[[Image:Paterson.jpg|thumb|[[David A. Paterson]], first black governor of New York (2008- )]]'''African American''' is the term used to describe the ethnic background of Americans with African ancestry. The great majority of African Americans are descended from Africans brought to North America as slaves beginning four centuries ago. Others (like [[Colin Powell]]) were 20th century immigrants from the West Indies or Africa.==Terms==The preferred terminology changes. Currently "black" and "African American" are in favor, and "Afro-American" and "Negro" are out of favor. The situation before 1960 was just the reverse. "Colored" was popular until the 1950s, but now is generally out of favor except among some left groups. ==History==see [[Black history]] Blacks were originally brought to America to serve as slaves in southeastern states on large-scale plantations. During the [[Civil War]], all slaves were freed by [[Abraham Lincoln]] though the [[Emancipation Proclamation]], the 13th Amendment, and some state actions. During [[Reconstruction]] the Freedmen (freed slaves) gained citizenship and civil and political rights, including the right to marry, move about, and keep their wages. The system of [[sharecropping]] instituted after the end of the war left most Freedmen poor. [[Jim Crow]] policies of racial [[segregation]] were implemented after the end of [[Reconstruction]]. Blacks left the rural south in two waves, the first around 1915-20, the second coming after World War II when machinery ended the need for large numbers of people to pick cotton by hand. The migrants headed to the large cities of the North and West, and also in the South, moving from very poorly paid farm work to wage labor. ==Politics==Blacks were Republicans from the 1860s to the 1960s, but few who lived in the South voted. The [[New Deal]] provided large-scale relief for blacks during the [[Great Depression]]. Some black Republican organizations, as in Chicago, switched overnight to the Democrats. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 allowed blacks to vote in the South, and has been vigorously enforced. Since 1964 blacks have voted 85% to 95% for Democratic presidential candidates, with an occasional black Republican elected to state office. ==Religion==[[Image:President Barack Obama.jpg|thumb|150px|Barack Obama, first black president (2009- )]] Religiosity is very high and the great majority of African Americans are Protestants, with their own [[Baptist]], [[Pentecostal]], and [[Methodist]] churches. A few are "Black Muslims."<ref>The Pluralism Project at Harvard University[http://www.pluralism.org/resources/statistics/tradition.php#Islam] 24% of American Muslims are black according to American Muslim Council's Zogby poll of August 2000.</ref>. The standard practice since Reconstruction is for black ministers to be political power brokers, and often they run for office. ==References==<references/>* [http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html National Survey of Religious Identification (NSRI)] ==See Also==* [[Black History]]* [[Civil Rights]]* [[Jim Crow]]* [[Race]]* [[Black Republican]] [[category:Ethnicities]][[category:The South]][[category:Civil Rights]][[category:Black History]]NIGGERS! Page Corrected By Anon
