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Chapter 1

The document discusses the history and current state of African Americans in the United States. It provides statistics on the percentage of African Americans over time, showing it has increased from 10.7% in 1910 to 12.4% in 2020. It also notes that most African Americans live in the eastern and southeastern parts of the country, and discusses racial segregation and disparities that still exist.

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ferrsa108
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17 views4 pages

Chapter 1

The document discusses the history and current state of African Americans in the United States. It provides statistics on the percentage of African Americans over time, showing it has increased from 10.7% in 1910 to 12.4% in 2020. It also notes that most African Americans live in the eastern and southeastern parts of the country, and discusses racial segregation and disparities that still exist.

Uploaded by

ferrsa108
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as ODT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Chapter 1

Questions (Black Parade - Beyoncé)

1) Beyoncé refers to her African origin: “Growin’, growin’ like a Baobab tree”, “melanin”.
During the Modern time Africans went to USA as slaves.

2) Beyoncé is referring to Black people history in USA.

3) In the city tags we recognize Malcom X, Martin Luther King, who are 2 civil right
leaders.

4) Harlem is a black neighborhood. It was poor in the past, but is was remodeled, and rich
people came (this is gentrification).

5) The song refers to the recent movement: Black Lives Matter.

Afro-American proportion in the US

1) In the first document we can see a table showing the types of races and ethnic groups
in the United States followed by their percentage. This percentages go from the year 1910
until the 2020. We can see the evolution of the American population of the last century.

The second document is a map extracted from the Census website. In this map we can
see the Black or Afro-American distribution in the United States of America. The map
shows every state of this country colored with the corresponding percentage of black
people in it. The percentages go from as low as 5 percent to more than the 25%.

2) In 1910, the Afro-Americans in the US represented the 10.7% of the population. In


2020, however, this percentage was of the 12.4%. So, we see that the proportion of Afro-
Americans has increased since the last century.

3) Most Afro-Americans in the United States are localized in the East part of the country.
Most of the states in the East coast have between a 10-25% of black people, and 5 of
them have more than a 25%.

Since the XVIIIe century the proportion of black people increased in relation with the slave
trade (chapter 2).

Today, the Afro-Americans (Black Americans, African Americans) is the second largest
racial group in the US after the White Americans.

This is an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-
Saharan Africa.

This group is essentially composed by descendants of enslaved Africans.


II – The Afro-American segregation in the US
1930 – The cities were divided
– Social and economic criteria
– Segregation (black area / white area)

1968 – MLK died


– MLK Boulevard

Schools: Health
Wealth Policing

Activity 4

1) According to the document 1, Afro-Americans mostly live in the East and South-East of
the country. Moreover, many black people live in the urban areas instead of the rural ones.
In the cities, the Afro-American community is mainly concentrated around the MLK streets.

This is because the streets with this name were selected from the areas of the city where
the most black were found.

2) Document 4 presents the areas of a city where the more black people are found,
together with the percent of population that is unemployed in that same area. As we can
see, the areas with the most Afro-Americans correspond to the ones where we find more
unemployment.

So, we can conclude that Afro-Americans are the most unemployed class of the US.

3) MLK streets in the US are considered as poor and disordered neighborhoods, where
crime is a normal thing to find.

3) MLK street = spatial and social segregation


→ poor neighborhood = black people
VS
rich people

4) In the United States, the Afro-American population is mainly found in the South-East
and East of the country. In particular, black people live in urban areas, where they can find
jobs more easily, rather than in rural zones. In addition, we can see that the areas in a city
where there are more black people correspond to the ones where there we find more
unemployment.

Finally, most part of the Afro-American population is concentrated around the MLK streets,
in which poverty and crime are more developed than in other neighborhoods. In the
neighborhoods of the MLK streets we also see a spatial segregation of black people
B) Social Segregation

III – Obama Presidency

Activity 6

1) In the US, most part of black people live in the east coast of the country. As we can see
in document 1, it is this territory in which Obama had the most voters, because there are
many black people in those states.

2) According to documents 2 and 3, the percentage of people that voted in the 2008
election was higher than the one of 2004. In addition, we can observe that in the 2008
election, all the minority groups in the US had a higher number of voters, while it was
unchanged for white voters. Finally, we can say that in this election, the number of black
voters largely increased, and they were the ethnic group with the higher percentage of
voters in the US.

3) Document 4 is the lyrics of a song called Yes we can, produced by the artist Will.I.Am. It
is based in its majority from the speech of president Obama during the 2008 elections.

4) During his speech, Obama says “Yes we can” different times to show that it is possible
and that he wants to change the situation is which the US population is found. It is for this
reason that Will.I.Am has chosen these words as the chorus of the song.

5) In this song we can see different references of the US history such as slavery in the US,
when Africans were brought there as slaves and their path towards freedom. Conquer the
far west. In addition the song also makes reference when the US realized a manned flight
to the Moon (proposed by Kennedy).

6) The song presents some hopes about the election of Obama such as a change for
prosperity, heal the nation and make the country better than it was. In general, the song
presents a hope to change the country.

7) Just as the Afro-American population, Hispanic people are also poor, similar to the
situation of black people. It is for this reason that Will.I.Am has translated “Yes we can” to
Spanish.

8) We can say that the 2008 elections were historic because all the minority groups of the
country (Afro-American, Hispanic and Asian) had a much higher percentage of voters than
than in the previous elections (in 2004), because they voted for Obama to be the president
of the country. However, the percentage of black voters remained nearly the same in these
elections.

Moreover, in his election speech, Obama repeats many times “Yes we can” to show he is
willing, and that it is possible, to change the situation of the country, develop the prosperity
and health of the United States, and leave it better than it was before, with more equality
between the different ethnic groups. He wants to change the country.

1) Obama’s electors → East and West coast


McCain’s electors → center
Black people → South East
Black → Obama
2) More voters and more black participation. More young voters in the election

3) Will.I.Am’s song → to support Obama campaign


→ participation of famous people

4) Obama’s slogan was “Yes we can”

6) Fight against racism and racial segregation. Better country.

7) High proportion of Hispanics in the US.

Activity 7

1) In the beginning of the song he is referring to the words that said George Floyd while
the police officer had a knee on his neck.

3) This song denounces the fact it is needed to take action against the racism that black
people suffer: - “Black, white, Asian, doesn’t matter cause we can’t avoid”
- “I think it’s time that we repair all of the bridges we’ve burned”
- “Change is what we really need”
- “Equality is the quality we need inside this earth”

4) Black Lives Matter was founded in 2013 to fight for the equality between white and
black people. It wants to create a space for black imagination and innovation, to get
improvements in their lives. They aim to eradicate white supremacy.

5) The protesters on this photo were composed by young white people

6) They claim to stop racism, and that the government or population doesn’t care about
black people.

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