African Americans in California facts for kids

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African Americans in California
Regions with significant populations

Fillmore District and Bayview-Hunters Point in San Francisco; Oakland and the East Bay Area; Vallejo, Berkeley, Fairfield and Hayward in the San Francisco Bay Area; Compton, South Los Angeles, Gardena, Carson, Palmdale, Lancaster, Long Beach and Inglewood; Southeast San Diego; San Bernardino and Moreno Valley, Victorville, Rialto and other Inland Empire cities;, Stockton, Elk Grove and Sacramento; North Bakersfield and North Fresno
Languages
California English, African-American Vernacular English; African languages spoken by African immigrants, Caribbean languages spoken by the black Caribbean minority, and Spanish spoken by Black Hispanics
Religion
Christianity, Irreligion
Related ethnic groups
Non-Hispanic or Latino African Americans, African immigrants in the United States, West Indian Americans, Black Hispanic and Latino Americans

African American Californians or Black Californians are residents of the state of California who are of African ancestry. According to 2019 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, those identified solely as African American or black constituted 5.8% or 2,282,144 residents in California. Including an additional 1.2% who identified has having partial African ancestry, the figure was 7.0% (2.8 million residents).

The Black community is prevalent in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, and Solano Counties in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento County, and San Joaquin County. In Southern California, the population is concentrated in Los Angeles County, San Bernardino County and San Diego County.

California also has a growing Afro-Caribbean and African immigrant population. Most African immigrants in California come from Ethiopia and Eritrea. Many Ethiopians live in Little Ethiopia in West Los Angeles. California has one of the highest concentrations of black African immigrants. 41,249 Afro-Asians live in California. There is a Blaxican community in California. There is also a growing Blaxican population in Los Angeles. California claimed 113,255 African immigrants in 2000. They came from Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Africa.

African Americans have contributed to California's music, culture and hip hop scene. Tyga, Saweetie, Doja Cat, Jhené Aiko, Tyler, the Creator, Frank Ocean, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg are famous musicians of African American descent.

California has the largest multiracial African American population by number in the United States.

The earliest black residents in California were Afro-Latino slaves brought by the Spanish.

The black population in California has been declining. Blacks having been leaving California and moving out of the state along with whites. Gentrification in California has caused many African Americans in California to become homeless and has pushed them out of historical urban centers like Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and into new cheaper suburban regions, like East Contra Costa, Inland Empire and Central Valley. For example, many blacks from Los Angeles have moved to desert areas such as Palmdale and Lancaster in the 1990s. The black population in Los Angeles County has been rapidly declining. The black population has also declined in San Francisco. African Americans have the second highest poverty rate in California, after Hispanics. This has caused many blacks from California to move back to the Southern United States.

African Americans migrated from Southern states like Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas to California during the Second Great Migration.

People who identify as black in California say their heritage is African American, Mexican, Spanish, Irish, Jamaican, German, Filipino, Nigerian, Italian, Puerto Rican, Ethiopian, French, Belizean, English, Haitian, Caribbean, Japanese, Eritrean, Congolese, Portuguese, Kenyan, Salvadoran, Panamanian, Somali, Dominican, Cuban, Chinese, Polish, Ghanaian, Egyptian, Dutch, Swedish, sub-Saharan, Samoan, Norwegian, Guyanese, Guatemalan, Indian, Trinidadian, Scottish, Latin American, Korean, Cameroonian, British, Brazilian and/or South African.

Most Africans in California are of Ethiopian, Nigerian, Somali, Kenyan, Ghanaian, Liberian, Sierra Leonean, Sudanese, Ugandan, Cape Verdean, Zimbabwean and South African ancestry. There is also a sizable Jamaican, Haitian, Caribbean, Afro-Latino and Afro-Belizean population in California. There is also a small Bahamian, Barbadian, Bermudan, British West Indian, Dutch West Indian, and Trinidadian population in California.

The black population has decreased in many neighborhoods and cities in California. Many areas such as Compton, Inglewood and Watts that were once predominately black are now predominately Latino. Many Mexicans and Central Americans have displaced them in their historical areas.

