Population Distribution
Note: Unless otherwise noted, the estimates in this section refer to the population that is either single-race black or black in combination with one or more other races.

40.2 million
As of July 1, 2006, the estimated population of black residents in the United States, including those of more than one race. They made up 13.4% of the total U.S. population. This figure represents an increase of half a million residents from one year earlier.

61.4 million
The projected single-race black population of the United States for July 1, 2050. On that date, according to the projection, blacks would constitute 14.6% of the nation’s total population.

18
Number of states with an estimated black population on July 1, 2006, of at least 1 million. New York, with 3.5 million blacks, led the way. The 17 other states on the list were Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

37%
Percentage of Mississippi’s population that is black, highest of any state. Blacks also make up more than a quarter of the population in Louisiana (32%), Georgia (30%), Maryland (30%), South Carolina (29%), and Alabama (27%). They comprise 57% of the population in the District of Columbia.

135,000
The increase in Texas’ black population between July 1, 2005, and July 1, 2006, which led all states. Georgia (101,000), Florida (86,000), and North Carolina (41,000) also recorded large increases.

22
Number of states in which blacks are the largest minority group. These states are Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. (Note: Minorities are part of a group other than single-race non-Hispanic white.)

1.4 million
The number of blacks in Cook County, Ill., as of July 1, 2006. Cook led all the nation’s counties in the number of people of this racial category. Los Angeles County, Calif., also topped the 1 million mark. Harris County, Texas, had the largest numerical increase in the black population between July 1, 2005, and July 1, 2006 (52,000), followed by East Baton Rouge Parish, La. (19,000).

Among counties with total populations of at least 10,000, all 50 with the highest percentage black population were in the South. Claiborne County, Miss., which was 85% black, led the country.

31%
The proportion of the black population younger than 18 as of July 1, 2006. At the other end of the spectrum, 8% of the black population was 65 and older.

Serving Our Nation
2.4 million
Number of black military veterans in the United States in 2006. More military veterans are black than any other minority group.

Education
Note: 2005 and 2006 data in this section pertain to single-race blacks.

81%
Among blacks 25 and older, the proportion who had at least a high school diploma in 2006.

18%
Percentage of blacks 25 and older who had a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2006.

1.3 million
Among blacks 25 and older, the number who had an advanced degree in 2006 (e.g., master’s, doctorate, medical, or law). In 1996, 683,000 blacks had this level of education.

2.3 million
Number of black college students in fall 2005. This was an increase of roughly 1 million from 15 years earlier.

Businesses
$88.6 billion
Revenues for black-owned businesses in 2002. The number of black-owned businesses totaled nearly 1.2 million in 2002. Black-owned firms accounted for 5% of all nonfarm businesses in the United States.

129,329
The number of black-owned firms in New York in 2002, which led all states. New York City alone had 98,080 such firms, which led all cities.

10,716
The number of black-owned firms operating in 2002 with receipts of $1 million or more. These firms accounted for 1% of the total number of black-owned firms in 2002 and 55% of their total receipts, or $49 billion.

969
The number of black-owned firms with 100 or more employees in 2002. Firms of this size accounted for 24% of the total revenue for black-owned employer firms in 2002, or $16 billion.

Income, Poverty and Health Insurance
$31,969
The annual median income of single-race black households in 2006. In constant dollars, this is up from $26,468 in 1986.

$34,770 & $30,352
The 2006 median earnings of single-race black men and women, respectively, 15 and older who worked full time, year-round.

24.3%
Poverty rate in 2006 for single-race blacks. This rate was down from 31.1% in 1986.

20.5%
The percentage of single-race blacks lacking health insurance in 2006, up from 19% in 2005.

Families and Children
Note: Data in this section pertain to households with a householder who is single-race black.

Note: The first two statements in this section pertain to households with a householder who is single-race black.

64%
Percentage of black households that contained a family. There were 8.4 million black family households.

45%
Nationally, the percentage of black families containing a married-couple family.

1.2 million
Number of single-race black grandparents living with their own grandchildren younger than 18. Of this number, 51% were also responsible for their care.

Homeowership – the American Dream
46%
Nationally, the percentage of black households that lived in owner-occupied homes. The rate was higher in certain states, such as Mississippi, where it reached 58%.

Jobs
26%
The percentage of single-race blacks 16 and older who work in management, professional and related occupations. There are 44,900 black physicians and surgeons, 80,000 postsecondary teachers, 48,300 lawyers, and 52,400 chief executives




what do you guys think we need to improve on and what does not need any work.

