African diaspora in the Americas
The African diaspora in the Americas refers to the people born in the Americas with predominantly African ancestry. Many are descendants of persons enslaved in Africa and transferred to the Americas by Europeans, then forced to work mostly in European-owned mines and plantations, between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. At present, they constitute around 200 million people in the population of the Americas.
History
After the United States achieved independence came the independence of Haiti, a country populated almost entirely by people of African descent and the second American colony to win its independence from European colonial powers. After the process of independence, many countries have encouraged European immigration to America, thus reducing the proportion of black and mulatto population throughout the country: Brazil, the United States, and the Dominican Republic. Miscegenation and more flexible concepts of race have also reduced the overall population identifying as black in Latin America, whereas the one-drop rule associated with Anglo-Saxon culture has had the opposite effect in the United States.From 21 to 25 November 1995, the Continental Congress of Black Peoples of the Americas was held. Black people still face discrimination in most parts of the continent. According to David D.E. Ferrari, vice president of the World Bank for the Region of Latin America and the Caribbean, black people have lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, more frequent and more widespread diseases, higher rates of illiteracy and lower income than Americans of different ethnic origin. Women, also the subjects of gender discrimination, suffer worse living conditions.
Today
In Brazil, with 6.9% of phenotypically Black population and 43.8% of pardo, poverty is common. It is nevertheless important to note that the´Pardo category includes all mulattoes, zambos and the result of their intermixing with other groups, but it is majority of African descent, with most White Brazilians having at least one recent African and/or Native American ancestor and Pardos also being caboclos, descendants of Whites and Amerindians, or mestizos. There are more definitions on the differences and social disparity between blacks and "non-white orpardo" than whites in Brazil in the Black people article section.According to various studies, the main genetic contribution to Brazilians is African, and Pardos possess an higher degree of African descent when compared to the general White Brazilian and African-Brazilian populations and exhibit a greater Amerindian contribution in areas such as the Amazon Basin and a stronger African contribution in the areas of historical slavery such as Southeastern Brazil and coastal Northeastern cities, nevertheless both are present in all regions, and that physical features did much correlate with detectable ancestry in many instances.
On November 4, 2008, the first mulatto U.S. president, Barack Obama, won 52% of the vote, following positive results in states that had traditionally been won by Republican presidents, such as Indiana and Virginia.
Table
Notable people of African descent in the Americas
- Archie Alleyne – Canadian musician
- Deandre Ayton – Bahamian basketball player
- Ronald Acuna Jr. – Venezuelan baseball player
- Ozzie Albies – Curaçaoan baseball player
- Edem Awumey – Canadian writer
- Susana Baca – Peruvian musician
- RJ Barrett – Canadian basketball player
- Leandro Barbosa – Brazilian basketball player
- Abelardo Barroso – Cuban singer
- Mario Bazán – Peruvian athlete
- Charles Barkley – American basketball player
- DaMarcus Beasley – American football player
- Halle Berry – American actress
- Cory Booker – American politician
- Jean Beausejour – Chilean football player
- Melvin Brown – Mexican football player
- Mariah Carey - American singer
- Bill Cosby – American actor and comedian
- Rudel Calero – Nicaraguan football player
- Ramiro Castillo – Bolivian football player
- Teófilo Cubillas – Peruvian football player
- Stephen Curry – American basketball player
- Tim Duncan – American basketball player
- Drake – Canadian rapper
- Kevin Durant – American basketball player
- Patrick Ewing – Jamaican basketball player
- Jefferson Farfán – Peruvian football player
- Juan José Nieto Gil – Colombian president
- Edray H. Goins – African American president of the National Association of Mathematicians
- LeBron James – American basketball player
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – American basketball player
- Michael Jordan – American basketball player
- Buddy Hield – Bahamian basketball player
- Kamala Harris – American politician
- Deval Patrick – American politician
- Colin Kaepernick - American civil rights activist and American football player
- Bill Russell – American basketball player
- Shaquille O'Neal – American basketball player
- Beyoncé Knowles – American singer
- Zion Williamson – American basketball player
- Kyrie Irving – American basketball player
- Sloane Stephens – American tennis player
- Tupac Shakur – American Rapper
- Martin Luther King Jr. – American civil rights activist
- Malcolm X – American Human rights activist
- Don Lemon – American journalist
- Serena Williams – American tennis player
- Domingo Sosa – Argentine soldier
- Carlos Posadas – Argentine musician
- Arturo Rodríguez – Argentine boxer
- Robinho – Brazilian football player
- Margareth Menezes – Brazilian singer
- Zezé Motta – Brazilian actress
- Kevin Hanchard – Canadian actor
- Jackson Martínez – Colombian football player
- Elcina Valencia – Colombian teacher
- Chris Paul – American basketball player
- Barack Obama – American politician, first black president of the United States
- Michelle Obama – American politician, former First Lady of the United States
- María Isabel Urrutia – Colombian athlete
- Bebo Valdés – Cuban pianist
- Celia Cruz – Cuban singer
- Laz Alonso – Cuban actor
- David Ortiz – Dominican baseball player
- Giovanny Espinoza – Ecuadorian football player
- Frantz Fanon – Martinican Philosopher and Pan-Africanist
- Eddy Grant – Guyanese pop and reggae music star
- E. R. Braithwaite – Guyanese writer, educator and diplomat
- Walter Rodney – Guyanese Historian and Political Activist
- Wilson Harris – Guyanese writer
- Lionel Richie – American singer
- Michael Jackson – American singer
- Kanye West – American singer
- Wyclef Jean – Haitian musician
- Denzel Washington – American actor
- Russell Wilson – American Football player
- Edwidge Danticat- Haitian-American author
- Magic Johnson – American basketball player
- Usain Bolt – Jamaican Sprinter
- Bob Marley – Jamaican Reggae musician
- Marcus Garvey- Jamaican Pan-Africanist
- Aimé Césaire – Martinican author, philosopher and politician
- Lupita Nyong'o – Mexican actress
- Janet Jackson - American Singer
- Dwayne Johnson – American actor and wrestler
- Giovani dos Santos – Mexican football player
- Mia Love – American politician
- James Harden – American basketball player
- Devern Hansack – Nicaraguan baseball pitcher
- Derek Walcott – St. Lucian poet, playwright and the 1992 Nobel Prize Literature Winner
- C. L. R. James – Trinidadian Historian and Academic
- Álex Quiñónez – Ecuadorian Olympic sprinter
- Dwyane Wade – American basketball player
- Russell Westbrook – American basketball player
- Tiger Woods – American Golfer
- Andrew Wiggins – Canadian basketball player
- Eric Eustace Williams – Trinidad and Tobago's First Prime Minister
- Cayetano Alberto Silva – Uruguayan musician
- Rubén Rada – Uruguayan singer
- Carlos Andrés Sánchez – Uruguayan football player
- Oscar D'León – Venezuelan musician
- Pablo Sandoval -Venezuelan athlete
- Morella Muñoz – Venezuelan singer
- Will Smith - American actor and singer
- The Weeknd - Canadian singer
Related bibliography
- Ethnic domination and racist discourse in Spain and Latin America. Dijk, Teun A. van. van. Gedisa Editorial SA
- Gender, class and race in Latin America: some contributions. Luna, Lola G. Ed PPU, SA
- Gender, race and class "color" desensientes Latinas. Impoexports, Colombia, Yumbo