Who are the
African Americans?
Today, it is estimated that upwards of 200 million people of African descent live in the 49 nations states in the Americas - North, Central and South America and the Caribbean. The African presence in the Americas, then, is at one and the same time biological and cultural, political and economic - an intriguing amalgam of conflicting social definitions of peoples believed to have some percentage of "black blood." Biologically, they are said to include those believed to be either of "pure African" blood or to have varying degrees of so-called African physical traits. Traditionally, in the United States, even a small fraction of "black blood" makes one black. In South and Central; America and Caribbean, the positive value given to "white blood" contributes toward making one whiter, or even white, depending on one's social status.
On the surface these racial ideologies appear to be very different; however, both are rooted in the same logic - perpetuation of whiteness as the pinnacle of a racial hierarchy.
Physical characteristics - skin color, hair texture and distinctive facial features - have been used to set blacks apart. Physical appearance has been transformed into pseudoscientific claims of differences in intellectual, physical and emotional capabilities, setting blacks at the bottom of a racial hierarchy. These presumed racial differences have been used to rationalize their exploitation and justify or explain their social position.
Introduction | Who are the African Americans? | Migration | Work | Culture | Resistance