TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – February is Black History Month, and Alabama has a lot to celebrate. In addition to the black notables and celebrities the state has produced, Alabama’s day-to-day African Americans have had a positive effect on the state in many ways.
To recall and celebrate the positive contributions to our nation made by people of African descent, American historian Carter G. Woodson established Black History Week. The first celebration took place Feb. 12, 1926. In 1976, as part of the nation’s bicentennial, the week was expanded into Black History Month.
Annette Watters, manager of the Alabama State Data Center at The University of Alabama, has put together this look at the African American population in Alabama.
- In 2004 there were about 1,194,396 African Americans in Alabama, representing 26 percent of the total population. There was an increase in the black Alabama population of more than 5,000 between 2003 and 2004.
- The black population is not evenly distributed across the state. Jefferson County, home of the state’s largest city, has more black residents than any other county. In 2004 about 270,900 African Americans lived in Jefferson County. Although Jefferson County has the largest number of African Americans, it is not the county with the largest percent of blacks. Jefferson County’s population is about 41 percent black. Eleven of the state’s 67 counties are majority black counties. They are Macon (84 percent), Greene (80 percent), Sumter (75 percent), Lowndes (73 percent), Bullock (72 percent), Wilcox (72 percent), Perry (69 percent), Dallas (66 percent), Hale (59 percent), Marengo (52 percent), and Montgomery (52 percent).
- The majority black counties are in the southern crescent-shaped area of the state called the Black Belt. With the exception of Montgomery County, they are small population counties.
If the number of African American Alabamians living in all 11 majority black counties, including Montgomery County, are added together, the sum (240,970) is not as large as the number of African Americans living in Jefferson County alone (270,900).
- The Birmingham metropolitan statistical area is larger than the city itself. Bibb, Blount, Chilton, Jefferson, St. Clair, Shelby, and Walker Counties comprise the Birmingham MSA. The 306,649 African Americans in the Birmingham MSA represent 28 percent of the total MSA population. This is the largest minority number, but not the largest minority percentage, of Alabama’s metro areas.
- The Mobile MSA is the metro area in the state with the second highest number of African Americans. Mobile MSA’s approximately 139,500 black residents represent 35 percent of the metro’s total population.
- The Montgomery MSA is a smaller population area than Birmingham or Mobile. Montgomery MSA also has fewer African-Americans than either of those, but Montgomery’s African Americans represent a larger percentage of the total MSA population because Montgomery County and Lowndes County in the metro area are both majority black counties. (Autauga and Elmore are the remaining counties of the Montgomery MSA.) The 149,233 blacks in the Montgomery MSA represent 42 percent of all the people.
- The Huntsville MSA, made up of Madison and Limestone Counties, has more people than the Montgomery MSA, but fewer African Americans. There are approximately 79,600 African-Americans in the Huntsville MSA, accounting for 22 percent of the total population.
These metropolitan statistical area numbers are estimates from the Estimates Branch within the Population Division of the U.S. Census Bureau. The Bureau advises data users that there is a margin of variability associated with these estimates. The current figures for any of these metro areas could be somewhat higher or somewhat lower.
What is “Black” Anyway?
The Census Bureau’s information about race is determined by self-identification. In this country, you are the race you say you are. There is no biologic or genetic definition for answering questions on government forms. Race reflects social use of the term, and social conventions about racial categories have changed over time. For example, a person of mixed race was usually classified by the race of the person’s father through 1970 and by the race of the person’s mother in 1980 and 1990. The 1970 Census books have tables for the Negro population. The 1980 Census books have tables for the Black population. The 2000 books use the term “Black or African American.”
A person who was alive in both 1970 and 2000 has not changed biologically or genetically, but social conventions in the country have changed.
The biggest change in social use of racial categories came in 2000 when people were allowed to mark more than one race on their census and other federal government forms. There is no limit to the number of races with which a person can identify. A person who marks black and also another race on a federal form generally shows up statistically in a table column called “Two or More Races.”
African Americans in Alabama overwhelmingly do not mark a form with any race except the single choice “Black or African American.” Most blacks consider themselves to be one race only; Alabamians who consider themselves to be both black and another race is a small number relative to the entire black population.
