African Americans

African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the who have origins in any of the  racial groups of. In the United States the term is generally used for Americans with n ancestry. Most African Americans are the descendants of captive Africans who survived within the boundaries of the present United States, although some are—or are descended from—voluntary immigrants from Africa, the, , or elsewhere.

History


African Americans are primarily descended from slaves sold to (which later became  and the ) during the. By 1860, there were 3.5 million enslaved Africans in the, and another 500,000 Africans lived free across the country. In 1863, during the,  signed the. The proclamation declared all slaves in states that had seceded from the Union were free. Advancing Union troops enforced the proclamation with Texas being the last state to be emancipated in 1865. While the post-war era was initially a time of progress for African Americans, in the late 1890s, Southern states enacted  to enforce  and. Most African Americans followed the Jim Crow laws and assumed a posture of and servility to prevent becoming victims of. To maintain self-esteem and dignity, African Americans created their own, , s, s, and other businesses.

In the last decade of the nineteenth century in the United States, racially discriminatory laws and racial violence aimed at African Americans began to mushroom. These discriminatory acts included – upheld by the United States Supreme Court decision in  in 1896 - which was legally mandated by southern states and nationwide at the local level of government, voter suppression or disenfranchisement in the southern states, denial of economic opportunity or resources nationwide, and private acts of violence and mass racial violence aimed at African Americans unhindered or encouraged by government authorities. The desperate conditions of African Americans in the South that sparked the of the early 20th century, combined with a growing African American intellectual and cultural elite in the, led to a movement to fight  and  against African Americans that, like  before it, crossed racial lines. The aimed at abolishing public and private acts of  against African Americans between 1954 to 1968, particularly in the southern United States. By 1966, the emergence of the, which lasted from 1966 to 1975, expanded upon the aims of the to include racial dignity, economic and political self-sufficiency, and freedom from white authority. The and the conditions which brought it into being are credited with putting pressure on President John F. Kennedy and then Lyndon B. Johnson that culminated in the passage the  that banned  in public accommodations, employment, and.

Demographics
In 1790, when the first was taken, Africans (including slaves and free people) numbered about 760,000—about 19.3% of the population. In 1860, at the start of the, the African American increased to 4.4 million, but the percentage rate dropped to 14% of the overall population of the. The vast majority were slaves, with only 488,000 counted as "". By 1900, the black population had doubled and reached 8.8 million.

In 1910, about 90% of African Americans lived in the, but large numbers began migrating north looking for better job opportunities and living conditions, and to escape and racial violence. The, as it was called, spanned the 1890s to the 1970s. From 1916 through the 1960s, more than 6 million black people moved. But in the 1970s and 1980s, that trend reversed, with more African Americans moving south to the than leaving it.

The following gives the African American population in the U.S. over time, based on U.S. Census figures. (Numbers from years 1920 to 2000 are based on U.S. Census figures as given by the Time Almanac of 2005, p 377) The gives a 2006 figure of 12.9% Controversy has surrounded the "accurate" population count of African Americans for decades. The NAACP believed it was under counted intentionally to minimize the significance of the black population in order to reduce their political power base. By 1990, the African American population reached about 30 million and represented 12% of the U.S. population, roughly the same proportion as in 1900. In current demographics, according to 2005 U.S.  figures, some 39.9 million African Americans live in the, comprising 13.8 percent of the total population. At the time of the 2000 Census, 54.8 percent of African Americans lived in the. In that year, 17.6 percent of African Americans lived in the and 18.7 percent in the, while only 8.9 percent lived in the western s. The west does have a sizable black population in certain areas, however. California, the nation's most populous state, has the fifth largest African American population, only behind New York, Texas, Georgia, and Florida. According to the 2000 Census, approximately 2.05% of African Americans identified as Hispanic or Latino in origin. Many of whom may be of, , , an, or other descent.

Almost 58 percent of African Americans lived in s in 2000. With over 2 million black residents, had the largest black  population in the  in 2000, overall the city has a 28 percent black population. Chicago has the second largest black population, with almost 1.6 million African Americans in its metropolitan area, representing about 18 percent of the total metropolitan population. Among cities of 100,000 or more,, , had the highest percentage of black residents of any U.S. city in 2000, with 84 percent (though it should be noted that the 2006 Census estimate puts the city's population below 100,000.) Nonetheless, Gary is followed closely by , , which was 82 percent African-American. Other large cities with African-American majorities include (67 percent),  (64 percent)  (61 percent),  (61 percent) and  (60 percent).

