were taken with settlers who moved to Kentucky. According to some historians, the Igbo also comprised most of the slaves in Maryland. This group was characterized by high rates of rebellion and suicide, as the people resisted and fought back against enslavement. Lot of Nigerians of Igbo origin were also brought into the U.S. in the late 1960s as war refugees during Nigerian civil war. Some Nigerian ethnic groups, such as the Yoruba, and some northern Nigerian ethnic groups, had traditional, cultural identification marks, such as tattoo and scarification designs. These could have assisted a kidnapped and enslaved person who escaped in locating other members of their ethnic group, but few enslaved people managed to escape the colonies. In the colonies, slavers tried to dissuade the practice of traditional tribal customs. They also mixed people of different ethnic groups to make it more difficult for them to communicate and band together in rebellion. U.S. President Thomas Jefferson officially outlawed the Atlantic slave trade in 1808, although some enslaved Africans continued to be illegally smuggled into the country and the institution of slavery persisted until the American Civil War. Modern migration (1960s – present) In modern times, most Americans of unambiguous Nigerian ancestry are voluntary immigrants and their descendants. Various leaders of the Nigerian independence movement such as Eyo Ita, Mbonu Ojike, and Nnamdi Azikiwe were educated in the United States during the 1930s-1940s. When President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, U.S. restrictions on immigration from regions outside of Northwestern Europe were eliminated, allowing for a greater number of Nigerians in the United States. The modern generation of Nigerian migrants was initially motivated by the desire to pursue educational opportunities in undergraduate and postgraduate institutions in the United States. During the 1960s and the 1970s aftermath of the Nigerian-Biafran War, the Nigerian government funded the education of Nigerian students attending U.S. universities. While this was occurring, there were several military coups, interspersed with brief periods of civilian rule. The instability resulted in many Nigerian professionals emigrating, especially doctors, lawyers and academics, who found it difficult to return to Nigeria. During the 1980s, a larger wave of Nigerians immigrated to the United States. This migration was driven by political and economic problems exacerbated by the military regimes of self-styled generals Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha. Other émigrés comprised a large number of refugees, fleeing on account