The Current Economic State of African/Black Communities by Bessie House-Soremekun, Ph.D. Full Professor, Political Science Jackson State University President, Founder, and CEO of the International Black Business Museum
Over the past few decades, a number of academicians, political leaders, and public policy analysts have drawn increasing attention to the continuing plight and numerous challenges that have continued to plague the Black community in the U.S. and globally, both in the past and in contemporary times (House-Soremekun, 1995, 2003, 2009, 2022; Patterson, 2011; AgborBaiyee, 2011; Zeleza, 2008; Dorman, 2005; Walker, 2009, 1997; Marable, 2005, 2000). These challenges cover a plethora of areas such as increasing levels of poverty and despair, lack of access to adequate health care and increasing health care disparities, and unemployment and underemployment of Black workers, as well as the continuous challenges that Black entrepreneurs face in establishing and expanding their business enterprises to attain economic success and independence over the long-term. Because of the historical inequities associated with the processes of imperialism and colonialism in Africa and the subsequent institutionalization of slavery and its aftermath in the United States and other parts of the African Diaspora, which have led to the development of numerous societal barriers based on racial categorizations, Black people continue to lag behind other racial and ethnic communities in a number of important categories (House-Soremekun, 2022, 2009, 2003; Falola, 2010; Schraeder, 2004). Data from the Pew Research Center and the Center for American Progress indicate that the median Black household income in 2016 was only $43,300 in comparison to the median white household income of $71,300. The median household wealth was only $17,600 for Black families, while the median wealth of white families was $171,000. Only 18% of Black men and 22% of Black women hold a bachelor’s degree in the United States, placing them at a severe disadvantage in the job market, where high levels of education and skill sets are now at a premium. Almost 22% of all Black households currently survive either at or below the national poverty line, and a significant number of these households survive with various forms of federal assistance (Pew Research Center, 2021, 2016; Center for American Progress, 2021, 2018). Data 18
