Most Black Americans Believe U.S. Institutions Are Purposefully Holding Them Back
According to the report, the majority of Black adults believe American criminal justice systems, governments, big business, media outlets, and healthcare systems were purposefully designed to prevent the success and well-being of Black Americans.
Study Analyzes Effect of Racial Discrimination on Black Adolescent Brain Activity
The study analyzed a sample of Black adolescents' neural response to negative stimuli, cross-referenced with survey responses regarding the participants' internal and external emotional symptoms.
Black American Households Are Less Likely to Own a Computer Than Other Racial Groups
According to the report, Black households are the least likely racial group to own a personal computer, smartphone, or tablet. However, they are the most likely group to be a "smartphone-only" household, suggesting a racial gap in not only computer ownership, but reliable internet access as well.
Higher Education Gifts or Grants of Interest to African Americans
Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.
Duke University Finds the Racial Wealth Gap Between Black and White Americans is Growing
From 2019 to 2022, the average net worth gap between Black and White Americans grew by 38 percent. The study authors believe this increasing wealth gap can be attributed to the country's history with racism and inequities in intergenerational wealth.
Nurses in Black-Serving Hospitals Experienced Increased Levels of “Moral Distress” During the Pandemic
Moral distress is defined as a feeling of being prevented from making a morally-ethical action, which contributes to mental health challenges. Nurses under moral distress are more likely to experience burnout and quit their jobs.
Census Bureau Finds White Households Were Ten Times Wealthier Than Black Households in 2021
In 2021, White households represented 65.3 percent of all American homes, but owned 80 percent of all wealth. In comparison, Black households represented 13.6 percent of all households, but held only 4.7 percent of all wealth.
Report Finds Racial Disparities in Educational Attainment and Access in the United States
Over the past 20 years, Black Americans have made significant progress in educational attainment, but racial disparities remain in certain areas of postsecondary education.
How High School Graduation Rates Impact Life Expectancy of Black Male Students
The report found that graduating from high school was a key factor in improving average life expectancy. For each standard increase in educational attainment, Black male life expectancy increased by 10 months.
UCLA Releases the State of Black California 2024 Report
While some progress has been made in the socioeconomic outcomes for Black Californians, the rate of progress is so slow that it would take nearly 248 years to close the gap between Black and White Californians, according to a new study.by the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Report Reveals Black Students Significantly More Likely to Drop Out of Postsecondary Education
In analyzing data of postsecondary education among students who were in ninth-grade in 2009, the study found Black students were significantly less likely than their White peers to enroll in and complete all levels of postsecondary education.
The Number of Black Americans Who Died After Suffering Injuries at Work Is at...
The number of African American deaths due to injuries suffered on the job had been increasing. In 2015, 495 African Americans died as a result of work-related injuries. In 2022, the figure was 734, an increase of 48.2 percent.
Blacks Are Less Likely Than Whites to Be Referred to Home Health Care After...
According to a new study at the University of Michigan, about 22 percent of Black patients are referred by discharge nurses to home health care compared to 27 percent of White patients.
Study Finds That African Americans Are Only Small Percentage of Sperm Donors
Donors who identified as Hispanic (10.9 percent) or Black (3.3 percent) were significantly underrepresented as compared to the U.S. population. Hispanics are 22 percent of the population and Blacks are 13.3 percent. Asian donors were overrepresented, making up 21.9 percent of the donors but only 6.5 percent of the U.S. population.
Twenty Years After Law School, Many Black Attorneys Still Face Overwhelming Student Debt
A study of students who graduated from law school between 1998 and 2000 found that some 73 percent of Black law school graduates still held student loan debt, 20 years after earning their law degree. Twenty years later, the average debt outstanding for Black law school graduates was more than $74,000.
A Snapshot of Racial Disparities in Legal Education
Some 78 percent of White applicants who applied to law school were accepted to at least one law school. In contrast, only 48 percent of Black or African American applicants were accepted to a law school.
The Small Racial Gap in College Aspirations
A new survey by YouthTruth looks at the college plans of the high school class of 2023. They found very little difference in the college aspirations of Black and White high school seniors. But aspirations and reality do not always meet. Also, the report found that In 2019, 79 percent of Black high school graduates said they wanted to go to college. This year, the figure has dropped to 74 percent.
Land Conservation Measures May Be Widening the Racial Wealth Gap
A new study by researchers at the University of Rhode Island and the University of Illinois finds that protecting open space from development increases the value of surrounding homes. But a disproportionate amount of that newly generated wealth goes to high-income White households.
Brookings Institution Study Examines the High School Graduation Rate Gap by Race and Gender
In some states, the on-time high school graduation rates for specific sub-groups are quite low. In Michigan, for example, only 61 percent of Black boys graduate high school on time, compared to 75 percent of Black girls, 81 percent of White boys, and 87 percent of White girls.
Special Education Teacher Shortage Has Huge Impact on Black Students
A new study finds that special education is the No. 1 teacher shortage area in 48 states. At the same time, a growing number of students of color have been identified as having a disability.