The nation's most affluent county with an African American majority is, Maryland, with a median income of $62,467. Other affluent predominantly African American counties include in Georgia, and  in Virginia. is the only county with a population of 65,000 or more where African Americans have a higher median household income than European Americans.

Contemporary issues
African Americans have improved their social economic standing significantly since the and recent decades have witnessed the expansion of a robust, African American middle class across the. Unprecedented access to higher education and employment has been gained by African Americans in the post-civil rights era. Nevertheless, due in part to the legacy of, and , African Americans as a group remain at a pronounced ,  and  disadvantage in many areas relative to European Amercians. Persistent, and  issues for many African Americans include inadequate health care access and delivery;  and discrimination in housing, , policing,  and ; ,  and. One of the most serious and long standing issues within African American communities is. itself is a hardship as it is related to marital stress and dissolution, health problems, low educational attainment, deficits in psychological functioning, and crime. In 2004, 24.7% of African American families lived below the poverty level.

Economic status
Economically, blacks have benefited from the advances made during the, particularly among the educated, but not without the lingering effects of historical marginalzation when considered as a whole. The racial disparity in poverty rates has narrowed. The black has grown substantially. In 2000, 47% of African Americans owned their homes. The poverty rate among African Americans has dropped from 26.5% in 1998 to 24.7% in 2004.

In 2004, African American workers had the second-highest earnings of American  groups after, and African Americans had the highest level of male-female income parity of all ethnic groups in the United States. Also, among American, only were more likely to hold  occupations (management, professional, and related fields), and African Americans were no more or less likely than European Amercians to work in the service industry. In 2001, over half of African American households of married couples earned $50,000 or more. Although in the same year African Americans were over-represented among the nation's poor, this was directly related to the disproportionate percentage of African American families headed by single women; such families are collectively poorer, regardless of ethnicity.

By 2006, gender continued to be the primary factor in income level, with the median earnings of African American men more than those black and non-black American women overall and in all educational levels. At the same time, among American men, income disparities were significant; the median income of African American men was approximately 76 cents for every dollar of their European Amercian counterparts, although the gap narrowed somewhat with a rise educational level. Overall, the median earnings of African American men were 72 cents for every dollar earned of their Asian American counterparts, and $1.17 for every dollar earned by Hispanic men. On the other hand by 2006, among American women with post-secondary education, African American women have made significant advances; the median income of African American women was more than those of their Asian-, European and Hispanic American counterparts with at least some college education.

However, African Americans are still underrepresented in government and employment. In 1999, the median income of African American families was $33,255 compared to $53,356 of European Americans. In times of economic hardship for the nation, African-Americans suffer disproportionately from job loss and underemployment, with the black underclass being hardest hit. The phrase "last hired and first fired" is reflected in the unemployment figures. Nationwide, the September 2004 unemployment rate for blacks was 10.3%, while their white counterparts were unemployed at the rate of 4.7%.

The income gap between black and white families is also significant. In 2005, Employed blacks earned only 65% of the wages of whites in comparable jobs, down from 82% in 1975. Although rates of births to unwed mothers among both blacks and whites have risen since the 1950s, the rate of such births among African Americans is three times the rate of whites.

According to  magazine's "wealthiest American" lists, a 2000 net worth of $800 million dollars made the richest African American of the 20th century; by contrast, the net worth of the 20th century's richest, , who is of , briefly hit $100 billion in 1999. In Forbes' 2007 list, Gates' net worth decreased to $59 billion while Winfrey's increased to $2.5 billion, making her the world's richest Black person. Winfrey is also the first African American to make Business Week's annual list of America's 50 greatest philanthropists. BET founder Bob Johnson was also listed as a billionaire prior to an expensive divorce and has recently regained his fortune through a series of real estate investments. Although Forbes estimates his net worth at $1.1 billion, which makes him the only male African American billionaire, Winfrey remains the only African American wealthy enough to rank among the country's 400 richest people.

