With the official start of Black History Month (BHM) but you won’t know that from looking at the Trump administration White House site. Unlike past Presidents who have issued National African American History Month proclamations a day or two before the Feb. 1st official launch, the White House last night had issued no such proclamation.
This despite the fact that during his Presidential campaign Donald Trump asked black voters to give him a chance despite the racist rhetoric spewed throughout, and according to the 2016 election results, 17 percent did.
BHM was launched in 1976, as part of the nation’s bicentennial. Each year, U.S. presidents proclaim February as National African-American History Month. The celebration of blacks in America was first started as Black History Week by American historian Carter G. Woodson on Feb. 12, 1926.
During National African American History Month, the nation pays tribute to the contributions of past generations of blacks to the US – both foreign born and native born blacks. Blacks and African Americans constitute the third largest racial and ethnic group in the United States – after White Americans and Hispanics or Latinos.
In 2015, the US Census Bureau estimated 45.7 million African Americans in the United States meaning that 14.3 percent of the total American population of 321.4 Million is Black. This includes those who identify as ‘Black Only’ and as ‘Black in combination with another race.’
The ‘Black Only’ category by itself totaled 42.6 million African Americans or 13.3 percent of the total population. A record 3.8 million are black immigrants largely from the Caribbean and Africa.
There are an estimated 2.2 million black military veterans in the United States and 2.6 million black-owned firms nationally. Black immigrants now account for 8.7 percent of the nation’s black population, nearly triple their share in 1980. The Census Bureau projects that by 2060, 16.5 percent of U.S. blacks will be immigrants.
When compared with U.S.-born blacks, foreign-born blacks are older, with a median age of 42 years versus 29 years for U.S.-born blacks. Immigrant blacks ages 25 and older are also more likely than U.S.-born blacks to have a bachelor’s degree or more (26 percent versus 19 percent), less likely to live in poverty (20 percent versus 28 percent) and on average, have higher household incomes. They’re also much more likely to be married (48 percent among those ages 18 and older versus 28 percent) than U.S.-born blacks, which is likely tied to their higher median age.
Blacks were first brought to America as slaves. The first African slaves arrived via Santo Domingo to the San Miguel de Gualdape colony – most likely located in the Winyah Bay area of present-day South Carolina, founded by Spanish explorer Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón in 1526.