1. African Americans in the US

2. African-Americans are 9.5% of the US population.

3. 645,000 slaves were brought to the United States.

4. Between 1654 and 1865 slavery was legal in the United States.

5. One of the reasons for the US Civil War was the issue of slavery.

6. After slavery, former slaves still could not regularly vote.

7. Martin Luther King Jr. lead the Civil Rights movement to gain equal treatment for African Americans in the United States.

8. The Civil Rights Movement was 1955-1968, only 30-40 years ago.

9. 40 years ago in the southern US, blacks were not allowed to sit at the front of the bus…

10. or attend the same schools as white children…

11. or drink out of the same drinking fountains as whites…

12. or marry a person of another color.

13. Today approximately 42% of African American youth live in poverty.

14. Approximately 18% of white youth live in poverty.

15. African American males are seven times more likely to be murdered than their white counterparts.

16. The vast majority of these youth, 65%, live in single parent homes.

17. The unemployment rates for African American youth are two to three times as high as that of white youth.

18. Rates of teen pregnancy among African American teens has been declining, but remains twice as high as that of white teens.

19. The African-American rate of HIV/AIDS infection is five times higher than that for Caucasians.

20. 20 % of African American men aged 18-26 are unemployed, as opposed to 7% of whites.

21. 10% of all African-American men aged 18-26 are in prison.

22. 7.5% are in university.

23. If you are an African-American male between 18-26, you are more likely to be in prison than in university.

24. Why is it so?

40. Work Cited Teaching on African American Youth: A Curricular Guide. http://bpdupdateonline.bizland.com/spring2001/id11. html http://bpdupdateonline.bizland.com/spring2001/id11. html African-American Teens: Living in a high risk population. http://www.idph.state.il.us/public/respect/african_am erican_fs.htm http://www.idph.state.il.us/public/respect/african_am erican_fs.htm Black Youth Project: Young African-American men in the United States. http://www.kff.org/minorityhealth/upload/7541.pdf http://www.kff.org/minorityhealth/upload/7541.pdf All photos via Google images.