African Americans are more likely to become homeless in California.

History
Media
Education
Health
Politics
Demographics
Notable Black Californians
See also

History

Racial/Ethnic Makeup of California treating Hispanics as a Separate Category (2017) White Non-Hispanic (36.97%) Black Non-Hispanic (5.47%) Native American Non-Hispanic (0.37%) Asian Non-Hispanic (14.37%) Pacific Islander Non-Hispanic (0.35%) Other Non-Hispanic (0.27%) Two or more races Non-Hispanic (3.05%) Hispanic Any Race (39.15%)

Pío Pico who was California's last governor under Mexican rule, was of mixed Spanish, Native American, and African descent

People of African-descent first appeared in California from Mexico due to the Spanish Conquest. The Spaniards imported African slaves to California. There was many mulattos in Alta California. Spanish soldiers, priests, and settlers brought black slaves and free blacks into the state in the eighteenth century. African Americans arrived in California by 1860 in search of gold during the California Gold Rush. White southerners brought black slaves into the California mines in 1849. White slave owners and their black slaves primarily from Texas, Mississippi, Missouri, and Arkansas. The first census recorded of African Americans in California appeared in 1850 with 962 people and 1860 with 4,086 people. Then, in 1910 the number rose to 22,000. African Americans migrated to the North from the Southern United States to escape Jim Crow in between 1940 and 1970. They also migrated to the state for better job opportunities. African Americans totaled to less than one percent of California's population before the Second World War. The population of African Americans grew slowly with other minorities in California, with only 21,645 African American residents in 1910 compared to two million white residents. Post-WWII, African Americans boosted their population enormously in California. African Americans migrated to California from Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas to work in the defense industry. Many Black Louisianans who migrated to California were Louisiana Creoles. In the 2010s, California was a net loser of black migration for the first time in three decades. Most exiting California blacks are returning to the south especially Texas and the Atlanta metropolitan area. There are Black neighborhoods and cities with Black populations surpassing 15% in Southern California like in Compton, South Los Angeles and Inglewood, and in Northern California like Stockton, Oakland, and Vallejo.

Oakland has been noted for being a center of Northern California's Black population, with it being at least 25% Black as of 2020. Many African Americans who settled in California, likewise in Oakland, worked on the railroad in Oakland and East Bay areas in the early-to-mid 1900s.

Anti-black hate crimes in California has increased.

COVID-19 deaths have risen for African Americans in California.

Media

African American residents of California were first mentioned in 1919 by black Californian historian Delilah Beasley, and later on Rudolph Lapp, others. More information appeared in journals such as The Journal of Negro history and The Journal of African American History. (3) Other Californian publications about African Americans include the California Eagle, California Voice, and Los Angeles Sentinel.

Education

After a petition sent by African Americans to the Los Angeles Board of Education in 1872, the California Supreme Court ruled Ward v. Floor current segregation in educational practices as unconstitutional, breaching U.S. Constitution's 14th and 15th amendments. African American students in lower education increased from 24 in 1870 to 183 by the late 19th century, and ranked highest performing students in literacy subjects in 1900. In 1994, California's African American students made up about seven percent of higher education, compared to nine percent in the country.

Health

Blacks in California have the highest death rate. Black Californians have the highest death rates from breast, cervical, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancer. Blacks in California are also dying at a higher rate than other ethnic groups in California from COVID-19.

Politics

82% of African Americans in California voted for Joe Biden in a exit poll in 2020.

Kamala Harris is the first African American female Vice President. She was born and raised in California.

82% of African American voters are registered as Democrats.

88% of African Americans in California voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Demographics

Ancestry by origin	Number	%
Cape Verdeans	1462
Ethiopians	33,538
Ghanaians	4854
Kenyans	3228
Liberians	2415
Nigerians	36415
Senegalese	0
Sierra Leoneans	1278
Somalis	5022
South Africans	3376
Sudanese	3538
Ugandans	1710
Zimbabweans	408
African	110116
Other subsaharan African	10287