I'm really tired of this topic, especially on a messageboard for Nigerians. But in all honesty, I think that AA's need to make education a priority. There's too many AA's trying to make it with JUST a high school diploma or GED.

Education is key.

@girl22:
Clearly, you've done some rather extensive research. Might I ask the sources for your numbers so that I, myself, can read the stats more in depth?

lovealwyas i agree more aa need to go to college more. but i disagree i should not post this on a nigerian forum because nigerians are aprt of black america (the ones that live here).

drionelli (sp) sorry if i missed it
go to the us census bereau website

but i disagree i should not post this on a nigerian forum because nigerians are aprt of black america the ones that live here

There's a very small minority of Nigerians living in America, and I think that most would be offended if you classify them as Black Americans when they are in fact, Nigerian Americans (that's if they have citizenship).

When looking at Nigerian demographics in America, African immigrants in general have the highest educational attainment of any immigrant group in the US; higher than Asian Americans.

Also, you must not forget that this is a Nigerian messageboard and many of the Nigerians here live in Nigeria, not America. So I feel the topic is uncalled for on a Naija messageboard.

I used to live in cook county. Thanks for posting girl22

LoveAlways:

There's a very small minority of Nigerians living in America, and I think that most would be offended if you classify them as Black Americans when they are in fact, Nigerian Americans (that's if they have citizenship).

When looking at Nigerian demographics in America, African immigrants in general have the highest educational attainment of any immigrant group in the US; higher than Asian Americans.

Also, you must not forget that this is a Nigerian messageboard and many of the Nigerians here live in Nigeria, not America. So I feel the topic is uncalled for on a Naija messageboard.

i did not classify them as black americans. i meant to say they are a part of black america, meaning the black race in america.

bawomolo:

bawamolo you cracks me up

@girl22

Please Take this Topic out of here before A few Nigerians come in and start bashing the African American race!!

SeanT21:

@girl22

Please Take this Topic out of here before A few Nigerians come in and start bashing the African American race!!

aren't we the same race?

Good list, it gets tiring having these false perceptions still going.

Hi,


Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with posting those statistics in this Forum.  We are all the same. 

However, I do whole-heartedly agree with the fact that our African American brothers and sisters need to embrace education the more because that is the only way forward for one.

Not that they aren't educated, mind, but a good, solid education and nothing else matters in this world.  You can discriminate against me for the colour of my skin, refuse me the jobs, but you simply can not take away my talent and education.  In the end, I'll get to where I want because I'm educated.

Education, education, education is the mentality that was knocked into one's head, as a child in Nigeria and I'm forever grateful for that.  It's saved my arse.




kiwi992.

Now that we've seen the statistics for Black Americans, what are we supposed to do with it?

The statistics doesn't tell us that AA's make up a disproportionate amount of prison inmates when their population is only 13%
Or that one in 4 of their men is either in jail,a felon or on parole.
They also have a higher school drop out rate
higher rate of teenage pregnancy
higher rate of mortality from all illnesses in America
higher poverty statistics
higher crime rate in their neighborhoods
higher illiteracy rate
worse schools
tougher crime ridden neighborhood

*osisi:

The statistics doesn't tell us that AA's make up a disproportionate amount of prison inmates when their population is only 13%
Or that one in 4 of their men is either in jail,a felon or on parole.
They also have a higher school drop out rate
higher rate of teenage pregnancy
higher rate of mortality from all illnesses in America
higher poverty statistics
higher crime rate in their neighborhoods
higher illiteracy rate
worse schools
tougher crime ridden neighborhood

Okay, Thanks for the headsup. You must be PROUD!!

That's why the women are running here o, osisi cos their men have been rammed up the yansh with Aids in prison

Nigerian American koh, Calabari American ni

Is this bash African-American week?
Seriously?

Okay this didn't say that
African-american females have higher degree than the men and they also tend to stay in school till they get their degree
African-American woman own most black companies in America.
Most high-income black people in American are African-American women.

Yeah the women have alot of good stastistic but i know the men also have alot of good stastistic.

KarmaMod:

That's why the women are running here o, osisi because their men have been rammed up the yansh with Aids in prison

I wonder how sista and her Igbo cab driving man are doing.
Sistawoman and her Yoruba man from Anambra state that started off using her for papers  nko?
the women fascinate me
How can a grown woman with kids agree to be used as "green card " wife and the man turns around and tells her he's now for real and she agrees?

SeanT21:

Okay, Thanks for the headsup. You must be PROUD!!

you're welcome

How can a grown woman with kids agree to be used as "green card " wife and the man turns around and tells her he's now for real and she agrees?

