African Americans in Washington, D.C.

African Americans in Washington, D. C. are an old community, dating to the city's foundation. As of 2014, they constituted under 4% of the metropolitan area's population.[1]

Demographics

African Americans are an ethnic group of Americans with total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. They are descended from enslaved Africans in the United States.[2][3] As a compound adjective the term is usually hyphenated as African-American.[4][5]

As of 2014, Black and African Americans numbered around 250,484 residents of the Washington metropolitan area. They comprised approximately 3.6% of the total population of 6,899,123 inhabitants.[1]

Education

See also: Black school

Education to African Americans coexisted in 19th century coexisted with education but it was segregated until second half of 20th century. The first university for African Americans was Howard University (founded in 1867). One of the earliest elementary schools in Washington, D.C. was Thaddeus Stevens School (1968), that later was moved and became the new and still operating High School for black communities in Washington, D.C Dunbar High School (founded in 1870).

The Civil Rights Movement (1954–68) ended school segregation in the United States and racial segregation in the United States with Civil Rights Act of 1968 signed by president Lyndon B. Johnson.

Arts

Many artistic expressions have emerged from African American neighbourhoods. Among these are the Go-go and Chuck Brown whom is considered the Godfather of Go-Go, and the funk band Parliament.

U Street was home or the largest urban African American community in 1920, and is center of Washington's music scene. In its cultural heyday, it was known as "Black Broadway", a phrase coined by singer Pearl Bailey. Duke Ellington's childhood home was located on 13th street between T and S Streets. The Lincoln Theatre opened in 1921, and Howard Theatre in 1926, also is house of Bohemian Caverns, and other clubs and historic jazz venues. The 9:30 Club, the Black Cat, DC9, U Street Music Hall, and the Velvet Lounge musical venues are located on the corridor.

Sports

Among African American sport people can be named Robert Griffin III, whom plays in Washington Redskins, a team in the National Football League.

Politics

Many African American have been active part of Washington politics. Among them Marion Barry, DC mayor from 1971 to 1991, as well as the current mayor Muriel Bowser.

Media

Many African American newsmen and activists can be named, among them, professor, non violent activist and journalist Charles E. Cobb Jr.

National Museum of African American History and Culture

The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) is a Smithsonian Institution museum established in December 2003, initially on the Smithsonian Castle until the inauguration of its own building in September 24, 2016. The museum's building, designed by David Adjaye, is on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.. It has close to 37,000 objects in its collection related to such subjects as community, family, the visual and performing arts, religion, civil rights, slavery, and segregation.[6]

Notable African Americans in Washington, D.C.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "2010-2014 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates". U. S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  2. ↑ Carol Lynn Martin, Richard Fabes (2008). Discovering Child Development. Cengage Learning. p. 19. ISBN 1111808112. Retrieved 25 October 2014. ...most (but not all) Americans of African descent are grouped racially as Black; however, the term African American refers to an ethnic group, most often to people whose ancestors experienced slavery in the United States (Soberon, 1996). Thus, not all Blacks in the United States are African-American (for example, some are from Haiti and others are from the Caribbean).
  3. ↑ Don C. Locke, Deryl F. Bailey (2013). Increasing Multicultural Understanding. SAGE Publications. p. 106. ISBN 1483314219. Retrieved October 23, 2014. African American refers to descendants of enslaved Black people who are from the United States. The reason we use an entire continent (Africa) instead of a country (e.g., Irish American) is because slave masters purposefully obliterated tribal ancestry, language, and family units in order to destroy the spirit of the people they enslaved, thereby making it impossible for their descendants to trace their history prior to being born into slavery.
  4. ↑ "African American". American Heritage Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  5. ↑ "The size and regional distribution of the black population". Lewis Mumford Center. Archived from the original on October 12, 2007. Retrieved October 1, 2007.
  6. ↑ "The Collection". National Museum of African American History and Culture. 2016-01-04. Retrieved 2016-10-10.

External links

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