Some confusion about Texas demographics in the Crockett vs. Talarico discussion. Yes, Texas has the largest Black population (~4.3M). But Texas has 31M+ residents, so that’s still only about 14% of the state. States like GA, MD, and NC have much higher Black population shares.

BLACK HISTORY - Interesting stat: according to New Pew survey Historically Black Church members slightly edge out mostly White Southern Baptist Convention members in bachelor’s degrees (24% vs 23%) - even though both have about 12.7 million members. 🧵 1/3 ⬇

Trump approval is down across most religious groups from a year ago. Black Protestants (Black non-Catholics) remain the least supportive. Pew Research Center pewresearch.org/short-reads/…

Confidence in Trump’s ethics has declined across several religious groups. White evangelicals, White Catholics, Hispanics, and the religiously unaffiliated all show notable drops. Black Protestants stand out for consistency Source: Pew Research Center

Trump's agenda approval is down across most religious groups compared with a year ago. One pattern stands out: Black Protestants (Black non-Catholics) remain the least supportive and the most stable over time. Source: Pew Research Center pewresearch.org/short-reads/…

Mound Bayou, Mississippi, built by ex-slaves in 1887, had a cotton mill, 4 cotton gins, a bank, a public school system, a private school system, and a technical college. This is part of our project “4,000 Years of African American History” See it here: buff.ly/3KfpBCh

📢 In 1807, the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade came to an end, making international slave trade illegal. Despite this, slavery continued to grow within the US. By 1820, 1.5 million of the 1.7 million African Americans in the country were enslaved, largely in the Atlantic states & southern Louisiana. Two pivotal events between 1800 & 1820 changed the landscape of slavery in America: the invention of the cotton gin 🌱 & the addition of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, & Texas as slave-holding states 🇺🇸. This fueled a domestic slave trade boom, with many slaves being sold from VA, MD, GA, & SC to MS, AL, TX, AR, & northern Louisiana. See more about our latest project: blackdemographics.com/downlo… #ushistory #slaveryinamerica

Just over half off all African captives in North America landed in Charleston, South Carolina. About 20% came from the Senegambia region where many were rice farmers and therefore made to work rice plantations eventuality becoming the Gullah people. More: blackdemographics.com/downlo…

In Oklahoma from 1865 to 1920 more than 50 independent towns and settlements were created. More Black towns were in Oklahoma than any other state, Boley, Oklahoma was the largest of these towns with over 4,000 residents in 1911. Boley had a nationally chartered bank, its own electric company, public and private schools, and two colleges. Just as he did with Mound Bayou Mississippi, Booker T. Washington visited, wrote, and talked about Boley in his speeches. See more about our latest project: blackdemographics.com/.../th…

Between the years 1500 and 1820 more than 12.5 million African men, women, and children were loaded onto slave ships heading to the Americas. Approximately 2.5 million died along the way. Fewer than 500,000 were brought to North America (probably 410,000 and another 40,000 African born captives from the Caribbean) The bulk of the African captives came from just six regions highlighted on the map of Africa (right side). See more about our latest project: blackdemographics.com/downlo… #ushistory #slaveryinamerica

After the Great Depression, millions of African Americans left the Jim Crow South again. More than 5 million African Americans moved to cities in the North and on the West Coast in what is known as the Second Great Migration. This migration tended to follow along the rail lines; therefore, one may find that certain cities in the North have Black populations that come from the same areas in the South. For example, African Americans in New York tend to have higher concentrations of family in Virginia, Georgia, and the Carolinas, while in Detroit has this in Alabama, and those in Chicago tend to have roots in Mississippi.  For most, the South was considered their homeland because they could no longer trace their African identity; it had long been erased during the institution of American slavery. Support our work here: blackdemographics.com/be-a-s…

Learn something new this year…

Rhode Island was the epicenter of North America’s slave-trading economy... Hear me out. Most people think slavery’s story began and ended in the South. But the center of North America’s slave-trading business wasn’t Charleston or Savannah— it was RHODE ISLAND! Between 1709 and 1807, Rhode Island merchants financed 934 slave-trading voyages that trafficked more than 106,000 Africans across the Atlantic. About 250–300 ships were built or outfitted for this trade. Over 90% of those captives weren’t sent to the U.S.—they were sold in the Caribbean for sugar and molasses. That molasses came back to Rhode Island to make rum, which bought more captives. Families like the Browns (Brown University), Vernons, Wantons, and Bannisters financed these voyages. The Brown’s ship, the Sally (1764), lost 109 of 196 Africans before ever reaching land. That tragedy pushed Moses Brown to become an abolitionist— while his brother John Brown defended the trade until his death. Profits from this system — shipbuilding, distilling, insurance, and banking — built institutions that still exist in Providence, Newport, and Boston today. Including universities, churches, and banks whose early funding came from the slave economy. Charleston imported the most enslaved Africans to U.S. soil. But Rhode Island organized the most slave voyages from it. That’s why historians call it “the epicenter of North America’s slave-trading economy.”