Bitter?

You HATE because YOU not from much.

*osisi:

I wonder how sista and her Igbo cab driving man are doing.
Sistawoman and her  Yoruba man  from Anambra state that started off using her for papers  nko?
the women fascinate me
How can a grown woman with kids agree to be used as "green card " wife and the man turns around and tells her he's now for real and she agrees?

Lmao Sista is back o! I asked about her Igbo cabbie, she claimed she left him because he didnt want to amount to anything and that all he does is grunt during sex blah blah

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=165348.msg3023982#msg3023982

KarmaMod:

Lmao Sista is back o! I asked about her Igbo cabbie, she claimed she left him because he didnt want to amount to anything and that all he does is grunt during sex blah blah

ROFL
Is that a reason to leave a man
grunting during sex
maybe he was speaking his Nnewi dialect and she thought he was grunting.
This is hilarious

Fixed the link

1972
The Equal Employment Opportunity Act is passed, prohibiting job discrimination on the basis of, among other things, race, and laying the groundwork for affirmative action.


1972
Barbara Jordan (D-Texas) becomes the first African American woman from a Southern state to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She will serve three terms in Congress.

NPR Learn More: International Women's Day
From The Tavis Smiley Show

1974
Hank Aaron becomes the all-time leading hitter of home runs. Another African American baseball great, outfielder Reggie Jackson, sets records in several World Series in the 70s.

NPR Learn More: Interview with Hank Aaron
From Weekend Edition

1400
The Jeffersons, one of the first sitcoms about an African American family, premiers on television. It will run for 10 years and will become one of television's longest running and most watched sitcoms.


1976
Alex Haley receives a special Pulitzer Prize for his novel Roots. The next year, made into a mini-series, Roots will be one of the most popular shows in the history of television.

NPR Learn More: Roots 25th Anniversary
From The Tavis Smiley Show


Andrew Young becomes the first African American person to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

NPR Learn More: Interview with Andrew Young
From Talk of the Nation


In Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, the Supreme Court rules against universities using fixed racial quotas in making admissions decisions, a challenge to affirmative action.


1983
The song "Rapper's Delight," by the Sugar Hill Gang, helps bring rap to national prominence.

NPR Learn More: Rapper's Delight
From Morning Edition

1983
Nineteen-year-old artist Jean-Michel Basquiat wins critical and art-community acclaim for a collection of his paintings shown in a Manhattan exhibition of underground artists.


1985
Singer Michael Jackson's album Thriller becomes one of the best-selling albums of all time.


1983
Alice Walker's novel The Color Purple wins the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.


1983
Astronaut Guion "Guy" S. Bluford, Jr., becomes the first African American in space, flying aboard the space shuttle Challenger.


1983
Vanessa Williams becomes the first African American Miss America.

PBS Learn More: Breaking the Color Line at the Pageant
From American Experience: Miss America


1983
Harold Washington is elected the first African American mayor of Chicago.

NPR Learn More: Legacy of Harold Washington
From All Things Considered

1984
Jesse Jackson is the first African American man to make a serious bid for the U.S. presidency, vying for the Democratic Party nomination. He will try again in 1988 but lose to Michael Dukakis.


Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
1984
The Cosby Show, starring African American comedian Bill Cosby, premieres on television. It will become one of the most popular sit-coms in history. It also departs from what had been the usual negative stereotyping of African Americans on TV by showing an upper-middle-class, professional, well-educated family.

NPR Learn More: Interview with Bill Cosby
From Morning Edition


1986
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday is made into a national holiday.



1987
Spike Lee's film She's Gotta Have It wins him the best new director award at the ultra-prestigious Cannes Film Festival.

NPR Learn More: Interview with Spike Lee
From Weekend Edition

1986
Ronald McNair, a mission specialist with NASA, dies on board the space shuttle Challenger, which explodes 73 seconds after liftoff.


1987
Reginald Lewis becomes the first African American to own a business with sales over $1 billion, by taking over Beatrice International Food Company.



1987
Pope John Paul II appoints Eugene A. Marino, S.S.J. as archbishop of Atlanta. Archbishop Marino becomes the first African American Catholic archbishop in the United States.


1989
General Colin L. Powell is the first African American to be named chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. military.

NPR Learn More: Powell's Track Record
From Weekend All Things Considered

PBS Learn More: Colin Powell
From the Online NewsHour


1989
Oprah Winfrey, the first African American woman to host a nationally syndicated (and wildly popular) talk show, founds Harpo Productions to produce her own movies and TV shows. In 2000, Forbes magazine will estimate Winfrey's earnings at $150 million.

