Introduction - African American History

African Americans (American Blacks or Black Americans), racial group in the United States whose dominant ancestry is from sub-Saharan West Africa. Many African Americans also claim European, Native American, or Asian ancestors.

A variety of names have been used for African Americans at various points in history. African Americans have been referred to as Negroes, colored, blacks, and Afro-Americans, as well as lesser-known terms, such as the 19th-century designation Anglo-African.

The terms Negro and colored are now rarely used. African American, black, and to a lesser extent Afro-American, are used interchangeably today. "African Americans,".Recent black immigrants from Africa and the islands of the Caribbean are sometimes classified as African Americans. However, these groups, especially first- and second-generation immigrants, often have cultural practices, histories, and languages that are distinct from those of African Americans born in the United States.

For example, Caribbean natives may speak French, British English, or Spanish as their first language. Emigrants from Africa may speak a European language other than English or any of a number of African languages as their first language. Caribbean and African immigrants often have little knowledge or experience of the distinctive history of race relations in the United States.

Thus, Caribbean and African immigrants may or may not choose to identify with the African American community. "African Americans," Census Bureau estimates, approximately 34 million African Americans lived in the United States in 1998, making up about 12.5 percent of the total population.

Census Bureau statistics from 1996 showed that over half of African Americans lived in the South. In that year, about 18.5 percent of African Americans lived in the Northeast and about the same number in the Midwest, while only about 9.5 percent lived in the Western states.

About 86 percent of African Americans lived in metropolitan areas in 1996. With over 2 million African American residents, New York City had the largest black urban population in the United States in 1990. Washington, D.C., had the highest proportion of black residents of any U.S. city in 1990, with African Americans making up over 65 percent of the population.