History - African American

The history of Africans and West Indian's in the United States dates back to the 1600's when the first slave ships arrived in Virginia. Over the next four centuries, scholars believe that over 10 million Africans were shipped to America during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Scholars believe that Africans were mainly stolen from regions in West Africa. If they survived the perilous journey by sea, the Africans would be sold into slavery and then go on to work on plantations throughout the Southern United States. Given the harsh conditions of slavery, revolts were not uncommon, as black people fought to escape the beatings, hangings, rape and other forms of torture they endured at the hands of their owners. Many black leaders arose during that time. By the time slavery was abolished 1865, Nat Turner had lead a slave revolt in 1831, Frederick Douglas published his autobiography in 1845, Harriet Tubman had become a leader of  the Underground Railroad freeing hundreds of slaves by 1849, Sojourner Truth gave her now infamous “Ain’t I A Woman” Speech in 1851, and our nation fought a bitter/violent Civil War over the issue of slavery.

The abolishment of slavery did not immediately lead to fair treatment for African-Americans. Although Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, thus granting citizenship to African Americans and with that equal rights with whites, black people were still being oppressed and exploited. Despite these setbacks, the first five African American colleges were established in 1867 including Howard, University, Morgan State College, Talladega College, St. Augustine's College, and Johnson C. Smith College. In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregated, or "separate but equal," public facilities for whites and black African-American are legal (the ruling would stand until 1954). The National Advancement for the Association (NAACP) was founded by in 1909 and under the leadership of W.E.B. Du Bois, became the country’s most influential African-American civil rights organization, dedicated to political equality and social justice. The 1950’s and 1960’s brought a resurgence of civil rights efforts. In 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr a young preacher from Atlanta, Georgia delivers his famous “I Have A Dream Speech.” In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law.

During the 1960’s, the United States saw a dramatic increase in immigration from Black Caribbean nations and from countries throughout Africa.   A vast majority of Afro-Caribbean immigrants hail from English speaking counties, and they represent over half of the Black immigrants that have migrated to the United States.  It is reported that eighty percent of Black Caribbean immigrants are fluent in English, as most of them come from English speaking countries like Jamaica, and Trinidad & Tobago, with exception of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Black Caribbean immigrants have the advantage of English proficiency over their African immigrant counterparts. However, African immigrants represent one of the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. immigrant population, increasing by about 200 percent during the 1980s and 1990s and by 100 percent during the 2000s. Additionally, African immigrants are amount the best educated immigrants with college completion rates that greatly exceed those of other immigrant groups, birthright Americans. However, they earn less their Afro-Caribbean counterparts, probably because Afro Caribbean immigrants earn more due to due to language proficiency and living or residing in the United States longer. 

African American presence in the American political landscape continues to be more significant as well. On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama was elected as the nation’s first African American president. In 2009, he was sworn into office as the 44th president of the United States of America. He was re-elected in 2012, winning his second term in office.