African American Populations
There have been several polite terms used in the US to refer to persons of African descent: “colored,” “negro,” “Black,” “Afro-American,” and “African American.” “Colored” is definitely dated, though “people of color” is now widely used with a broader meaning, including anyone with non-European ancestry, sometimes even when their skin is not discernibly darker than that of a typical European. A few contemporary writers like to defy convention by referring to themselves as “negro.” “Black,” formerly a proudly assertive label claimed by young radicals in the 1960s, is now seen by some people as a racist insult. Some people insist on capitalizing “Black,” but others prefer “black.” The safest and most common neutral term is “African American,” but Americans sometimes misuse it to label people of African descent living in other countries or even actual Africans. To qualify as an “African American” you have to be an American. Although it is traditional to hyphenate “African-American,” “Irish-American,” “Cuban-American,” etc., there is a recent trend toward omitting the hyphen, possibly in reaction to the belittling phrase “hyphenated Americans.” However, some styles still call for the hyphen when the phrase is used adjectivally, so that you might be an African American who enjoys African-American writers. Omitting the hyphen may puzzle some readers, but it’s not likely to offend anyone. African Americans have a long history in the United States. Some African American families have been in the United States for many generations; others are recent immigrants from places such as Africa, the Caribbean, or the West Indies. African Americans, one of the largest of the many ethnic groups in the United States. African Americans are mainly of African ancestry, but many have nonblack ancestors as well. African Americans are largely the descendants of slaves—people who were brought from their African homelands by force to work in the New World. Their rights were severely limited, and they were long denied a rightful share in the economic, social, and political progress of the United States. Nevertheless, African Americans have made basic and lasting contributions to American history and culture. At the turn of the 21st century, more than half the country’s more than 36 million African Americans lived in the South; 10 Southern states had black populations exceeding 1 million. African Americans were also concentrated in the largest cities, with more than 2 million living in New York City and more than 1 million in Chicago. Detroit, Philadelphia, and Houston each had a black population. Blacks or African Americans are people having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. The Black or African American population includes people who marked their race(s) as “Black, African Am., or Negro” or reported entries such as African American; Sub-Saharan African (e.g., Kenyan and Nigerian); or Afro-Caribbean such as Haitian and Jamaican according to the US Census Bureau Demographics Those who identified only as African American made up 13.1% of the U.S. population-over 39 million people. The US Census Bureau
African Americans lived throughout the country in 2011, with the largest concentrations in the South. About 55% of those reported by the US Census as Black (alone or in combination) lived in the South. Locations with the largest percentage of Black residents per total population in 2012 were the District of Columbia (51.6%), and Mississippi (38%). Location with the largest total number of black residents (in 2012) was New York (3.7 million).
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