Black AmericansSnapshot: 50 years of progress for

Undergraduate students

19

64234,000

20

112.6 million

(latest �gures)

[Fifty years ago], it was virtually unheard of for African-American students to attend most state or private colleges in the U.S. Students of color [now havethe option to] attend whatever university they wish, and that signi�cantchange is a template for the change in this country.

“— Everette Freeman, EdD, president of the Community College of Denver and a member of theUniversity of Phoenix board of directors

Business owners

19

72187,602

(earliest �gures)

20

071.9 million

(latest �gures)

Senior executives

19

640 Fortune

500 CEOs 20

136 Fortune

500 CEOs(about 800 senior executive positions)

“ The number [of African-American- owned businesses] grew about 60 percent from 2002 to 2007, [but]1.8 million of those businesses have no employees. They aren’t mom and pop — they are mom or pop.

The fastest-growing segment of all business entrepreneurs is black women, “who are doing better in general than overall African-American business owners.”

— Ron Busby, MBA, president and CEO of U.S. Black Chambers Inc.

College graduates (those who earned at least a bachelor’s degree)

19

64365,000

20

115.1 million

(latest �gures)

Living below the poverty line Median income

19

6641.8%

(earliest �gures)

20

1127.6%

(latest �gures)

19

64$24,332

(in 2011 dollars)

20

11$40,495

(latest �gures)

“ The next 50 years need to be about economic empowerment. MLK and others laid out the blueprint, and if you listen to MLK’s last [sermon], he talked about that. But this next generation of leaders and individuals need to execute it.

— Ron Busby, MBA, president and CEO of U.S. Black Chambers Inc.

With restrictive voting laws loosened, African-Americans started to �ndsuccess in elective politics, beginning in 1966, when Edward Brooke became the �rst black person elected to the U.S. Senate. One year later, Carl Stokes made history when he was elected mayor of Cleveland, the �rst black mayor of a major U.S. city. And in 2008, Barack Obama became the �rst black U.S. president.

Elected o�cials

19

701,469

20

1110,500

(latest �gures)(earliest �gures)

U.S. black population

19

6420.7 million

20

1244.5 million

(latest �gures — 14.2 percent of thetotal population)

The U.S. Census Bureau collected demographic statistics for a special report coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. The Census’s Survey of Business Owners collects data every �ve years, and started in 1972. The �rst year poverty statistics that were available after passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was 1966. Data on elected o�cials are collected by The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a nonpro�t think tank.

Designer: Naureen Saira | Writer: Elliot Smith | January 17, 2014