African diaspora in the Americas

The African diaspora in the Americas refers to the people born in the Americas with partial, predominantly, or completely African ancestry. Many are descendants of persons enslaved in Africa and transferred to the Americas by Europeans, then forced to work mostly in European-owned mines and plantations, between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries.

History

After the United States achieved independence, next came the independence of Haiti, a country populated almost entirely by people of African descent and the second American colony to win its independence from European colonial powers. After the process of independence, many countries have encouraged European immigration to America, thus reducing the proportion of black and mulatto population throughout the country: Brazil, the United States, and the Dominican Republic. Miscegenation and more flexible concepts of race have also reduced the overall population identifying as black in Latin America, whereas the one-drop rule in the United States has had the opposite effect.

From 21 to 25 November 1995, the Continental Congress of Black Peoples of the Americas was held. Black people still face discrimination in most parts of the continent. According to David D.E. Ferrari, vice president of the World Bank for the Region of Latin America and the Caribbean, black people have lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, more frequent and more widespread diseases, higher rates of illiteracy and lower income than Americans of different ethnic origin. Women, also the subjects of gender discrimination, suffer worse living conditions.

Today

In Brazil, with 6.9% of phenotypically Black population and 43.8% of ''pardo'' (mestizo), poverty is common. It is nevertheless important to note that the´Pardo category includes all mulattoes, zambos and the result of their intermixing with other groups, but ''it is majority of European descent'', with most White Brazilians having at least one recent African and/or Native American ancestor and Pardos also being caboclos, descendants of Whites and Amerindians, or mestizos. There are more definitions of the differences and social disparity between blacks and "non-white or pardo" than whites in Brazil in the Black people article section.

According to various studies, the main genetic contribution to Brazilians is European (always above 65%, and an American study found it as high as 77%), and Pardos possess a higher degree of African descent when compared to the general White Brazilian and African-Brazilian populations (the previous mostly with some detectable non-white ancestor and the latter highly miscegenated) and exhibit a greater Amerindian contribution in areas such as the Amazon Basin and a stronger African contribution in the areas of historical slavery such as Southeastern Brazil and coastal Northeastern cities, nevertheless both are present in all regions, and that physical features did much correlate with detectable ancestry in many instances.

On 4 November 2008, the first mulatto U.S. president, Barack Obama, won 52% of the vote. His father was an African man from Kenya and his mother a white woman from Kansas.

