African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans or
Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group of Americans with total or partial
ancestry from any of the black racial groups of Africa. The term
African American generally denotes descendants of enslaved black
people who are from the United States, while some recent black
immigrants or their children may also come to identify as
African-American or may identify differently.African Americans
constitute the third largest ethnic group and the second largest
racial group in the US, after White Americans and Hispanic and Latino
Americans. Most African Americans are descendants of enslaved peoples
within the boundaries of the present United States. On average,
African Americans are of West/Central African and European descent,
and some also have Native American ancestry. According to U.S. Census
Bureau data, African immigrants generally do not self-identify as
African American. The overwhelming majority of African immigrants
identify instead with their own respective ethnicities (≈95%).
Immigrants from some Caribbean, Central American, and South American
nations and their descendants may or may not also self-identify with
the term.African-American history in the 16th century, included
peoples from West Africa forcibly taken as slaves to Latin America and
the Caribbean, and in the 17th century with slaves taken from
Caribbean and later from Africa to British colonies in eastern North
America. A few were able to achieve freedom through manumission,
abolition, and sometimes escape and found communities particularly
during the time of the American Revolution. After the founding of the
United States, most black people continued to be enslaved,
concentrated in the Southern United States, with four million enslaved
only liberated during and at the end Civil War in 1865. Due to notions
of white supremacy, most were treated as second-class citizens. The
Naturalization Act of 1790 limited U.S. citizenship to whites only,
and only white men who owned property could vote. These circumstances
changed in Reconstruction, further development of the black community,
participation in the great military conflicts of the United States,
substantial migration out of the South, the elimination of legal
racial segregation, and the civil rights movement which sought
political and social freedom. In 2008, Barack Obama became the first
African American to be elected President of the United States.
Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group of Americans with total or partial
ancestry from any of the black racial groups of Africa. The term
African American generally denotes descendants of enslaved black
people who are from the United States, while some recent black
immigrants or their children may also come to identify as
African-American or may identify differently.African Americans
constitute the third largest ethnic group and the second largest
racial group in the US, after White Americans and Hispanic and Latino
Americans. Most African Americans are descendants of enslaved peoples
within the boundaries of the present United States. On average,
African Americans are of West/Central African and European descent,
and some also have Native American ancestry. According to U.S. Census
Bureau data, African immigrants generally do not self-identify as
African American. The overwhelming majority of African immigrants
identify instead with their own respective ethnicities (≈95%).
Immigrants from some Caribbean, Central American, and South American
nations and their descendants may or may not also self-identify with
the term.African-American history in the 16th century, included
peoples from West Africa forcibly taken as slaves to Latin America and
the Caribbean, and in the 17th century with slaves taken from
Caribbean and later from Africa to British colonies in eastern North
America. A few were able to achieve freedom through manumission,
abolition, and sometimes escape and found communities particularly
during the time of the American Revolution. After the founding of the
United States, most black people continued to be enslaved,
concentrated in the Southern United States, with four million enslaved
only liberated during and at the end Civil War in 1865. Due to notions
of white supremacy, most were treated as second-class citizens. The
Naturalization Act of 1790 limited U.S. citizenship to whites only,
and only white men who owned property could vote. These circumstances
changed in Reconstruction, further development of the black community,
participation in the great military conflicts of the United States,
substantial migration out of the South, the elimination of legal
racial segregation, and the civil rights movement which sought
political and social freedom. In 2008, Barack Obama became the first
African American to be elected President of the United States.
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