Black Americans / African Americans An Overview Black Americans or African Americans trace their ancestry to slaves in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to white Americans, they make up the second largest racial and ethnic minority group in America after Hispanics. According to the US Census Bureau in 2012, there are approximately 44,456,009 African Americans in the United States. That's about 14.1% of the total U.S. population of 313.9 million. About 50% of the African American population lives in the South. The majority of African Americans are Christians, with a significant Protestant majority, and many of them follow black churches which refers to churches with predominantly black congregations. About 1% of blacks are Muslim. During the early part of United States history, Black Americans were enslaved and treated as inferior people until the Declaration of Emancipation signed by President Lincoln went into effect during the Civil War. The elimination of racial segregation in 1968 and the struggle of the Civil Rights Movement that led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 were important milestones in the history of black Americans. This culminated in the election of Barack Obama as the first black president of the United States, considered the high point for the American black community. i) Historically, following the abolition of slavery, blacks were subjected to racial segregation and disenfranchisement in the Southern states and were threatened with violence for failure to comply. Other discriminatory laws of this type were enacted in the United States in the latter part of the 19th century. The National Association for the Advancement of Colors… at the center of the paper… blacks making up the largest percentage of welfare recipients. . They are also behind in terms of education and job skills and, consequently, job opportunities. Black people, more than any other community except Arabs, are subject to racial profiling by the police. they were subjected to mistreatment and shootings by the police. We can recall the brutal police beating of Rodney King in 1991 and the numerous incidents of blacks killed by police that are examples of police mistreatment and racial profiling of blacks. In fact, the per capita crime rate among blacks is higher than that of any other community, and the black incarceration rate is higher than that of any other community. Viewed together, these show that black people continue to be economically and socially disadvantaged and are not treated fairly. Sources: http://blackdemographics.com/