Skip to content
Advertisement

Study finds race central to Black identity

Advertisement

By Stacy M. Brown | NNPA Newswire

No matter where they are from, who they are, their economic circumstances or educational backgrounds, significant majorities of Black Americans say being Black is extremely or very important to how they think about themselves.

A new Pew Research poll (https://tinyurl.com/2p8rjsnp) revealed that a significant share of Black Americans also say that when something happens to Black people in their local communities, across the nation or around the globe, it affects what happens in their own lives, highlighting a sense of connectedness.

“Black Americans say this even as they have diverse experiences and come from an array of backgrounds,” the authors of the poll noted.

“They are more likely to feel that what happens to Black people inside and outside the United States affects what happens in their own lives,” the authors discovered.

The Pew Research Center conducted an analysis online between Oct. 4 and Oct. 17, 2021.

The organization surveyed 3,912 Black U.S. adults and explored differences among Black Americans in views of identity such as between U.S.-born Black people and Black immigrants; Black people living in different regions of the country; and between Black people of different ethnicities, political party affiliations, ages, and income levels.

Most non-Hispanic Black Americans (78 percent) reported that being Black is very or extremely important to how they think about themselves.

This racial group counted as the largest among Black adults, accounting for 87 percent of the adult population, according to 2019 Census Bureau estimates.

But among other Black Americans, roughly six-in-ten multiracial (57 percent) and Hispanic (58 percent) Black adults reported the same.

According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the nation’s Black population stands at 47 million, or 14 percent of the country’s population.

The survey authors reported that while the vast majority of Black Americans said their racial background is Black alone (88 percent in 2020), growing numbers are also multiracial or Hispanic.

Most were born in the U.S. and trace their roots back several generations in the country, but a growing share are immigrants (12 percent) or the U.S.-born children of immigrant parents (9 percent).

Geographically, while 56 percent of Black Americans live in the nation’s South, the national Black population has also dispersed widely across the country, researchers reported.

The report noted that Black Americans also differ in significant ways in their views about the importance of being Black to personal identity.

While majorities of all age groups of Black people say being Black shapes how they think about themselves, younger Black Americans are less likely to respond the same.

Black adults ages 50 and older are more likely than Black adults ages 18 to 29 to say that being Black is very or extremely important to how they think of themselves.

Specifically, 76 percent of Black adults ages 30 to 49, 80 percent of those 50 to 64 and 83 percent of those 65 and older hold this view, while only 63 percent of those under 30 reported that belief.

Black adults who identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party are more likely than those who identify with or lean toward the Republican Party to say being Black is important to how they see themselves – 86 percent vs. 58 percent.

And Black women (80 percent) are more likely than Black men (72 percent) to say being Black is important to how they see themselves.

The report found that some subgroups of Black Americans are about as likely as others to say that being Black is very or extremely important to how they think about themselves.

According to the survey, U.S.-born and immigrant Black adults are about as likely to say being Black is important to how they see their identity.

However, not all Black Americans feel the same about the importance of being Black to their identity—14 percent say it is only somewhat important to how they see themselves while 9 percent say it has little or no impact on their personal identity, reflecting the diversity of views about identity among Black Americans.

However, Black adults also differ by age in how they pursue knowledge of family history, how informed they feel about U.S. Black history, and their sense of connectedness to other Black people.

Stacy M. Brown is an NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent and can be reached at @StacyBrownMedia

DISCLAIMER: The beliefs and viewpoints expressed in opinion pieces, letters to the editor, by columnists and/or contributing writers are not necessarily those of OurWeekly.

Advertisement

Latest