View source for African Americans

{{Infobox ethnic group
| group = Blacks
| image =
| pop = <center>{{big|'''42,020,743''' }}&nbsp;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-06.pdf|title=The Black Population: 2010 |date=September 2011 |publisher=Census.gov |format=PDF |accessdate=June 3, 2013}}</ref><br/>'''including 3,091,424 mixed race individuals'''<br/>{{small|(13.6 % of U.S. population)}}<br />{{small|2010 U.S. Census}}</center>
| popplace = Predominantly in the [[Southern United States]] and in urban areas across the country
| languages = 
| religions = Predominantly [[Protestant]] (78 %) {{longlink |Largest minorities are [[Roman Catholic]]s (5 %) and [[Muslim]]s (1 %)&nbsp;{{lower|0.1em|<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pewforum.org/A-Religious-Portrait-of-African-Americans.aspx |title=Pew Forum: A Religious Portrait of African-Americans |date=January 30, 2009 |publisher=The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life |accessdate=October 31, 2012}}</ref>}}}}
| no religion = (13 %)
| related = 
}}
'''African Americans''' (also referred to as '''Black Americans''' or '''Afro-Americans''' or more unspecifically by using terms such as '''Blacks''') are citizens or residents of the United States with [[Sub-Saharan African]] ancestry. African Americans have on average a very small degree of [[European]] ancestry.

Other words such '''Colored''' and '''Negro''' are today considered to be negative by the politically correct, despite this not always being the case. Negro remains the official category for blacks in United States Census Returns.

==History==
A ship with Africans arrived in British North America (and future [[United States of America]]) in 1619. The first Africans settled in [[Jamestown, Virginia]] and for many years were similar in legal position to poor English people who traded several years labor in exchange for passage to America. Africans could in some cases legally raise crops and cattle to purchase their freedom. By the 1640s and 1650s, some African families owned farms around Jamestown. The race-based [[slave]] system did not fully develop until the 1700's. By 1860, there were 3.5 million enslaved Africans in the Southern United States due to the Atlantic slave trade, and another 500,000 Africans lived free across the country. In 1863, during the [[American Civil War]], President [[Abraham Lincoln]] signed the Emancipation Proclamation. 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. In late 1890s, Southern states enacted [[Jim Crow]] laws to enforce racial segregation and disenfranchisement. Most African Americans followed the Jim Crow laws and created their own schools, churches, banks, social clubs, and other businesses.

The [[civil rights movement]], "[[affirmative action]]", [[White flight]], [[Cultural Marxism]], and the ending of immigration restrictions causing more Black immigrants are some relatively recent historical changes related to African Americans.

==Demographics==
[[File:Black Africans by state in the USA in 2010.png|thumb|300px|Percentage of population self-reported as Blacks by state in 2010:
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
{{Legend|#D5E5FF| less than 2 %}}
{{Legend|#AACCFF| 2–5 %}}
{{Legend|#80B3FF| 5–10 %}}
{{Legend|#5599FF| 10–15 %}}
{{Legend|#2A7FFF| 15–20 %}}
{{col-2}}
{{Legend|#0066FF| 20–25 %}}
{{Legend|#0055D4| 25–30 %}}
{{Legend|#0044AA| 30–35 %}}
{{Legend|#003380| 35–40 %}}
{{col-end}}]]

{|class="wikitable sortable" font-size:85%;"
<caption>Black in the United States<ref>This table gives the Black population in the United States 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.)</ref></caption>
! Year || Number || % of total<br />population || % Change<br />(10 yr) 
|-
| 1790 || 757,208 || 19.3% (highest) ||&nbsp;– 
|-
| 1800 || 1,002,037 || 18.9% || 32.3% 
|-
| 1810 || 1,377,808 || 19.0% || 37.5% 
|-
| 1820 || 1,771,656 || 18.4% || 28.6% 
|-
| 1830 || 2,328,642 || 18.1% || 31.4% 
|-
| 1840 || 2,873,648 || 16.8% || 23.4% 
|-
| 1850 || 3,638,808 || 15.7% || 26.6% 
|-
| 1860 || 4,441,830 || 14.1% || 22.1% 
|-
| 1870 || 4,880,009 || 12.7% || 9.9% 
|-
| 1880 || 6,580,793 || 13.1% || 34.9% 
|-
| 1890 || 7,488,788 || 11.9% || 13.8% 
|-
| 1900 || 8,833,994 || 11.6% || 18.0% 
|-
| 1910 || 9,827,763 || 10.7% || 11.2% 
|-
| 1920 || 10.5 million || 9.9% || 6.8% 
|-
| 1930 || 11.9 million || 9.7% (lowest) || 13% 
|-
| 1940 || 12.9 million || 9.8% || 8.4% 
|-
| 1950 || 15.0 million || 10.0% || 16% 
|-
| 1960 || 18.9 million || 10.5% || 26% 
|-
| 1970 || 22.6 million || 11.1% || 20% 
|-
| 1980 || 26.5 million || 11.7% || 17% 
|-
| 1990 || 30.0 million || 12.1% || 13% 
|-
| 2000 || 34.6 million || 12.3% || 15% 
|-
| 2010 || 38.9 million || 12.6% || 12% 
|}

==See also==
[[File:They don't matter to me.png|thumb|420px|[[Ethnocentric]] activities for Afro-Americans organized by [[Black Lives Matter]]]]
* [[Negro]]
* [[Nigger]]
*[[Afrocentrism]]
*[[Blackwashing]]
*[[Black History Month]]
*[[Black liberation theology]]
*[[Black supremacism]]
* [[Black privilege in the United States]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}


[[Category:Blacks]]
[[Category:Negroids]]

[[Category:Afro-american| ]]