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Black Americans

We explore the diverse views and experiences of Black people in America with in-depth surveys and other research. Our work focuses on three themes: Black identity, the economic and social mobility of Black people in America, and Black representation in American political and social life. This work is part of our wider race and ethnicity research portfolio.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Tanya Arditi
tarditi@pewresearch.org
202.419.3623

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Black Americans

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    African Americans and Technology Use

    While African Americans continue to trail whites when it comes to internet use and home broadband adoption overall, young African Americans are just as likely as their white counterparts to use the internet and have especially high rates of Twitter use.

  • short reads

    Black incomes are up, but wealth isn’t

    Although household-income growth for African-Americans has outpaced that of whites since the 1960s, those gains haven’t led to any narrowing of the wealth gap between the races.

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    King’s Dream Remains an Elusive Goal; Many Americans See Racial Disparities

    Five decades after Martin Luther King’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, D.C., a new survey by the Pew Research Center finds that fewer than half (45%) of all Americans say the country has made substantial progress toward racial equality and about the same share (49%) say that “a lot more” remains to be done.

  • short reads

    Black unemployment rate is consistently twice that of whites

    Much has changed for African-Americans since the 1963 March on Washington (which, recall, was a march for “Jobs and Freedom”), but one thing hasn’t: The unemployment rate among blacks is still about double that among whites, as it has been for most of the past six decades.

  • short reads

    For African Americans, discrimination is not dead

    America’s struggles with race and racism are never completely out of the news. But it is hard to remember when a series of stories have given this issue such resonance, whether in the rulings of the Supreme Court on affirmative action and voting rights, a tense trial in a Florida courtroom and even the racially insensitive comments of a celebrity chef.

  • short reads

    Skepticism about a landmark Census finding

    The Census Bureau made big news last week when it reported that the black voter turnout rate (66.2%) exceeded the white voter turnout rate (64.1%) for the first time ever in 2012. But a closer look at the numbers raises some intriguing questions. It’s possible that the lines may have first crossed in 2008. But […]

  • report

    Video: The State of Race in America

    Pew Research Center Executive Vice President Paul Taylor presented on the state of race in America at the Aspen Institute. Download the PowerPoint presentation: State of Race April 2013