Health
By 2003, sex had replaced as the primary factor in life expectancy in the United States, with African American females expected to live longer than European American males born in that year. In the same year, the gap in between American whites (78.0) and blacks (72.8) had decreased to 5.2 years, reflecting a long term trend of this phenomenon. By 2004, "the trend toward convergence in mortality figures across the major race groups also continued," with white-black gap in life epextancy dropping to 5 years. The current life expectancy of African Americans as a group is comparable to those of other groups who live in countries with a high.

At the same time, the life expectancy gap is affected by collectively lower access to quality. With no system of, access to medical care in the U.S. generally is mediated by income level and employment status. As a result, African Americans, who have a disproportionate occurrence of poverty and unemployment as a group, are more often uninsured than non Hispanic whites or Asians. For a great many African Americans, healthcare delivery is limited, or nonexistent. And when they receive healthcare, they are more likely than others in the general population to receive substandard, even injurious medical care. African Americans have a higher prevalence of some chronic health conditions.

African Americans are the American ethnic group most affected by and, according to the. It has been estimated that "184,991 adult and adolescent HIV infections [were] diagnosed during 2001-2005" (1). More than 51 percent occurred among blacks than any other race. Between the ages of 25-44 years 62 percent were African Americans. Dr. Robert Janssen (2007) states, "We have rates of HIV/AIDS among blacks in some American cities that are as high as in some countries in Africa". The rate for African Americans with HIV/AIDS in Washington D.C. is 3 percent, based on cases reported. In a New York Times Article, about 50 percent of AIDS-related deaths were African American woman, which accounted for 25 percent of the city's population. In Many cases there are a higher proportion of black people being tested than any other racial group. Dr. Janssen goes on by saying "We need to do a better job of encouraging African Americans to test. Studies show that approximately one in five black men between the ages 40 to 49 living in the city is HIV-positive, according to the TIMES. Research indicates that African Americans sexual behavior is no different than any other racial group. Dr. Janssen says "Racial groups tend to have sex with members of their own racial group.



Politics and Social Issues
Collectively, African Americans are more involved in the American political process than other minority groups in the US, indicated by the highest level of voter registration and participation in elections among these groups in 2004. African Americans collectively attain higher levels of education than immigrants to the United States.

Crime, particularly in impoverished, urban communities, is a serious and ongoing issue in America. The African American population in many urban areas are disproportionately poor, a factor which resonate in the nation's crime statistics for metropolitan areas.

Cultural influence in the United States
From their earliest presence in, African Americans have contributed , , agricultural skills, , clothing styles, , , and  innovation to American culture. The cultivation and use of many agricultural products in the U.S., such as, , , , , , , s, and , can be traced to African and African American influences. A couple of notable examples include, who created 300 products from peanuts, 118 products from sweet potatoes, and 75 from pecans; and , who invented the potato chip in 1853. is one of the most pervasive African American cultural influences in the United States today and is among the most dominant in mainstream popular music. ,, , , , , and other contemporary American musical forms originated in black communities and evolved from other black forms of music including , , , and. African American derived musical forms have also influenced and been incorporated into virtually every other popular musical genre in the world, including and. African American genres are the most important ethnic vernacular tradition in America as they have developed independent of African traditions from which they arise more so than any other immigrant groups, including Europeans; make up the broadest and longest lasting range of styles in America; and have, historically, been more influential, interculturally, geographically, and economically, than other American vernacular traditions.

African Americans have also had an important role in American dance. , a prominent modern choreographer and dancer, has included historical African American themes in his work, particularly in the piece "Last Supper at Uncle Tom’s Cabin/The Promised Land". Likewise, 's artistic work, including his "Revelations" based on his experience growing up as an African American in the South during the 1930s has had a significant influence on modern dance. Another form of dance,, is an African American tradition whose performance and competition has been formalized through the traditionally black fraternities and sororities at universities.