NPR Learn More: Review of O
From Weekend Edition

1990
Ron Brown becomes the first African American person to head a major national political party, as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. President Bill Clinton will later make him Secretary of Commerce. Brown will be killed in a plane crash in 1996.

NPR Learn More: Ron Brown Profile
From All Things Considered

PBS Learn More: Remembering Ron Brown
From the Online NewsHour


1989
David Dinkins becomes the first African American mayor of New York City, and Douglas Wilder becomes the first African American state governor since Reconstruction by being elected in Virginia.


1989
Sculptor Martin Puryear is the sole artist from the United States chosen for the Sao Paulo Bienal in Brazil and is awarded the exhibition's grand prize.


1990
August Wilson wins a Pulitzer Prize for his play The Piano Lesson. He won his first Pulitzer in 1987 for Fences.

NPR Learn More: August Wilson's "Jitney"
From Weekend Edition

1990
The U.S. Census reveals an increase in the African American population to 12 percent of the total U.S. population, with over 50 percent of all African Americans still residing in southern states.

and you folks keep KFC and XXL clothing makers in business

AA have accomplish wonderful things in American History!!

I hope Every Black Man and Woman in America can live up to MLK,Oprah,Denzel,Obama,Michelle,Powell,etc and be somebody!!Every minority should try to do the same!!

SeanT21:

AA have accomplish wonderful things in American History!!

I hope Every Black Man and Woman in America can live up to MLK,Oprah,Denzel,Obama,Michelle,Powell,etc and be somebody!!Every minority should try to do the same!!

Who is AA?
Is Oprah an African? NO. She's Black American
Is MLK an African. Bloody Hell NO. He's Black American
Is Obama an African. YES. He's half Kenyan, half American.
Is Michelle African? NO.
Is Powell an African? I doubt it

Abegiiiiiiiiiii comot for road

*osisi:

The statistics doesn't tell us that AA's make up a disproportionate amount of prison inmates when their population is only 13%
Or that one in 4 of their men is either in jail,a felon or on parole.
They also have a higher school drop out rate
higher rate of teenage pregnancy
higher rate of mortality from all illnesses in America
higher poverty statistics
higher crime rate in their neighborhoods
higher illiteracy rate
worse schools
tougher crime ridden neighborhood

actually alot of statistical data is flawed. did you pull those statistics from any old website or did you do research?

blacks and white chidlren as of today have the same literacy and drop rate.
not counting the older generations of blacks who do not have a diploma.
alot of the black men who are in prison are also innocent of alot the crimes.

did you know that whites use drugs five times more than blacks but blacks are three times more likely to go to jail.
so i got these statistics straight from the government. not any old website little jealous african.

for instance there was statistical data that black men are in the prisons by millions but its actually only 700,000 in jail.
there was also statistics that said only 55% of blacks have their diploma. that has been proven a lie. about 88-99 percent in total have their diploma.

a crime is committed in white neighborhoods juat as much as whites. let me go get the crime statistics for you/

here is a post for all of you haters

Sunday, November 05, 2006
The Top Ten Black Myths
The Top Ten Black Myths

1. There are more Black men in prison than in college.
False. The numbers that people quote are ALL of the Black men in prison, versus ONLY the free young Black men of college age, which spans the late teens to the early twenties.

The misleading “evidence” comes from studies such as the one conducted in 2000 by the Justice Policy Institute (JPI), a Washington-based research group. JPI found that there were 791,600 Black men in jail or prison and “only” 603,032 of them in colleges or universities. They presented the findings as “evidence” of more Black men in prison than in college.

Any of us can do the math: Out of the 33.7 million African Americans that the 2000 census found, less than one million are in jail or prison (.792 million).
The reality is that while there are too many of us in prison and more of us in there than others, there are NOT more of us on the inside than on the outside.


2. Black people, particularly Black men are lazy.

False. How can a people who built this nation and did it for free suddenly become the laziest people in the nation?
According to the US Census Bureau, 68.1% of all Black men and 62.3% of Black women over the age of 16 are in the civilian labor force, compared to 73% of white men. And 59.9% of white women. With racial discrimination and other challenges, more of us are still working than sitting at home.

