AP® African American Studies review sheet from Aim for Five (aimforfive.com/african-american-studies/units/4/4-16)
Unit 4 · Topic 4.16
4.16 Demographic and Religious Diversity in Contemporary Black Communities
Since 2000, the Black population of the United States has grown larger and more diverse, with more college graduates, more immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean, and more people who identify as multiracial or Black and Hispanic. Faith remains important, though younger Black adults are less likely than their elders to be Protestant.
Key terms
- demographic diversity
- Black immigrants
- multiracial identity
- Afro-Latino
- Black church
- religious diversity
A growing, changing population
Between 2000 and 2019, the number of people in the US who identify as Black grew by 30 percent, to about 47 million, nearly 14 percent of the country. Several trends are reshaping that population:
- Education: the number of Black college degree holders more than doubled after 2000.
- Immigration: the number of Black immigrants nearly doubled, driven mainly by immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean.
- Identity: more people identify as both Black and Hispanic, or as multiracial.
One community, many backgrounds
The term 'Black' signals shared African heritage and shared experiences, but Black communities in the US include people with many different ancestries, histories and cultures:
Immigrants now make up roughly one in ten Black people in the US, with large communities from countries such as Jamaica, Haiti, Nigeria and Ethiopia. Like Afro-Caribbean migrants a century earlier (3.17), they bring new languages, religions, foods and political perspectives, and their children often hold more than one identity at once.
| Group | How some may identify |
|---|---|
| Descendants of people enslaved in the US | African American |
| Recent immigrants | By race and nationality, such as Nigerian American, Jamaican American or Afro-Colombian |
| People with significant Black and other ancestry | Multiracial |
Faith and community
In the early twenty-first century, about two-thirds of Black adults identify as Protestant, and about 20 percent don't belong to any religion. Pew Research Center surveys, a required source, found that younger Black adults are less likely to be Protestant and more likely to be unaffiliated than older generations.
Black religious leaders and congregations have played major roles in civil rights and social justice, mobilizing people around political and social issues, including some that reach well beyond Black communities. The Black church has long been a place for developing and debating core values about education, community improvement, race relations, culture, language and ties to the wider diaspora (3.9, 4.6).
Reading data sources
The required sources for this topic are Pew Research Center reports from 2021: 'The Growing Diversity of Black America' by Christine Tamir, and a report on young Black adults and religion. When you read survey data, check the year, who was surveyed and what was measured. Then describe the trend in your own words and explain one possible cause, such as immigration from Africa and the Caribbean.
Worked examples
Try each one yourself first, then open the solution.
- Example 1
Describing a trend and its cause
A chart shows the number of Black immigrants in the US nearly doubling between 2000 and 2019. Describe the trend and explain one effect on Black communities.
Show the solutionHide the solution
- Step 1: Describe the trend precisely: nearly doubled, mostly from Africa and the Caribbean.
- Step 2: Explain an effect: more diversity in languages, religions and national identities.
- Step 3: Connect to identity: some identify by nationality as well as race.
Answer: Model answer: The chart shows the Black immigrant population nearly doubling since 2000, driven mainly by immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean. As a result, Black communities have become more diverse in language, religion and national origin, and many members identify by both race and nationality, such as Nigerian American or Afro-Colombian, alongside descendants of people enslaved in the US who may identify as African American.
Common mistakes
- Treating the Black population as uniform. It includes descendants of enslaved people, recent immigrants and multiracial people.
- Overstating religious decline. Most Black adults are still Protestant, though younger adults are less so.
- Ignoring dates and sources when describing data.
On the exam
- Data-based questions often ask you to describe a pattern, then explain a cause or effect. Do both, with numbers.
- Link this topic to earlier Caribbean migration (3.17) and to debates about names and identity (2.10).
Connected topics
Videos
Check yourself
3 questions on 4.16 Demographic and Religious Diversity in Contemporary Black Communities. Pick an answer to see if you got it, and why.
A 2021 Pew Research Center report found that the number of Black immigrants in the United States had grown rapidly since 2000, with most coming from the Caribbean and Africa. The report also noted that a growing share of Black Americans identify as Hispanic or as multiracial. A separate Pew report that year found that about two-thirds of Black adults identify as Protestant, while about one in five do not affiliate with any religion, a share higher among young adults.
Summary written for this practice set of Pew Research Center reports, 2021 (no quotation)
The first report best supports which claim?
Why might a recent immigrant from Colombia describe herself as "Afro-Colombian" rather than "African American"?
The second report's findings on religion are most relevant to which historical pattern?
0 of 3 answered