Many African American authors have written stories, poems, and essays influenced by their experiences as African Americans, and is a major genre in American. Famous examples include, , , , , , and. African American s have created many widely used devices in the world and have contributed to international. Though most slave inventors were nameless, such as the slave owned by the President Jefferson Davis who designed the ship propeller used by the entire Confederate, but following the , the growth of industry in the  was tremendous and much of this was made possible with inventions by ethnic minorities. By 1913 over 1,000 inventions were patented by Black Americans. Among the most notable inventors were Jan Matzeliger, who developed the first machine to mass-produce shoes, and, who invented automatic lubrication devices for steam engines. had 35 patents to improve electric railway systems including the first system to allow moving trains to communicate. He even sued and  for stealing his patents and won both cases. developed the first automatic traffic signal and gas mask, and who created the technique for converting sugar cane juice into white sugar crystals. Moreover, Rillieux was so brilliant that in 1854 he left and went to  where he spent ten years working with the Champollions deciphering  from the.

created an inexpensive cotton-thread filament, which made electric light bulbs practical because Edison's original light bulb only burned for a few minutes. More recent inventors include McKinley Jones, who invented the movable refrigeration unit for food transport in trucks and trains and Lloyd Quarterman who with six other Black scientists, worked on the creation of the atomic bomb along (code named the .) Quarterman also helped develop the first nuclear reactor, which was used in the atomically powered  called the Nautilus.

A few other notable examples include the first successful, performed by Dr. , the conceptualization and establishment of blood banks around the world by Dr. , the air conditioner, patented by. Dr. holds three of the original nine patents on the computer on which all PCs are based. More current contributors include Otis Bodkin, who invented an electrical device used in all guided missiles and all IBM computers, and Colonel Frederick Gregory, who was not only the first Black pilot but the person who also redesigned the cockpits for the last three space shuttles. Gregory was also on the team that pioneered the microwave instrumentation landing system. In 2000, Bendix Aircraft Company began a worldwide promotion of this microwave instrumentation landing system.

Political legacy
The gains made by African Americans in the and  movements not only obtained certain rights for African Americans, but changed American society in far-reaching and fundamentally important ways. Prior to the 1950s, Americans were still living in the shadow of slavery and, when, in the words of , African Americans and their supporters challenged the nation to "rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed that all men are created equal…."

The marked a sea-change in American social, political, economic and civic life. It brought with it, , demonstrations, court battles, bombings and other violence; prompted worldwide media coverage and intense public debate; forged enduring civic, economic and religious alliances; disrupted and realigned the nation's two major ; and over time has changed in fundamental ways the manner in which blacks and whites interact with and relate to one another. Ultimately, the movement resulted in the removal of codified, de jure racial segregation and discrimination from American life and law and heavily influenced the civil and social liberties that many Americans of varied cultural backgrounds expect for themselves.

Political overtones
The term African American carries important political overtones. Earlier, terms used to identify Americans of African ancestry were conferred upon the group by Americans of European ancestry and were included in the wording of various laws and legal decisions which became tools of white supremacy and. There developed among blacks in America a growing desire for a term of their own choosing.

With the political consciousness that emerged from the political and social ferment of the late 1960s and early 1970s, the term Negro fell into disfavor among many blacks. It had taken on a moderate, accommodationist, even, connotation. In this period, a growing number of blacks in the U.S., particularly African American youth, celebrated their blackness and their historical and cultural ties with the African continent. The defiantly embraced Black as a group identifier—a term they themselves had repudiated only two decades earlier—a term often associated in English with things negative and undesirable, proclaiming, "".

In this same period, a smaller number favored Afro-American. In the 1980s the term African American was coined on the model of, for example, German American. It was largely popularized by, and quickly adopted by major media outlets. Many blacks in America expressed a preference for the term as it was formed in the same way as the names for other ethnic groups. Some argued further that, because of the historical circumstances surrounding the capture, enslavement and systematic attempts to de-Africanize blacks in the U.S. under, most African Americans are unable to trace their ancestry to a specific African nation; hence, the entire continent serves as a geographic marker.

For many, African American is more than a name expressive of and  roots. The term expresses African pride and a sense of kinship and solidarity with others of the —an embracing of the notion of pan-Africanism earlier enunciated by prominent African thinkers such as, , of  and, later,.

A discussion of the term African American and related terms can be found in the article "The Politicization of Changing Terms of Self Reference Among American Slave Descendants" in American Speech v 66 is 2 Summer 1991 p. 133-46.

