Most Black Americans Know About US Black History from Family & Friends

Believe it or not, 90 percent of the Black Americans primarily know about Black history in the United States from their family and friends. This was revealed by a survey undertaken by Pew Research Center on the Black adults in the United States.   

The whole of America observes February as Black History Month to recognize and honor the sacrifices and contributions of the African-American people to the United States’ culture, society, and progress. In fact, Black History Month has its origin in the display of Black history created by Carter G. Woodson in 1915 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the African-Americans from slavery.   

Over half (51 percent) of African-American adults claim that they have excellent information regarding the history of their ancestors’ contributions to the United States. Just about 37 percent of this population say they are fairly informed about the Black history in America, while just 11 percent acknowledged that they have little or no information about it. The survey found that more than half of Black adults who identify themselves as Black alone, Blacks born in the United States, and Black immigrants also claimed that they are very well informed about the Black history in America.   

On the other hand, people who are below 30 years are better informed than those above 30 about the history of Blacks in the United States.   

Interestingly, Black adults also differ on the importance of the history of African-Americans in the United States to them. While Black adults who claim they are Black alone said that Black History Month is of great importance to them as it reflects their identity, those who are born in the United States say the history of the Blacks is not equally important for them though they are well-informed about it. This is probably because they identify themselves more as Americans.     

Black Americans who have some information about Black history in the United States said they have learned about it in several different ways. About 43 percent of this population said they learned about Black history from their families and friends. About 30 percent said they became aware of Black history in America from the media, 27 percent from the Internet and K-12 schools, while 24 percent learned about it during their higher education.   

Views of Black adults on their racial identity also differ from one person to another. It was found that those who learned about Black history in America from their family and friends considered their racial identity as very important. In contrast, those who said they learned about Black history from the media and internet and during their higher education felt that their racial identity was not very important to them. The importance of racial identity also varied among the different age groups of Black adults.   

The survey found that compared to Black multiracial adults, more non-Hispanic Black adults (45%) are more likely than Black multiracial adults (32%) to say that they learned everything or most things about Black history from their family and friends. Even most Black adults born in the United States and Black immigrants said they rely on family and friends for information on Black history in America. On the other hand, most Black immigrants said they learned about Black history from the media and the internet.