African-American history

African-American history is the branch of American history that specifically discusses the African-American or Black American ethnic groups in the United States. Most African Americans are the descendants of Africans forcibly brought to and held captive in the United States from 1555 to 1865. Blacks from the Caribbean whose ancestors immigrated, or who immigrated to the U.S., also traditionally have been considered African-American, as they share a common history of predominantly West African or Central African roots, the Middle Passage and slavery.

African Americans have been known by various names throughout American history, including colored and Negro, which are no longer accepted in English. Instead the most usual and accepted terms nowadays are African American and Black, which however may have different connotations (see African American#Terminology). The term person of color usually refers not only to African Americans, but also to other non-white ethnic groups. Others who sometimes are referred to as African Americans, and who may identify themselves as such in US government censuses, include relatively recent Black immigrants from Africa, South America and elsewhere.

African-American history is celebrated and highlighted annually in the United States during February, designated as Black History Month. Although previously marginalized, African-American history has gained ground in school and university curricula and gained wider scholarly attention since the late 20th century.

The great majority of African Americans descend from Africans brought directly from Africa. Originally these slaves were captured in African wars and transported via the Atlantic slave trade.

The American slaves descended from the various ethnic groups from mostly western and central Africa, including the Sahel. A smaller minority were from eastern and southeastern Africa. Some of the major ethnic groups the enslaved Africans belonged to included (among many others) the Hausa, Bakongo, Igbo, Mandé, Wolof, Akan, Fon, Yoruba, and Makua. Although these different groups varied in customs, religious theology and language, what they had in common was a way a life that was different from the Europeans. However, since a majority of the slaves came from these villages and societies, once sent to the Americas these different peoples had European standards and beliefs forced upon them, causing them to do away with tribal differences and forged a new history and culture that was a creolization of their common pasts,present, and European culture . Slaves from specific African ethnic groups were more sought after and more dominant in numbers than others in certain regions of what later became the United States.

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