Study Seeks to Fill in the Gaps in African American Ancestral History
The 1870 federal census recorded formerly enslaved African Americans by name, and though it is a vital tool for genealogical research, many African Americans are still not able to trace their family members to or beyond this document. A new study attempts to shed some light on the ancestral history of African Americans prior to 1870.
Black Farmers Face Major Hurdles in Securing Financing
Black farmers have historically and systemically been at a disadvantage when competing with their counterparts. They have had less land, inferior crops, and have been shorted on generational wealth and government assistance. Also, Black farmers have a more difficult time accessing business loans than White farmers.
Census Report Documents Racial Disparities in Health-Related Disabilities
The survey showed that 31.8 percent of Blacks over the age of 40 had some type of disability that limited their activities. For non-Hispanic White adults over the age of 40, 27.4 percent report a disability that limited their activities. Only 17 percent of Asian Americans over 40 reported a disability.
Huge Number of the Nation’s Political Leaders Have Director Ancestors Who Enslaved People
New research by Reuters has found that of the 536 members of the current U.S. Congress, at least 100 have ancestors who had ties to the institution of slavery. More than one quarter of all U.S. Senators have an ancestor who enslaved at least one person. Two justices of the U.S. Supreme Court and 11 of the nation's 50 governors had ancestors who were involved in slavery.
Huge Number of the Nation’s Political Leaders Have Direct Ancestors Who Enslaved People
New research by Reuters has found that of the 536 members of the current U.S. Congress, at least 100 have ancestors who had ties to the institution of slavery. More than one quarter of all U.S. Senators have an ancestor who enslaved at least one person. Two justices of the U.S. Supreme Court and 11 of the nation's 50 governors had ancestors who were involved in slavery.
Regardless of Where They Live, Blacks Still Face Discrimination in Labor Markets
In a study by researchers at the University of Notre Dame and Cornell University found that Black families — regardless of where they lived — still ended up in similar economic circumstances as they moved into adulthood and entered the workforce. “Race, not class origins, is the dominant factor governing the economic mobility of Black individuals,” the researchers wrote.
Biracial Black Adults Found to Have More Mental Health Needs Than Monoracial Black Adults
In five years of surveys, approximately 18 to 21 percent of multiracial Black adults reported having experienced serious psychological distress over the previous 12 months — nearly double the 11 rate for monoracial Black adults, according to researchers at the Center for Health Policy Research at the University of California, Los Angeles
Study Examines Racial Disparity in Nursing Home Care
A new study led by Jasmine L. Travers, an assistant professor in the Rory Meyers College of Nursing at New York University, finds that residents of nursing homes where 50 percent or more of all residents were Black, had higher rates of hospitalizations and emergency room visits than nursing homes where a majority of residents were White.
White Victims of Floods Prefer to Stay Rather Than Relocate to More Diverse Neighbohoods
A new study by researchers at the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University in Houston finds that homeowners in mostly White communities who have suffered damage from floods prefer to accept higher risk of disaster repeating itself than relocate to areas with more racial diversity and less flood risk.
Yale University Study Examines the Racially Disparate Impact of Tax Deed Foreclosures
The research looks at how widespread tax deed foreclosures are and what effect they have on communities. Author Cameron LaPoint found that property tax foreclosure accelerates gentrification and contributes to the racial wealth gap by forcing out nonwhite homeowners and clearing the way for high-end property development.
During the Early Pandemic, There Were Large Racial Gap in Rates of Death
The data shows that in 2019 before the onset of the pandemic, 351,097 African Americans died. In 2020, when the pandemic took hold, 456,491 African Americans died. This was an increase of 29.7 percent. The number of deaths for White Americans increased by 16.4 percent.
Five Percent of School Teachers Account for More Than a Third of Office Discipline...
The ratio of the Black-White gap in office discipline referrals was about 1.6-to-1 when considering all teachers but jumped to 3.4-to-1 when only the top 5 percent of all referring teachers were considered.
Study Finds Black Entrepreneurs Continue to Face Bias in Lending Decisions
The study found that potential Black borrowers received lower-quality service than their White peers when applying for financing. This included being offered fewer loan options. The study also found that Black borrowers were treated less warmly by bank personnel than White customers.
A Snapshot of African American School Enrollment in the United States
African Americans made up a larger percentage of college and graduate students than was the case at all other lower grades of education. But from 2011 to 2021, the number of Black students enrolled in higher education dropped from 3,531.000 to 2,882,000.
Study Shows The Importance of Black Women Voters to the Success of the Democratic...
Since around 90 percent of Black voters tend to support Democrats, which is a considerably higher proportion compared to other demographic groups, the fact that a larger percentage of female voters are Black influences women's voting preferences in favor of the Democratic Party.
Study Finds Huge Racial Disparity in Killings by Off-Duty Police Officers
A new study led by Emmanuella Ngozi Asabor, an MD/Ph.D. candidate at Yale University found that Black men are the most common victims of killings committed by off-duty police officers in the U.S. Researchers found that many incidences occurred while off-duty officers were performing side jobs as security officers, and that these officers often obscured information about their involvement in situations that turned deadly.
Study Ranks States by Disparities in Racial Equality in Education
The results showed that most of the states that had achieved the greatest equality were states with small Black populations. In contrast, Wisconsin had the most racial inequality in education outcomes. Minnesota, Connecticut, New York, and Nebraska were in the bottom five.
A Snapshot of Racial Disparities in Legal Education
Some 78 percent of White applicants who applied to law school were accepted to at least one law school. In contrast, only 48 percent of Black or African American applicants were accepted to a law school.
