African Americans Market

African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Sub-Saharan Africa. It is estimated that a significant number of African Americans have European heritage.

500,000 Africans were brought over as slaves between 1619 and 1808, when importing slaves into the United States was legal.  In the late 1950s and early 1960s, African Americans, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., used boycotts, marches, and other forms of nonviolent protest to demand equal treatment under the law and an end to racial prejudice.   

In 2002, 50,8 percent of employed blacks held "white-collar" jobs -- managerial, professional, and administrative positions rather than service jobs or those requiring manual labor. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, those who identify only as African American constitute approximately 12 percent of the American population -- almost 35 million individuals. The Census Bureau projects that by the year 2035 there will be more than 50 million African American individuals in the United States, comprising 14.3 percent of the population. The African American population is represented throughout the country, with the greatest concentrations in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic regions, especially Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Maryland. From their earliest presence in North America, African Americans have contributed to literature, art, agricultural skills, foods, clothing styles, music, language, social and technological innovation. The cultivation and use of many agricultural products in the U.S., such as yams, peanuts, rice, okra, sorghum, grits, watermelon, indigo dyes, and cotton, can be traced to African and African American influences. Many contemporary American musical forms such as hip hop, R&B, funk, rock and roll, soul, blues originated in black communities and evolved from other black forms of music including blues, jazz, and gospel music.

http://www.cdc.gov/omh/Populations/BAA/BAA.htm

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