Table

Notable people of African descent in the Americas

* Charlie Davies, American football player
* Hayden Knight, American football player
*Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – American basketball player
*Archie Alleyne – Bahamian basketball player
* Ronald Acuna Jr. – Venezuelan baseball player
*Ozzie Albies – Curaçaoan baseball player
*Laz Alonso – Cuban actor
* Edem Awumey – Canadian writer
*Susana Baca – Peruvian musician
*Leandro Barbosa – Brazilian basketball player
*Charles Barkley – American basketball player
*RJ Barrett – Canadian basketball player
*Abelardo Barroso – Cuban singer
*Mario Bazán – American football player
* Jean Beausejour – Chilean football player
*Adrián Beltré – Dominican baseball player
*Halle Berry – American actress
*Beyoncé – American singer
*Usain Bolt – Jamaican sprinter
*Cory Booker – American politician
*E. R. Braithwaite – Guyanese writer, educator and diplomat
* Melvin Brown – Mexican football player
*Rudel Calero – Nicaraguan football player
*Mariah Carey – American singer
*Ramiro Castillo – Bolivian football player
*Aimé Césaire – Martinican author, philosopher and politician
*Bill Cosby – American actor and comedian
*Celia Cruz – Cuban singer
*Teófilo Cubillas – Peruvian football player
* Stephen Curry – American basketball player
*Edwidge Danticat – Haitian-American author
*Oscar D'León – Venezuelan musician
*Giovani dos Santos – Mexican football player
*Drake – Canadian rapper
*Tim Duncan – American basketball player
*Kevin Durant – American basketball player
* Giovanny Espinoza – Ecuadorian football player
*Patrick Ewing – Jamaican basketball player
*Frantz Fanon – Martinican philosopher and Pan-Africanist
*Jefferson Farfán – Peruvian football player
*Marcus Garvey – Jamaican Pan-Africanist
*Juan José Nieto Gil – Colombian president
*Edray H. Goins – African American president of the National Association of Mathematicians (NAM)
*Eddy Grant – Guyanese pop and reggae music star
*Kevin Hanchard – Canadian actor
*Devern Hansack – Nicaraguan baseball pitcher
*James Harden – American basketball player
*Kamala Harris – American politician, Vice President of the United States
*Wilson Harris – Guyanese writer
*Buddy Hield – Bahamian basketball player
*Kyrie Irving – American basketball player
*Michael Jackson – American singer
*Janet Jackson – American singer
*Lamar Jackson – American football player
*C. L. R. James – Trinidadian historian and academic
*LeBron James – American basketball player
*Wyclef Jean – Haitian musician
*Dwayne Johnson – American actor and wrestler
*Magic Johnson – American basketball player
*Michael Jordan – American basketball player
*Colin Kaepernick – American civil rights activist and American football player
*Martin Luther King Jr. – American civil rights activist
*Don Lemon – American journalist
*Mia Love – American politician
*Malcolm X – American human rights activist
*Bob Marley – Jamaican reggae musician
*Jackson Martínez – Colombian football player
*Margareth Menezes – Brazilian singer
*Zezé Motta – Brazilian actress
*Morella Muñoz – Venezuelan singer
*Anthony Nesty – Surinamese swimmer
*Lupita Nyong'o – Mexican actress
*Barack Obama – American politician, first black president of the United States
*Michelle Obama – American politician, former First Lady of the United States
*Shaquille O'Neal – American basketball player
* David Ortiz – Dominican baseball player
*Deval Patrick – American politician
*Chris Paul – American basketball player
*Carlos Posadas – Argentine musician
* Álex Quiñónez – Ecuadorian Olympic sprinter
*Rubén Rada – Uruguayan singer
*Lionel Richie – American singer
*Robinho – Brazilian football player
*Walter Rodney – Guyanese historian and political activist
* Arturo Rodríguez – Argentine boxer
*Bill Russell – American basketball player
*Carlos Andrés Sánchez – Uruguayan football player
* Jerry Jeudy, American football player
*Pablo Sandoval – Venezuelan athlete
*Tupac Shakur – American rapper
*Cayetano Alberto Silva – Uruguayan musician
*Will Smith – American actor and singer
*Domingo Sosa – Argentine soldier
*Sloane Stephens – American tennis player
*María Isabel Urrutia – Colombian athlete
*Bebo Valdés – Cuban pianist
*Elcina Valencia – Colombian teacher
*Dwyane Wade – American basketball player
*Derek Walcott – Saint Lucian poet, playwright and the 1992 Nobel Prize Literature Winner
*Denzel Washington – American actor
*The Weeknd – Canadian singer
*Kanye West – American singer
*Russell Westbrook – American basketball player
*Andrew Wiggins – Canadian basketball player
*Eric Eustace Williams – Trinidad and Tobago's first Prime Minister
*Serena Williams – American tennis player
*Zion Williamson – American basketball player
*Russell Wilson – American football player
*Tiger Woods – American golfer

Related bibliography

* Ethnic domination and racist discourse in Spain and Latin America. Dijk, Teun A. van. van. Gedisa Editorial SA
* Gender, class and race in Latin America: some contributions. Luna, Lola G. Ed PPU, SA
* Gender, race and class "color" desensientes Latinas. Impoexports, Colombia, Yumbo

Afro Atlantic Histories resource
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.

See also

*African-Latin American
*African-Caribbean

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:African-American Peoples Of The Americas
African diaspora in North America,
African diaspora in South America,
Ethnic groups in the Americas
People of African descent
Slavery in North America
Slavery in South America