Elderly African American

ELDERLY AFRICAN AMERICAN

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University

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African Americans have a unique history as well as culture . Their history in the United States is greatly influenced and shaped by the events in the last three centuries . A period that would shape their destiny , their interactions as well as their orientation to most important events in life

The United States census figures put the number of African Americans at over thirty-eight millions in 2005 . Of this population , over 55 of them reside in the metropolitan areas with

cities like Chicago and New York being the homes to a huge majority of African Americans

A close look at the African Americans in relation to the rest of their white counterparts reveals that they are disadvantaged in various aspects . This can only be understood by focusing at the underlying causes of this , key being the century 's discrimination and oppression meted out against the blacks by the successive regimes up to the period that the civil rights movement stepped up its calls for equality and political rights . African Americans had been for long subjected to slavery especially in the southern states . The end of slavery brought forth systemic discrimination where they were treated as second class citizens especially after the introduction of the Jim Crow laws that institutionalized racism . This is what is seen to be the cause behind the impoverished lot amongst the African Americans with 24 .7 of this population living in abject poverty . The group also remains disadvantaged in the education sector , health , housing as well as having the highest crime rates in the United States

Since the enactment of civil rights legislation , the African Americans population has made considerable steps towards improving their economic status largely narrowing the huge discrepancies that exist . This has been marked by the expansion of the African American middle class Unlike in other ethnic groups like the white there is parity across the gender amongst the blacks . Income levels in America are tilted to the disfavor of African Americans . This is largely seen as being linked to the inability to access other vital resources such as education and jobs . Speculative figures have it that over three quarter of African Americans aged above the age of 25 have not gone to college and hence do not possess college diplomas . By the turn of the century , over a third of the African American population living in the big cities was without employment compared to their white counterparts this figure has not changed much (Brandon S , 1984

Life expectancy of the African American group compares unfavorably with that of the whites a fact exacerbated by the lack of medical and proper provision of health facilities . With a significant proportion of African Americans lacking medical care and proper provision of health facilities with a significant proportion of African American having a low level of income and being unemployed , and with the united states lacking a universal health care system , African Americans are badly placed in terms of...