Who is African American?
Since 1977, the United States officially categorized Black people (revised to Black or African American in 1997) are classified as A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.. Other Federal offices, such as the Bureau and the adheres to the OMB standards on race in its data collection and tabulations efforts. The U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation also categorizes Black or African-American people as "A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa" through racial categories used in the UCR Program adopted from the Statistical Policy Handbook (1978) and published by the Office of Federal Statistical Policy and Standards, U.S. Department of Commerce derived from the 1977 OMB classification.

Due in part to a centuries-old history within the, historical experiences pre- and post-slavery, and migrations throughout , the vast majority of contemporary African Americans possess varying degrees of admixture with European and Native American ancestry.

Some courts have called a person black if the person had any known African ancestry. It became known as the, meaning that a single drop of "black blood" makes a person "black". Some courts have called it the traceable amount rule, and anthropologists used to call it the rule, meaning that racially mixed persons were assigned the status of the subordinate group. Prior to the one-drop rule, different states had different laws regarding color; in, for example, a person was legally black if he or she had at least one-sixteenth black ancestry. The one-drop rule was implemented by states in the southern United States during the early to mid-1880s. For African Americans, the one-drop system of was a significant factor in ethnic solidarity. African Americans generally shared a common lot in society and, therefore, common cause -- regardless of their admixture or social and economic stratification.

In the 1980s, parents of mixed-race children began to organize and lobby for the addition of a more inclusive term of racial designation that would reflect the heritage of their children. In recent decades, the climate of the United States has continued to expand. Although the terms mixed-race, biracial and are increasingly used, it remains common for those who possess any visible traits of black heritage to identify or be identified solely within black/African American. As well, it is very common in the United States for people of mixed ancestry possessing any recent black heritage to self-identify demographically as African American while acknowledging both their African American and other cultural heritages socially.

For example, 55% of European Americans classify  as biracial when they are told that he has a white mother, while 66% of African-Americans consider him Black. Obama considers himself to be black though he is generally considered to be African American.

Terms no longer in common use
The terms and, which were widely used until the second quarter of the 20th century, when they were considered outmoded, and generally gave way to the use of negro. By the 1940s, the term commonly was capitalized, but by the mid 1960s, it had acquired negative connotations. Today, the term is considered inappropriate and is now often used as a pejorative. Colored and Negro, now largely defunct, survive in certain historical organizations such as the, the , and the.

was a term used by first in the 18th century to describe some indigenous Africans and their descendants throughout the. As with most descriptors of race based on inconsistent, unscientific phenotypical standards, the term is controversial and imprecise. Growing numbers of blacks have substituted the term, which, unlike Negroid, encompasses the phenotypes of all.

Criticisms of the term
To be African American, some argue that an individual would have to be born in Africa. The term also has been interpreted to include non-black immigrants from Africa to the United States, such as white South Africans or Arabs from Africa, although these groups generally do not refer to themselves as African American, nor are they generally regarded as such in the United States. (, who was born in present-day to  parents, is not referred to as African American. Senator, who has one White American parent and one Black African parent, generally is, although some people question this classification.  , who also has one African parent, is in the same category as Obama, but is also called .)

The term 'African American' also has been misused by some in lieu of 'Black', regardless of an individual's nationality, ethnicity or geography. For example, during the, anchorwoman  referred to the rioters as "African Americans".

Some defenders of the term argue that it was never meant to encompass all Africans, or even all black people, but only those individuals formerly referred to as 'American Negroes', primarily people whose ancestors survived the and. Further, in the U.S., which is often described as a nation of immigrants, terms historically have been used to indicate one's national origin, or that of one's ancestors.

In this tradition, a person born in would take on the name of his or her country of origin. For example, an individual from would be called a 'Nigerian-American', as the term is descriptive of national origin, as opposed to 'African American'. Many prefer the term 'African American' because, although the historical national origin of the majority of black Americans is untraceable, and most African nations were named centuries after most slaves were imported, the continent of serves as an indicator of geographic origin and a descriptive term.

Greatest African Americans
In 2005 the and  teamed to conduct a massive election in which they asked Americans to nominate the  of all time. Millions of votes were cast and the final list of the 100 Greatest Americans of all time contained 17 African Americans.

The following four African Americans were considered greatest by the voting public: