Don’t Blame History for Black Americans’ Mistrust of the Healthcare System
New research by psychologists at the University of California, Los Angeles shows that vaccine hesitancy and mistrust of medical professionals among Black Americans may hinge more on their current unsatisfactory healthcare experiences than on their knowledge of past wrongs.
African Americans Are Overrepresented in Law Enforcement’s Crime Posts on Social Media
Researchers at the law schools of Duke University, Stanford University, and the University of Chicago examined close to 100,000 crime-related posts from 14,000 Facebook pages maintained by U.S. law enforcement agencies between 2010 and 2019. They found that these posts overrepresented Black suspects by 25 percentage points relative to local arrest rates.
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.
The Racial Graduation Rate Gap Between All Students and Student Athletes
For White students who entered college between 2012 and 2015 on an athletic scholarship, 73 percent earned their degree from the same institution within six years. For Black student athletes in the same period, 59 percent earned their degree within six years at the same school. This gap is significantly less than the racial gap for students as a whole.
The Large Racial Gap in Educational Attainment Rates, Particularly for Men
In 2021, 28.7 percent of African Americans over the age of 25 had obtained at least a bachelor's degree. For Whites, the figure was 41.9 percent. White men were nearly twice as likely as Black men to hold an advanced degree.
Study Finds Foods Companies Increasingly Marketing Unhealthy Products to Blacks
American food and beverage companies disproportionately target Black and Hispanic consumers with advertising for high-calorie, low-nutrient products, including candy, sugary drinks, and snacks, according to a new study by the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Health at the University of Connecticut.
Blacks Student Athletes Have Made Gains in Graduation Rates, But a Racial Gap Persists
In 1991, only 33 percent of Black male student athletes on scholarship at NCAA Division I institutions earned their diplomas within six years. Today, the graduation rate for Black male student athletes is 55 percent. For Black women student athletes on scholarship at these schools, the graduation rate was 45 percent in 1991. Today, it is 67 percent
Study Finds That After 40 Years the Stillbirth Rate for Blacks Remains Double the...
A new study led by Cande Ananth, chief of epidemiology and biostatistics in the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, finds that the decades-long effort to lower the stillbirth rate in the United States has stalled, as has progress in closing a persistent gap in stillbirths experienced by Black women compared with White women.
Study Led by Emory University Scholar Documents Alarming Racial Gap in Firearm-Related Homicides
Most alarming is that rates of fatalities by homicide amongst Black non-Hispanic men (141.8 fatalities/100,000 persons) significantly outpaced rates of fatalities among White non-Hispanic men (6.3 fatalities/100,000). Among Black non-Hispanic females, the rate of fatalities by firearm-related homicide has more than tripled since 2010.
The Education Trust Issues a New Report on Faculty Diversity
Researchers compared the Black percentage of the student body to the Black percentage of faculty at a large number of state-operated universities. They found that only 13.4 percent of these educational institutions had a Black-faculty-to-Black-student ratio of 90 percent or more. More than 70 percent of these institutions had a Black-faculty-to-Black-student ratio of below 70 percent.
University of Delaware Research Examines Impact of Highway Construction on Black Neighborhoods
In 1957, the Wilmington city council voted to bring Interstate 95 right through the Adams-Jackson corridor in the downtown area. In all, 507 residential dwellings, 50 commercial structures, 48 garages, two churches, one public school, one private school and one theater were demolished — and 926 families displaced — to make way for the highway.
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.
New Study Shows a Persistent Racial Gap in Funding of National Science Foundation Grants
Overall, the study examines more than 1 million proposals reviewed by the National Science Foundation from 1996 to 2019. Proposals by White applicants were consistently funded by several percentage points above the national rate, and the disparity increased steadily through the years in the analysis. In 2013 and 2014, research proposals by White applicants were funded at 1.7 and 1.8 times the rate of those by Black applicants.
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.
African Americans Are Making Progress in Medical School Enrollments
In 2022, there were 9,630 African Americans enrolled at U.S. medical schools. They made up 10 percent of total enrollments. In 2015, Blacks were 7.2 percent of total enrollments. Since 2015, the number of Blacks enrolled in U.S. medical schools is up by nearly 54 percent.
