African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans or Afro-Americans, and formerly as American Negroes The word Negro is used in the English-speaking world to refer to a person of black ancestry or appearance, whether of African descent or not, prior to the shift in the lexicon of American and worldwide classification of race and ethnicity in the late 1960s. The word "negro" means "black" in Spanish and Portuguese, from the) are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black The term black people usually refers to a racial group of humans with skin colors that range from light brown to nearly black, according to a recent scientific study human skin color diversity is highest in sub-Saharan African populations. It is also used to categorize a number of diverse populations together based on historical and prehistorical populations of Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With a billion people (as of 2009, see table) in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.72% of the world's human population.^[2] In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African Sub-Saharan Africa is a geographical term used to describe the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara, or those African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara. It contrasts with North Africa, which is considered a part of the Arab world ancestry.

Most African Americans are the direct descendants of captive Africans who survived the slavery era Slavery in the United States was a form of unfree labor which existed as a legal institution on American soil before the founding of the United States in 1776, and remained a legal feature of American society until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865. It had its origins with the first English within the boundaries of the present United States, although some are—or are descended from—immigrants from African, Caribbean, Central American or South American nations.^[3] As an adjective, the term is usually spelled African-American.^[4]

African-American history starts in the 17th century with indentured servitude in the American colonies The Thirteen Colonies were British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America, which declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States. The colonies, whose territory ranged from what is now Maine to the north and Georgia to the south, were Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, and progresses onto the election of an African American as the 44th and current President of the United States The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is one of only two nationally elected federal officers, the other being the Vice President of the United States—Barack Obama A native of Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992. Between those landmarks there were other events and issues, both resolved and ongoing, that were faced by African Americans. Some of these were slavery, reconstruction In the history of the United States, the Reconstruction era has two definitions, the first in reference to the entire nation in the period 1865-1877 following the Civil War, and the second to the transformation of the Southern United States from 1863 to 1877, with the reconstruction of state and society in the former Confederacy and the addition, development of the African-American community African American culture in the United States refers to the cultural contributions of Americans of African descent to the culture of the United States, either as part of or distinct from American culture. The distinct identity of African American culture is rooted in the historical experience of the African American people, including the Middle, participation in the great military conflicts of the United States The military history of African Americans spans from the arrival of the first black slaves during the colonial history of the United States to the present day. There has been no war fought by or within the United States in which African Americans did not participate, including the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish, racial segregation Crime of apartheid · CERD · CEDAW · CDE · ILO C111 · ILO C100 · ILO C169 · Protocol No. 12 ECHR, and the Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. It was accompanied by much civil unrest and popular rebellion. The process was long and tenuous in many countries, and most of these movements did not achieve or fully achieve their objectives. In its later years,.

Black Americans make up the single largest racial minority in the United States The United States is a diverse country racially and ethnically. White Americans are the racial majority and are spread throughout the country; racial and ethnic minorities, composing one fourth of the population, are concentrated in coastal and metropolitan areas. The Black American or African American population is concentrated in the South, and and form the second largest racial group after whites in the United States 2nd row: Ben Franklin · Amelia Earhart · John F. Kennedy · Elizabeth Kortright Monroe · Samuel Alito.^[5]

History

Slavery era

The first recorded Africans in British North America British North America consisted of the colonies and territories of the British Empire in continental North America after the end of the American Revolutionary War and the recognition of American independence in 1783 (including most of the future United States) arrived in 1619 as indentured servants An indentured servant was a worker, typically a laborer or tradesman, under contract to an employer for a fixed period of time, typically three to seven years, in exchange for their transportation, food, clothing, lodging and other necessities. Unlike slaves, an indentured servant was required to work only for a limited term specified in a signed who settled in Jamestown, Virginia Jamestown, located on Jamestown Island in the Virginia Colony, was founded on May 14, 1607. It is commonly regarded as the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States of America, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke. It was founded by the London Company , headquartered in London. As English settlers died from harsh conditions more and more Africans were brought to work as laborers. Africans for many years were similar in legal position to poor English indenturees, who traded several years labor in exchange for passage to America.^[6]

Africans could legally raise crops and cattle to purchase their freedom.^[7] They raised families, marrying other Africans and sometimes intermarrying with Native Americans Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as intact political communities. The terminology used to or English settlers Episcopalian, Methodist, Baptist, Mormon, Congregationalism, Other Protestant, Roman Catholic, etc.^[8] By the 1640s and 1650s, several African families owned farms around Jamestown and some became wealthy by colonial standards.

The popular conception of a race-based slave system did not fully develop until the 1700s. The first black congregations and churches were organized before 1800 in both northern and southern cities following the Great Awakening The Great Awakenings were a time of religious advances mainly in the American colonies. The First Great Awakening led to changes in American colonial society. In New England, the Great Awakening was influential among many Congregationalists. In the Middle and Southern colonies, especially in the "Backcountry" regions, the Awakening was. By 1775, Africans made up 20% of the population in the American colonies The Thirteen Colonies were British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America, which declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States. The colonies, whose territory ranged from what is now Maine to the north and Georgia to the south, were Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut,, which made them the second largest ethnic group after the English.^[9]

