9.10: African Americans- Health overview and leading causes of death

Credit: Knight Foundation event -- bookfair and children

In 2014, Americans who have origins in any of the black racial groups from Africa made up 14.3 percent of the US population, the second largest minority group in the nation. While African Americans live in all parts of the US, over 50% live in the southern states. About 20% have a Bachelor's degree or higher level of education, and about 85% have completed high school. Still, African Americans have a higher than average rate of not obtaining a high school diploma, and they have the lowest median household income of all ethnic or racial groups (see Figure 10.5 on p. 261).

As with each of the health profiles, the textbook highlights some cultural factors, including ones that might make African Americans reluctant to access conventional health services. Some of these date back to slavery. The Tuskegee Experiment which is briefly mentioned was a shameful moment in US history and public health practice (and it has recently come out that similar experiments were run in Guatemala by US public health officials, and other places too). Public Health officials denied treatment to Black men with syphilis in order to investigate the natural course of the disease, without their knowledge or consent. This was not the only unethical public health study, but it is one that has cast a long shadow and sowed deep distrust in the African American community regarding the health establishment.

Other cultural factors include strong relationships with extended family, food traditions, a high rate of participation in faith communities, and other characteristics that can interact with health.

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