Facts &FigureEsBlBaCkRhIsUTOArY MRONYTh
hIsTOrY
Black History Month
was started in 1926 by
Carter Godwin Woodson
as Negro History Week.
February was chosen because
Frederick Douglass and Abraham
Lincoln both were born during
this month.
Timeline
1619 First African slaves in
Virginia
1793 Cotton gin invention ramps
up need for slaves
Typical southern
plantation
1793 Federal fugitive slave law
enacted
1808 Congress bans importation
of slaves
1820 Missouri Compromise
bans slavery above
southern border
1831 Nat Turner leads slave
uprising
1849 harriet Tubman starts
underground railroad
1857 Dred Scott case: Congress
can’t ban slavery
1859 John Brown leads harper’s
Ferry slave revolt
1861 south secedes from union
1863 President lincoln issues
emancipation Proclamation
1865 Civil War ends
union Generals
1868 Fourteenth amendment sherman, Grant
and sheridan
ratified, Blacks are citizens
1870 Blacks get right to vote
George E.c
Hayes, Thurgood
1896 Plessy v. Ferguson, Marshall, and
James M
segregation is legal
nabrit, th
lawyers who
1947 Jackie robinson breaks
led the figh
Major league Baseball’s before the u.s
color barrier
supreme court
1954 Brown v. Board of education
1963 dr. Martin luther king
Jr. arrested, March on
Washington
1964 President Johnson signs
Civil rights act
1968 dr. king assassinated
2008 Barack Obama elected
president
Black or African American ?
The Census Bureau defines “African
Americans” as those with origins in Africa.
Many of Caribbean/Latino backgrounds don’t
like the term “African American.”
deMOGraPhICs
More Blacks in Work Force
BlAcks = 13% oF populATion
2009
10 2014 12%
of work force
of work force
Biggest Black
Consumer Markets
10 states with largest Black consumer bases
•New York •Maryland
•Texas •Illinois
•Georgia •North Carolina
•California •Virginia
•Florida •New Jersey
Where BlaCks lIVe
7
Million
Blacks moved out of the South
from 1916 to 1970 but now are
coming back. Today, 50% of
Blacks live in the South.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau,
Selig Center for Economic Growth
eduCaTION
Graduation Rates for Blacks Rising Dramatically
Blacks received
4. 2 MiLLion
degrees (bachelor’s and advanced) in 2007, a 110% jump from 1990.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
eCONOMICs
Black Income soaring
2003–2007 • FoR MEDiAn HoUSEHoLD
inCoMES oF MoRE THAn $50,000
13.5%
BLACkS
8.4%
ALL U.S.
HoUSEHoLDS
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Almost 5X More
Black-Owned Firms
number of Black-owned
firms rose 45% from 1997
to 2002 vs. just 10% for all
u.s. businesses.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Black Buying
Power rising Faster
Than Whites’
1990–2007
166%
BLACkS
124%
WHiTES
Source: Selig Center for Economic Growth
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