Black History Month 2011

South Hackensack, NJ
January 21, 2011
E-Tech Black History Month Newsletter

New Achievements in Black History

With the celebration of Martin Luther King’s 82nd birthday on Monday January 17th and the coming to the end of the second year of office for our first black president E-Tech would like to honor all those who contributed to African American History achievements. The 2009 inauguration of Barack Obama as president of the United States marked a defining moment in both American and World history. This historic event was another step toward Martin Luther King’s dream of a more equitable society. Throughout Black History Month we remember how Black American leaders of all kinds helped to bring our Nation together.

A History of Black History
In February, the nation joins Black Americans in celebrating their rich culture, heritage, and contributions to the American lifestyle during Black History Month. Black History Month began as “Negro History Week” in 1926 which was established by Carter G. Woodson and was expanded to a month long celebration in 1976. Woodson is said to have chosen the second week in February for the celebration to honor the birthdays of Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist and editor, and Abraham Lincoln.

The scope to which Blacks have contributed to American life can be witnessed at even the most fundamental levels: Garrett Morgan invented the first Traffic Signal (1923); Lewis Latimer invented the Carbon Filament used in Light Bulbs (1882); Richard Spikes invented the Automatic Gear Shift (1932) and Lydia O. Newman invented the Hair Brush (1898). Today, Black Americans are still achieving firsts in politics, education and business: Condoleezza Rice was the first Black Woman to serve as US Secretary of State; President Barack Obama was the first Black President of the Harvard Law Review and was the first Black to run for the Democratic Party's Presidential Candidacy; and Robert Johnson, owner of Black Entertainment Television, became the first Black Billionaire in 2001.

The Black Consumer Market
There are 40 million black Americans and comprise 12.3 percent of the U.S. population down from 14.8 percent of the population in 2000. African Americans became the nation’s second-largest minority group in the first decade of the 21st century.

The Black population is younger than the rest of the U.S population. In 2010 the median age of the Black population was 41 compared to the general U.S. population at nearly 45. In addition, females represent a greater percentage of the Black population in the United States. While the Black American median household income is lower than the U.S. average, the percentage of Black American households with an income of $50,000.00 or more grew 13.5% between 2003 and 2010, compared with 8.4% for the total U.S. households.

According to the University of Georgia’s Selig Center for Economic Growth, the buying power of Black Americans was $895 Billion in 2010 and estimates the buying power in 2012 to reach $1.1 trillion. In that same year, the US Census Bureau estimated the number of Black residents at 40.7 million, comprising 13.5% of the total US population. The number of Black-owned businesses was 1.8 million in 2009, a 58% increase since 1997 and Black businesses generated revenues of $92.7 Billion that year. Black Americans are also gaining ground in education. In 2009, 18% of Black Americans held Bachelor Degrees and 1.7 million held advanced degrees (Master’s, J.D., M.D. PhD).

As this group becomes more educated and their median household income increases, they will have greater control of the consumer marketplace. Black Americans are attracted to companies that represent their lifestyle with targeted messages and images. It is the responsibility of marketers to attract and maintain a relationship with the Black consumer.

“Black folk are not just dark-skinned white people. Marketers who consciously establish a relationship with this lucrative yet underserved market, by better understanding the African-American culture, mindset, attitude, behavior and lifestyle, will reap significant long-term rewards from a loyal, influential, increasingly affluent customer base.”
-Herbert Kemp, Founder & CEO of What is Black about IT? LLC

TIDBITS

LOCATION
More than half of black Americans live in the South.

New York had the largest black population of any state as of July 1, 2010 (3.6 million); Georgia had the largest numeric increase since July 1, 2007 (67,500). The District of Columbia had the highest percentage of blacks (56 percent), followed by Mississippi (38 percent).

Cook County, III. (Chicago’s county) had the largest black population of any county (1.4 million), and Orleans Parish, La. (New Orleans’ county) had the largest numeric increase since July 1, 2007 (16,000). Claiborne County, Miss.—on the Louisiana border—had the highest percentage of blacks in the nation (84 percent).

Seventy-seven counties were majority-black or African-American; all were in the South.

More than half of black American (53 percent) rent their homes—that’s the largest percentage of renters among the races in the U.S.

GENDER
There are more women than men.

Households: Nearly one out of every three black households (29 percent) are headed by a single woman, the highest percentage of female-headed households in the U.S.

MARRIAGE
Nearly half have never married, the highest percentage for all racial groups. Only 30 percent of blacks are now married.

MONEY
The annual median income of black households in 2009 was is $34,218, a decline of 2.8 percent (in 2009 constant dollars) from 2008. It’s the lowest in the United States.

Black median family income was just over $41,000 in 2009, the lowest in the United States of any racial group. A single black woman with children earned a median annual income of $25,958.

No surprise then that one out of five black families lives in poverty. More than 40 percent of black families headed by a single mom are poor.

IMMIGRANTS
Only 3 million African Americans are immigrants. Of that number, nearly two-thirds were born in Latin America, the other one-third of the immigrants were born in Africa.

Only 7 percent of us speak a language other than English.

MILITARY
Number of black military veterans in the United States in 2009: 2.3 million. More military veterans are black than any other minority group