Only a few more than 13,000 people in Alabama consider their race to be black and also another race. In 2004 about 7,000 people in Alabama would identify themselves as belonging to both the white and black races. Another 3,000 or so would consider themselves to be both black and American Indian. Black combined with any race other than those is even more unusual in Alabama.
Age and Education
In 2004 there were about 798,400 children in Alabama between the ages of 5 and 17, representing about 18 percent of Alabama’s total population. About 63 percent of these children were white and about 34 percent were black. The other 3 percent were some other race. The percent of children who are minorities is a little higher than the percent of all people in Alabama who belong to a minority race.
Although estimates and projections might disagree on the exact number of school-aged children, the statisticians producing the numbers do agree that the number of black children in Alabama is growing faster than the number of white children. Blacks will remain a minority race for a long time in this state, but they will be a more numerous minority. African Americans will remain the largest minority race, but there will be more and more children who are neither white nor black and children whose parents want them to be acknowledged as having two different racial backgrounds.
Currently, educational attainment among Alabama’s African-Americans is lower than for whites, but the gap is closing. The hope is that the fast-increasing number of black school children will stay in school until they have high school diplomas or post-secondary credentials or college degrees.
In 2004 it was estimated that about 24 percent of Alabama’s black adults never completed high school. Only about 12 percent had a bachelor’s degree or higher. The good news is that educational attainment among the state’s blacks has been rising for several years and is projected to continue to rise.
Black-Owned Businesses
In 2002 there were more than 28,600 firms in Alabama with black ownership. This number represents an increase of more than 9,600 in a five-year period. In 1997 there were about 19,000 black-owned businesses in Alabama.
However, 92 percent of those businesses had no paid employees. Many times a black owner runs his business by himself or with the help of unpaid family members. There are about 2,230 (8 percent) black-owned businesses that are large and prosperous enough to have paid employees. This number has held steady or declined slightly in recent years. Although the total number of black-owned businesses has risen significantly, the black-owned businesses that provide employment to other people have not increased in number.
Altogether black-owned businesses in Alabama have an annual payroll of $361 million. Because there are so many more black-owned businesses than there ever have been in the state, it is likely that more of these can grow into businesses that provide employment opportunities for other people. Alabama may be poised for a leap to the next level for many black entrepreneurs, but there is also another point of view to consider.
People studying black business ownership have to be sensitive to the motives of the black entrepreneur. Many small black-owned businesses are part-time or seasonal. They are home-based and are not intended to provide a person’s entire livelihood. Many small businesses are “side” businesses intended to provide supplementary income. Examples might be someone who makes and sells handmade arts and crafts items; someone who paints houses or does carpentry; or someone who grows and sells seasonal farm products. Perhaps these black entrepreneurs don’t want to expand their operations to the point that they become employers of other people.
Black-owned businesses in Alabama produced $1.75 billion in sales and receipts in 2002. Of that, $1.28 billion (73 percent) was produced by the 8 percent of firms with employees. Black-owned businesses in Alabama employed more than 16,600 people in 2002, with an average annual wage of $21,632 per employee.
These data come from a statewide report from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Ownership (SBO), a survey that is taken every five years. The full report of data for Alabama from the 2002 SBO has not yet been released. The full report will contain data for counties and cities in Alabama with at least 100 black-owned businesses and data about the kinds of businesses Alabama’s African Americans own.
The SBO is part of the 2002 Economic Census and combines survey data from a sample of more than 2.4 million businesses with administrative data. The data collected in a sample survey are subject to sampling variability as well as nonsampling errors.
Sources of nonsampling error include errors of response, nonreporting and coverage. Although all the numbers cited here are estimates, they give a good insight to the valuable contributions of Alabama’s black community.
Editors note: For comments and information, contact Annette Watters, program manager, Center for Business and Economic Research, and manager, Alabama State Data Center, 205/348-6191
Contact
Bill Gerdes, UA Business Writer, 205/348-8318, Bgerdes@cba.ua.edu