Study Finds a Significant Lack of Diversity in Participants in Psychophysiology Studies
Many methods for collecting physiological data use electrodes placed directly on the skin. But these technologies were developed to work best with physical attributes most commonly associated with White people, like light-colored skin and thin straight hair.
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.
Black Enrollments in Post-Pandemic Higher Education
In October 2021, there were 2,717.000 African Americans enrolled in higher education. They made up 15.7 percent of all enrollments in higher education. Black women made up 65 percent of all African American enrollments in higher education.
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.
University of Chicago Report Finds Racial Bias in Federal Pretrial Detention
In 37 percent of cases, federal judges imposed monetary bail conditions, including bail bonds, and over one third of those people remained in jail because they were too poor to make bail. Black and Latino people were much more likely to face financial burdens than White people.
Is Their Racial Bias in the Virtual Classroom?
Overall, the study found no bias among teachers in grading or ability judgment or in recommendations for gifted education programs. But the study found that Black students were not more likely than their White peers to be recommended for extra help and support in school.
Black Student Athletes Have Made Gains in Graduation Rates, But a Racial Gap Persists
In 1991, only 33 percent of Black male student athletes on scholarship at NCAA Division I institutions earned their diplomas within six years. Today, the graduation rate for Black male student athletes is 55 percent. For Black women student athletes on scholarship at these schools, the graduation rate was 45 percent in 1991. Today, it is 67 percent.
Study Finds that Firearm Death Rates for Black Men in Some U.S. Cities Is...
A new study by researchers at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, and the University of Pennsylvania. finds that in some urban zip codes with large populations of young African Americans, the death rate from firearms was higher than for U.S. troops serving as ground troops in Iraq or Afghanistan.
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.
New Research Documents the Medical College of Virginia’s Ties to Slavery
The Medical College of Virginia was established as a separate entity in 1854 from its 1838 roots at Hampden-Sydney College. In 1968, it became part of Virginia Commonwealth University. A new report found that the Medical College of Virginia remained thoroughly embedded within the institution of slavery from its founding until the end of the Civil War.
How a Ban of Affirmatie Action Will Impact Black Enrollments at Selective Liberal Arts...
A brief filed with the Supreme Court estimates that Black enrollments would likely decline between 50 percent and 70 percent. The percentage of Black student applicants who were offered admission would be about half the rate for White applicants. Most strikingly, the percentage of Black students matriculating at these liberal arts institutions as a whole would drop from 7 percent to 2 percent.
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.
The Racial Diversity of the New Congress Is Not Reflected in Staff Positions
The 118th Congress is the most diverse in American history. But, a new report from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies finds that despite greater diversity of the members of the House and Senate, this diversity is not reflected in high-level staff positions. Of the top staff hired by new members so far, 4.4 percent are Black.
Survey Asks Black Americans What Is Needed to Overcome Racial Inequality
More than six-in-ten Black adults (63 percent) say voting is an extremely or very effective strategy for Black progress. However, only 42 percent of African Americans say protesting is a potent strategy for Black progress. A majority of African Americans say that supporting Black businesses can help achieve racial equality.
State Universities in Florida Spend $34.5 Million on Diversity-Related Programs
In a response to an edict from Gobernor ROn DeSantis, the 12 state-operated universities in Florida have reported that $34.5 million in their combined budgets are related to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Nearly $21 million of this total is from state funds with the remainder coming from the federal government, nonprofits, or private sources.
Report Urges Greater Efforts to Boost Opportunities for African Americans in Doctoral Programs
In 1980, Black doctoral earners received about 40 percent of the doctorates they would have received if the percentage of doctorates equaled the Black percentage of the population. There has been significant improvement in the share of doctorates awarded to Black people, now at about four-fifths of what racial parity would call for. But more wok needs to be done.
Is There Racial Bias in the Virtual Classroom?
Overall, the study found no bias among teachers in grading or ability judgment or in recommendations for gifted education programs. But the study found that Black students were not more likely than their White peers to be recommended for extra help and support in school.
Rand Corporation Reports Examines Teachers’ Response to Curriculum Restrictions on Race
Roughly one-quarter of teachers reported not knowing whether they were subject to restrictions on how they can address topics related to race or gender, and only 30 percent of teachers in states with restrictions reported them as being in place.
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.
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.
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.