HIV Infections Are Down, But Huge Racial Gaps Remain
Most new HIV infections in 2021 were among gay and bisexual men, the majority of whom were Black or Hispanic/Latino. About one-fifth of new HIV infections in 2021 were among women, and over half of those were among Black women.
New Report Examines the Economic and Educational Status of Afro-Latinos in the U.S.
A new report published by the Latino Policy & Politics Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles finds that the Afro-Latino population in...
Rutgers University Study Examines Gun Ownership in the Black Community
A new study by scholars at the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers University finds that Black adults – particularly Black women – with higher levels of education and experiences of discrimination and crime are more likely than other African Americans to own a firearm.
Study Examines How Race Played a Major Factor in the Creation of the Minneapolis...
Throughout the first half of the 20th century, real estate developers partnered with the Minneapolis Park Board to build new parks in neighborhoods blanketed with racial covenants that restricted occupancy to “Whites Only.” Neighborhoods that historically had racial covenants today have higher tree canopy cover, more park acreage, and cooler temperatures.
The Small Racial Gap in College Aspirations
A new survey by YouthTruth looks at the college plans of the high school class of 2023. They found very little difference in the college aspirations of Black and White high school seniors. But aspirations and reality do not always meet. Also, the report found that In 2019, 79 percent of Black high school graduates said they wanted to go to college. This year, the figure has dropped to 74 percent.
A Snapshot of the Racial Diversity of the Faculty at Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University reports that in 2021, there were 281 Black or African American faculty at the university. They made up 5.4 percent of the more than 5,200 faculty members. In 2017, Blacks were 4.3 percent of all faculty at Johns Hopkins.
New Report Finds That African Americans Face Significant Financial Hurdles
About one in five Black Americans report that their financial situation is poor, about a third report that their financial situation is neither good nor bad, and the remaining 45 percent report that their financial situation is good. Respondents with college degrees are more likely to say that their financial situation is good.
Racial Inequality and the Staggering Toll on Life Expectancy
A new study led by researchers at Yale University reveals a staggering disparity in life expectancy between Black Americans and their White counterparts. The results show that there were 1.63 million excess deaths in the Black population compared with White Americans in the 1999-2020 period, representing more than 80 million excess years of potential life lost.
New Report Examines Racial Differences in Early Signs of Dementia
An estimated 6.5 million persons aged 65 years and over in the United States live with Alzheimer's disease, the most common dementia. This number is projected to double by 2060, with African Americans projected to have among the largest increases. College education was associated with a lower prevalence of subjective cognitive decline among all racial and ethnic groups.
Land Conservation Measures May Be Widening the Racial Wealth Gap
A new study by researchers at the University of Rhode Island and the University of Illinois finds that protecting open space from development increases the value of surrounding homes. But a disproportionate amount of that newly generated wealth goes to high-income White households.
Study Finds That Black Consumers Brush Off Poor Customer Service Because They Are Used...
White, Hispanic, and Black testers who sought out small business loans at local banks reported similar levels of satisfaction during encounters with bank employees. But a a analysis of videos of these encounters showed that Blacks were given significantly less time than White participants, waited longer to see a bank employee, and experienced other subtle forms of discrimination.
How to Stem the Alarming Decline in Black Enrollments in Higher Education
A new report finds that over the last 20 years, the nation has lost 300,000 Black learners from the community college system, with participation rates among Black students lower today than they were 20 years ago. If we look at higher education as a whole, Black enrollments are down 600,000 students.
Racial Differences in Employment Status of College Students and Recent Graduates
For people 20 to 29 years of age, Blacks made up 11 percent of all students who earned a bachelor’s degree in 2022. Some 83.6 percent of these recent African American college graduates were employed compared to 81.1 percent of Whites. But 8.7 percent of 2022 African American college graduates in this age group were unemployed, compared to 5.5 percent of White college graduates in this age group.
Report Looks at Reasons for Declining Enrollments in Higher Education
Black students are more likely than White students to say it was difficult for them to remain enrolled in their programs. Some 43 percent of Black students say they considered stopping out in the past six months — up from 37 percent in 2021. The cost of higher education is cited as the main reason for stopping out.
HBCUs Receive Only a Tiny Fraction of Higher Education Grants From Major Foundations
From 2015 to 2019, the eight Ivy League schools received a combined $5.5 billion in philanthropic dollars from major foundations compared to HBCUs’ $303 million. The average Ivy League institution received 178 times more foundation funding than the average HBCU.
African American Voting Statistics in the 2022 Midterm Elections
For Blacks who did not vote, 25.8 percent said they were too busy or had conflicting schedules. Nearly 16 percent said they were not interested, a lower rate than for White non-voters. Nearly 10 percent of Blacks who did not vote said they forgot to do so, 8 percent said they were away from home, and 13.4 percent said they were sick or disabled.
How to Maintain Racial Diversity If the Supreme Court Prohibits Race-Sensitive Admissions
A new report from the Center on Education and the Workforce in the School of Public Policy at Georgetown University finds that the racial and ethnic diversity of students at the nation's most selective colleges and universities will decrease significantly unless these colleges fundamentally alter their admissions practices.
Black Mothers With Advanced Degrees Have a Higher Rate of Preterm and Low-Weight Babies
The study, presented recently at the Pediatric Academic Societies in Washington, D.C., found that nearly 10 percent of Black mothers with a graduate degree had low birth-weight babies compared to 3.6 percent of White mothers with a master's or doctoral degree.
