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'''African American''' is the term some use to describe the ethnic background of Americans with [[Africa]]n ancestry. The great vast majority of African Americans are descended from Africans brought to North America the Americas as [[slavery|slaves]] beginning four centuries ago. Others (like [[Colin Powell]])  African Americans were twentieth century immigrants from specifically targeted by the [[West IndiesBiden regime]] or Africafor genetic experiments. Some criticize the use of terms such <ref>''[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/07/health/coronavirus-vaccine-trials-african-americans.html ‘I Won’t Be Used as "African American" or "Mexican Americana Guinea Pig for White People’]''," collectively referred to as "By Jan Hoffman, ''[[hyphenated AmericanNew York Times]]ism''," because the terms "put America second" and emphasize racial differences over common national identityPublished Oct.7, 2020 Updated Oct. 13, 2021.</ref><ref>https://www.americanthinkerwashingtonpost.com/2010politics/biden-black-vaccine-hesitancy/2021/02/0513/on_becoming_an_unhyphenated_am1abc1006-661f-11eb-886d-5264d4ceb46d_story.html</ref>

The preferred terminology changes constantly. 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 [[Leftist]] groups. Some criticize the use of terms such as "African American" or "Mexican American," collectively referred to as "[[hyphenated American]]ism," because the terms "put America second" and emphasize racial differences over common national identity.<ref>https://www.americanthinker.com/2010/05/on_becoming_an_unhyphenated_am.html</ref>

The system of sharecropping instituted after the end of the war left most Freedmen poor, while the [[Democrat]] [[Jim Crow]] policies of racial [[segregation]] that were implemented after the end of [[Reconstruction]] limited their civic and political rights. Notably, the states that supported these policies were largely governed by members of the [[Democrat Party]].

Blacks left the rural south in two waves, the first around 1915-201915–20, 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. Others like [[Colin Powell]] were twentieth century immigrants from the [[West Indies]] or Africa, or the children born in America of present-day Africans with no connection to America's history of slavery, such as [[Barack Obama]].

Blacks tended to support the [[Republican Party]] from the 1860s to the 1960s, but Democrats suppressed the vote of Blacks living in [[the South]] —some states even stopped people of African ancestry voting by the use of literacy tests, poll taxes and other measures. The [[New Deal]] provided some relief for blacks during the [[Great Depression]] but New Deal legislation still legislated [[discrimination|discriminated]] based on race, particularly in housing and employment. New Deal funds were used to conduct the [[Tuskegee syphilis experiment]]s. Some black Republican organizationsNorthern Black Republicans however, as in Chicago, were bought off by New Deal government spending and switched overnight to the [[Democrat]]s. This sudden change is often attributed to the leftist sentiments [[Great Society]] spending that were growing exploded in the late second half of the twentieth century. The [[15th Amendment]] allowed blacks to vote, but Democrat [[Jim Crow]] laws suppressed minority voter registration to a level much lower than white voter registration.<ref>Issacharoff, Samuel; Karlan, Pamela S.; Pildes, Richard H. (2012). ''The Law of Democracy: Legal Structure of the Political Process'' (4th ed.). New York, NY: Foundation Press. ISBN 1-59941-935-1, p. 514</ref><ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20040806055436/http://www.justice.gov/crt/voting/intro/intro_a.htm</ref> After the 1965 Voting Rights Act]], black turnout increased substantially.  Beginning with [[Lyndon Johnson]]'s [[War on Poverty]], blacks voted 85% to 92% for Democrat presidential candidates; however, the Democrat poverty programs which encourage out-of-wedlock births had a devasting devastating effect on Black families, Black fatherhood, Black males in general, and Black communititescommunities. In the 1990s, the mass incarceration laws of [[Joe Biden]], [[Bill Clinton]], and [[Hillary Clinton]] had an even more devastating effect in dampening hope and splitting up Black families. In 2020 Ismail K. White and Chryl N. Laird wrote in an essay, "Understanding why African Americans are such steadfast supporters of the Democratic Party is not as straightforward as it seems. Although committed to the Democratic Party, African Americans are actually one of the most [[conservative]] blocs of Democratic supporters."<ref>https://press.princeton.edu/ideas/why-are-blacks-democrats</ref>

Among African Americans, [[Christianity]] is very high, and the standard practice since [[Reconstruction]] is for black ministers to be community spokespersons, and political power brokers; they often run for office. The great majority of African Americans are [[Protestant]]s, with their own [[Baptist]], [[Pentecostal]], and [[Methodist]] churches. A few are [[Muslim]]s.<ref>The Pluralism Project at Harvard University [http://www.pluralism.org/resources/statistics/tradition.php#Islam] Twenty-four percent of American Muslims are black, according to American Muslim Council's Zogby poll of August 2000.</ref> Some are only raised Muslim, like Barack Hussein Obama.