The Racial Disparity in Incarceration Rates Has Declined but Remains Large
In 2020, Black adults were imprisoned at 4.9 times the rate of White adults, down from 8.2 times in 2000. Much of the decline was due to a reduction in prison time for drug-related offenses. However, in 2020, Black individuals comprised approximately 13 percent of U.S. residents but accounted for 56 percent of homicide victims and 39 percent of those arrested for homicide.
New Study May Help Reduce the Vast Racial Disparity in Prostate Cancer
Black men are more than twice as likely as other men to die from prostate cancer. A new study led by researchers at the University of Southern California identified nine new genetic risk factors for prostate cancer, seven of which are found either largely or exclusively in men of African ancestry. This new information can help patients understand their cancer risk and decide how early and often to get screened.
Black Scholars Are Underrepresented Among “Super Principal Investigators” on NIH Grants
Super principal investigators have three or more concurrent grants from the National Institutes of Health. In 2020, just 1 percent of all Black principal investigators were super principal investigators. For Whites, 4.1 percent of all principal investigators were super principal investigators.
Blacks Are Making Progress in Leadership Positions at Athletic Powerhouse Universities
But the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida notes that Blacks are only 9.9. percent of the head football coaches at the 131 colleges and universities that make up the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. African Americans made up 49 percent of the football players at these schools.
New Center at the University of Pennsylvania to Address Racial Gap in Maternal Health
Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than White women in the United States, which has the highest maternal mortality rate of any developed country and the problem is getting worse.
African Americans Making Progress in STEM Fields, But a Large Racial Gap Remains
A National Science Foundation report finds that blacks were 14 percent of the U.S. population between the ages of 18 and 34 in 2020. They earned 10 percent of the associate's degrees awarded in science and engineering fields, 9 percent of the bachelor's degrees, 11 percent of the master's degrees, and just 7 percent of the doctoral degrees.
The Generational Damage From the Unequal Incarceration Rates of African Americans
Overall, 40 percent of American adults have ever had immediate family incarcerated, 34 percent have ever had extended family incarcerated, and more than half of adults have ever had any family incarcerated. For Blacks, 60 percent of adults have experienced an immediate family member’s incarceration, 53 percent have experienced extended family incarceration, and 74 percent have experienced either of those events.
Addressing the Very Low Numbers of African Americans Earning Doctorates in Geography
A study by researchers at Michigan State University found that between 1997 and 2019, 4,918 doctoral degrees were awarded by U.S. universities in the discipline of geography. Only 86 of these doctorates, or 1.64 percent, were awarded to African Americans. The differential awarding of degrees was related to the differential funding by race to support the completion of doctoral degrees in the field.
Harvard-Led Study Finds Racial Disparities in Opioid Relief for Dying Cancer Patients
In a study of 318,549 Medicare patients over the age of 65, researchers found that Black patients were 4.3 percentage points less likely to receive any opioid and 3.2 percentage points less likely to receive long-acting opioids near the end of life than White patients. Researchers also found that when Black patients received opioids, they tended to receive lower doses.
New Study Documents the Racial Gap in Student Loan Debt of Medical Residents
A new study led by Louisa W. Holaday, an assistant professor of internal medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, finds that nearly 90 percent of all Black medical residents had accumulated debt from their medical training. A majority of Black residents (59.9 percent) had debt from premedical education loans.
Black-Owned Businesses Are Still a Small Fraction of the American Economy
In 2020, there were 140,918 U.S. Black- or African American-owned businesses across all sectors of the economy. They had annual sales of $141.1 billion and employed 1.3 million people. Thus, Black-owned businesses accounted for only 2.4 percent of all firms in the nation with paid employees. They employed just 1 percent of all employees.
The Black Percentage of School Principals Has Declined in Recent Years
Overall, during the 2020-21 school year, 78.4 percent of school principals were non-Hispanic White and 9.5 percent were Black or African American. In the 2017-18 school year, Blacks were 11 percent of all school principals.
The Rate of Workplace Fatalities for Black Americans Reaches an All-Time High
In 2021, 653 African Americans died from work-related injuries. This was up 20.7 percent from 2020. African Americans made up 12.6 percent of all work-related fatalities due to injury. This was the highest percentage recorded since statistics on workplace fatalities have been collected.
A Severe Lack of Teacher Diversity in the Nation’s K-12 Schools
A new report from the U.S. Department of Education finds that 80 percent of the nation's K-12 teachers are White, while only 45 percent of the students in these schools are White. African Americans are 6.1 percent of all teachers in public schools but 15 percent of all students.
How the COVID-19 Pandemic Impacted the Racial Gap in Unemployment
In 2020, when the pandemic struck, 19.4 percent of the Black civilian workforce (those who were employed or seeking work) experienced unemployment at some point during the year. More than 4.2 million Black workers were unemployed at some point during the year.
The Significant Racial Gap in Marriage Rates in the United States
In 2021, nearly 54 percent of the White population over the age of 15 was married compared to 31.2 percent of the Black population. Only 27.5 percent of the White population had never been married compared to half of the Black population.
