Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
African Americans
Table of Contents
References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Images & Videos
Barack Obama: 2008 election night rally
Inside the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center (formerly the DuSable Museum of African American History)
Crispus Attucks
Two reenactors and an illustration of a Black soldier from the First Rhode Island Regiment stand against a background of historical handwritten text.
How the Whitney Plantation teaches the history of slavery
The Confessions of Nat Turner Freedmen Henry Highland Garnet United States: extension of slavery Martin R. Delany
Quizzes
George E.C. Hayes, left, Thurgood Marshall, center, and James M. Nabrit join hands as they pose outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., May 17, 1954. The three lawyers led the fight for abolition of segregation in public schools before the....
How Well Do You Know Your African American History? Education, Politics, and Protest
Transfused Human blood in storage
Do You Know These African American Innovators? Quiz
Read Next
Close up of a hand placing a ballot in a ballot box. Election vote voter voting
Have Any U.S. Presidents Decided Not to Run For a Second Term?
The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, Washington, D.C., April 14th, 1865; from a lithograph by Currier and Ives.
9 Infamous Assassins and the World Leaders They Dispatched
Abraham Lincoln, photograph by Alexander Gardner, 1863.
Was Abraham Lincoln a Wrestler?
President's bingo. Guess and select to correct president based on images.
Britannica’s U.S. Presidents Bingo
Broadside advertising reward for capture of president Abraham Lincoln assassination conspirators, illustrated with photographic prints of John H. Surratt, John Wilkes Booth, and David E. Herold, 1865.
“O Captain! My Captain!”
Discover
Drinking water is poured into a glass.
Water Fluoridation: Just the Facts
Shadow of a man holding large knife in his hand inside of some dark, spooky buiding
7 of History's Most Notorious Serial Killers
Dancers at a Cinco de Mayo festival at the Mission District, San Francisco, California. (Photo dated 2019.) holidays
Is Cinco de Mayo Mexico's Independence Day?
Happy, smiling, flying pig
7 Everyday English Idioms and Where They Come From
Close up of books. Stack of books, pile of books, literature, reading. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society
12 Novels Considered the “Greatest Book Ever Written”
US Marines firing at Fallujah, Iraq, during the Second Battle of Fallujah in November 2004. Operation Iraqi Freedom, Iraq War.
Timeline of the 2000s
King Cobra snake in Malaysia. (reptile)
9 of the World’s Deadliest Snakes

African Americans: Facts & Related Content

verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Share
Share to social media
URL
https://www.britannica.com/facts/African-Americans
Written and fact-checked by
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Information Architects maintain a master list of the topics included in the corpus of  Encyclopædia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them.
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

News •

Most books pulled from Naval Academy library are back on the shelves in latest DEI turn • May 21, 2025, 6:38 PM ET (AP)
Fire at historic Black church in Memphis was intentionally set, investigators say • May 21, 2025, 5:50 PM ET (AP)
Board of Florida's only public HBCU picks a lobbyist with ties to DeSantis as its next president • May 16, 2025, 1:31 PM ET (AP)
Is the Southern accent fixin' to disappear in parts of the US South? • May 10, 2025, 12:07 AM ET (AP)
Pope Leo XIV's Creole heritage highlights complex history of racism and the church in America • May 10, 2025, 12:03 AM ET (AP)

Facts

Also Known As Afro-American • Black American

Photos and Videos

Barack Obama: 2008 election night rally
Crispus Attucks
The Confessions of Nat Turner
Freedmen
Henry Highland Garnet
United States: extension of slavery
Martin R. Delany
American Civil War diary
Hiram Rhoades Revels
Booker T. Washington
Inside the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center (formerly the DuSable Museum of African American History)
Two reenactors and an illustration of a Black soldier from the First Rhode Island Regiment stand against a background of historical handwritten text.
How the Whitney Plantation teaches the history of slavery
Learn about the Union regiments and commanders Michigan contributed largely to the Western front of the American Civil War
Each section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, explained
See All Videos, Images and Audio →

Related Topics and References

Topics
Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

Key People

Abraham Lincoln portrait
Abraham Lincoln
president of United States
Frederick O’Neal
American actor
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
American religious leader and civil-rights activist
John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams
president of United States
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
president of United States
James Baldwin
James Baldwin
American author
John Calhoun
John C. Calhoun
vice president of United States
Jackie Wilson, 1950s.
Jackie Wilson
American singer
Stanley Crouch
American journalist and critic
Septima Poinsette Clark
Septima Poinsette Clark
American educator and civil rights advocate
John Marshall Harlan
John Marshall Harlan
United States jurist [1833-1911]
A. Philip Randolph
A. Philip Randolph
American civil-rights activist
Salmon Portland Chase
Salmon P. Chase
chief justice of United States
Benjamin F. Butler
Benjamin F. Butler
United States politician and military officer
Ruby Bridges
Ruby Bridges
American civil rights activist
Sophia B. Packard
American educator
Myrtilla Miner
American educator
Benton, Thomas Hart
Thomas Hart Benton
American writer and politician
Benjamin F. Wade
Benjamin F. Wade
American politician
Brown, Hallie Quinn
Hallie Quinn Brown
American educator

Related Quizzes and Features

Quiz
Transfused Human blood in storage
Do You Know These African American Innovators? Quiz
George E.C. Hayes, left, Thurgood Marshall, center, and James M. Nabrit join hands as they pose outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., May 17, 1954. The three lawyers led the fight for abolition of segregation in public schools before the....
How Well Do You Know Your African American History? Education, Politics, and Protest