While the majority of poor people in America are Black, the majority of Black people are NOT poor. Of the 33.7 million Blacks in this nation, 8.1 million have incomes below the poverty line.
Now, what we do with our money is another story…

3. Black people abuse the Welfare system and are swelling it beyond capacity.

False. First, the actual number of Black families on Welfare has been decreasing since the early 1970’s, when 46% of the recipients were Black. By the end of the 20th century, that number was down to 39%, as compared to 38% whites who were non-Hispanic. If the comparison were strictly based on race without ethnic identification, whites clearly outnumber Blacks on the Welfare rolls.
In addition, 40% of the families on Welfare have only one child, while the number having five or more is only 4%. And, by the last decade of the 20th century, Welfare accounted for just over 2% of the Federal Budget, while defense accounted for 24%.

Benefit programs for farmers and big businesses far outweigh the Welfare program. For example, US Airways was recently given permission to tap into a $718 million federally guaranteed loan package to fund daily operations while in bankruptcy proceedings. Who is abusing welfare?

4. Most Black men are married to white women.

False. As of 1998, interracial marriages composed of a white person and a Black person accounted for only .6% of all marriages in the nation. Of all interracial marriages, only 16% are Black male to white female.

5. Affirmative Action unfairly provides opportunities for Blacks.

False. First, Affirmative Action is inappropriately used to define Black preferential treatment and “quotas” but it was actually designed to benefit a number of groups who have been discriminated against, creating parity in the workplace. Since the 1970’s, Affirmative Action has benefited white women more than any other group. Secondly, no one who perpetuates this myth ever talks about other types of Affirmative Action, which benefit other races. For example, the Japanese descendants in America, who were each rewarded $20,000 in 1988 as reparations for internment during WWII, or the legacy programs which benefit people such as the current dimwit in the white house.

6. Let’s kill two ignorant rumors with the pursuit of truth: Poor Blacks would be better off if they stopped using drugs and took better care of their communities; and, Blacks need to stop pushing drugs to their own people.

False. This one always confuses me, because Blacks can’t even distribute their own movies or music, yet still get blamed for importing and distributing ILLEGAL drugs.

If a Black man can’t drive down the street without being racially profiled and stopped, what makes anyone think that he could fly a planeload of drugs into the nation and distribute them from state to state and city to city? The drug dealers in the ‘hood make a lot of money, but nowhere near the cash generated by the true drug lords who import it and distribute it to inner cities across the nation.

7. Blacks suffer from Black on Black crime.

True, but misleading. Whites also suffer from white on white crime. Many crimes, including murder, rape and robbery, are crimes of location, not color. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 85% of African Americans report another Black person as the perpetrator of the crime and 80% of white murders were committed by other whites. However, when race does play a role in crime, the victims of violent crimes are more likely to be Black, while the perpetrators, are more likely to be white.

8. Blacks commit more crimes than whites.

False. Neo-Conservative Whites and self-hating Blacks notwithstanding, the reality of racism in the justice system has to be understood in order to get into the reasons for the high number of Blacks in prison.
In an assessment of the impact of crime on minority communities, the National Minority Advisory Council on Criminal Justice concluded that “America is a classic example of heavy-handed use of state and private power to control minorities and suppress their continuing opposition to the hegemony of white racist ideology.”

Further, according to “The Real War on Crime,” a report by the National Criminal Justice Commission, “African-American arrest rates for drugs during the height of the ‘drug war’ in 1989 were five times higher than arrest rates for whites even though whites and African-Americans were using drugs at the same rate.”

Finally, by 1990, according to the Federal Judicial Center, the average sentences for African Americans for weapons and drug charges were 49% longer than for whites who had been convicted of the same crimes.
The simple truth is, more of “us” may be in court, but more of “them” are actually committing crimes.

9. Women outnumbering men in college is a Black phenomenon.

False. According to the US Department of Education, male undergraduates account for 44 percent of student population, while female undergraduates account for 56 percent. This is not race specific. There are some real reasons for it and I will deal with it in an upcoming column.

10. Black people are incapable of sustaining businesses in their own communities.

False. We had great success before integration. In fact, by 1900, the number of African-American businesses nationally, totaled 40,000, including the Greenfield Bus Body Company, which manufactured automobiles, and a hotel in New York City valued at $75,000. By 1908, we had 55 privately owned banks. By 1912, there were two millionaires, Madam C.J. Walker (hair care) and R. R. Church (real estate).

By 1923, Tulsa, Oklahoma was home to The Black Wall Street, an African American community of 11,000. Which featured nine hotels, nineteen restaurants and thirty-one grocery stores and meat markets, ten medical doctors, six lawyers, and five real estate and loan insurance agencies, complete with five private planes.

Okay, now there are the myths and the real stats to dispel them. Use them to stop the spread of ignorance, even if it has been spewing out of your very own mouth.

at 8:02 PM