During the 1770s Africans, both enslaved and free, helped rebellious English colonists secure American Independence by defeating the British in the American Revolution The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America. They first rejected the authority of the Parliament of Great Britain to govern them from overseas without.^[10] Africans and Englishmen fought side by side and were fully integrated.^[11] James Armistead James Lafayette Armistead was the first American double spy. An African American slave, Armistead was owned by Will Armistead in Virginia during the American Revolution, an African American, played a large part in making possible the 1781 Yorktown victory The Siege of Yorktown or Battle of Yorktown in 1781 was a decisive victory by combined assault of American forces led by Major General George Washington and French forces led by General Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis. It proved to be the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary, which established the United States as an independent nation.^[12] Other prominent African Americans were Prince Whipple Prince Whipple was an African American slave who accompanied his owner, General William Whipple of the New Hampshire militia, during the American Revolutionary War and Oliver Cromwell, who are both depicted in the front of the boat in George Washington George Washington led America's Continental Army to victory over Britain in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and later became the first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797. His role in the revolution and subsequent independence and formation of the United States was significant, and he is seen by Americans as the "'s famous 1776 Crossing the Delaware Washington Crossing the Delaware is an 1851 oil-on-canvas painting by German American artist Emanuel Leutze. It commemorates General George Washington's crossing of the Delaware on December 25, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War. That action was the first move in a surprise attack against the Hessian forces at Trenton, New Jersey in the portrait.

By 1860, there were 3.5 million enslaved African Americans in the United States due to the Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic Slave Trade, also known as the transatlantic slave trade, was the trading, primarily of African people, to the colonies of the New World that occurred in and around the Atlantic Ocean. It lasted from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Most enslaved people were shipped from West Africa and Central Africa and taken to North and South, and another 500,000 African Americans lived free across the country.^[13] In 1863, during the American Civil War Union blockade – Eastern – Western – Lower Seaboard – Trans-Mississippi – Pacific Coast, President Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led the United States through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery. Before his election in 1860 as the first Republican president, Lincoln, reared in a signed the Emancipation Proclamation The Emancipation Proclamation consists of two executive orders issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. The first one, issued September 22, 1862, declared the freedom of all slaves in any state of the Confederate States of America that did not return to Union control by January 1, 1863. The second order,. The proclamation declared that all slaves in states which had seceded from the Union were free.^[14] Advancing Union troops enforced the proclamation with Texas being the last state to be emancipated in 1865.^[15]

Reconstruction and Jim Crow

African Americans quickly set up congregations for themselves, as well as schools, community and civic associations, to have space away from white control or oversight. While the post-war reconstruction In the history of the United States, the Reconstruction era has two definitions, the first in reference to the entire nation in the period 1865-1877 following the Civil War, and the second to the transformation of the Southern United States from 1863 to 1877, with the reconstruction of state and society in the former Confederacy and the addition era was initially a time of progress for African Americans, in the late 1890s, Southern states enacted Jim Crow laws CDE · CEDAW · CERD · ILO C100 · ILO C111 · ILO C169 · Protocol No. 12 ECHR to enforce racial segregation Crime of apartheid · CERD · CEDAW · CDE · ILO C111 · ILO C100 · ILO C169 · Protocol No. 12 ECHR and disenfranchisement The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1870 to protect the suffrage of freedmen after the American Civil War. It prevented any state from denying the right to vote to any citizen on account of his race.^[16] Most African Americans followed the Jim Crow laws, using a mask of compliance to prevent becoming victims of racially motivated violence Ethnic violence refers to violence that is predominantly framed rhetorically by causes and issues related to ethnic hatred, though ethnic violence is more commonly related to political violence, and often the terms are interchangeable in a local context where reference to ethnicity is considered minimal or improper. To maintain self-esteem and dignity, African Americans such as Anthony Overton and Mary McLeod Bethune Mary Jane McLeod Bethune was an American educator and civil rights leader best known for starting a school for black students in Daytona Beach, Florida that eventually became Bethune-Cookman University and for being an advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt continued to build their own schools Historically black colleges and universities are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before 1964 with the intention of serving the black community, churches The term black church or African-American church refers to Christian churches that minister to predominantly African-American congregations in the United States. While some black churches, such as African Methodist Episcopal Churches, belong to predominantly African-American denominations, many black churches are members of predominantly white, banks, social clubs, and other businesses.^[17]

In the last decade of the nineteenth century, racially discriminatory laws and racial violence aimed at African Americans began to mushroom in the United States. These discriminatory acts included racial segregation Crime of apartheid · CERD · CEDAW · CDE · ILO C111 · ILO C100 · ILO C169 · Protocol No. 12 ECHR—upheld by the United States Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896^[18]—which was legally mandated by southern states and nationwide at the local level of government, voter suppression or disenfranchisement in the southern states, denial of economic opportunity or resources nationwide, and private acts of violence and mass racial violence aimed at African Americans unhindered or encouraged by government authorities.

Great Migration and Civil Rights Movement

The desperate conditions of African Americans in the South that sparked the Great Migration of the early 20th century,^[19] combined with a growing African American intellectual and cultural elite in the Northern United States, led to a movement to fight violence and discrimination against African Americans that, like abolitionism before it, crossed racial lines.

The Civil Rights Movement between 1954 to 1968 was directed at abolishing racial discrimination against African Americans, particularly in the Southern United States. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and the conditions which brought it into being are credited with putting pressure on President John F. Kennedy and then Lyndon B. Johnson.

Johnson put his support behind passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that banned discrimination in public accommodations, employment, and labor unions, and the Voting Rights Act (1965), which expanded federal authority over states to ensure black political participation through protection of voter registration and elections. By 1966, the emergence of the Black Power movement, which lasted from 1966 to 1975, expanded upon the aims of the Civil Rights Movement to include economic and political self-sufficiency, and freedom from white authority.^[20]

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