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Through an interview, Tunde Ayobami shared an early Nigerian immigrant story of coming to America in search of a higher education. Tunde was born in the late 1940s while Nigeria was in the latter years of British rule. In its quest for independence, Nigeria suffered from prolonged violent political turmoil and marked economic disruption. Under such conditions. Tunde was raised by his father, a government employee, who lived in a shack.

Tunde attended Baptist missionary high school where he not only learned English, the official language of Nigeria, but also gained familiarity with western culture from the school's American teachers. At the time, Nigerian students commonly sought college educations abroad, usually either in the United States or Russia.

Preferring America's capitalist society and taking advantage of ties with a white American friend in Bristol, Rhode Island, Tunde came to the United States in...