern border states acclimate and find resources.
“I saw African and Black immigrants being overlooked. They arrived speaking Pular, Wolof, Soninke, Bambara, Hassaniya, French, Arabic, Creole, Amharic, Tigrinya, and many more languages,” said Bah. “They needed more than translation. They needed people who understood their culture, their journey, and their dignity. That is how Afrikana was born. But I did not arrive here alone. I stand here on the shoulders of Africans who came before me, those who organized, built institutions, created opportunities for us.”
The reception also featured artwork from African artists, such as Ugandan artist Sanaa Gateja, known as the “Bead King,” and Brooklyn-based photographer Naima Greene.
