This November 11, 2023 photo provided by the Soulsville Foundation shows, from left, Stax Academy of Music students Lauren Sanders, Basley Thompson, and Tina Echols (holding hands) Ricky Fondren, Joey Stubbs, Xander Henley, and Jonathan Cole Jr. from the cast of “Stax Meets Motown”. The online show commemorating Black History Month features music from Memphis-based Stax Records and Detroit's Motown. (Claire James/Soulsville Foundation via AP)
(NewsNation) – A majority of Americans say they are aware of the influences of black people on American culture, but less than half of black adults say black Americans are given enough credit for their contributions.
New data from Gallup's Black Voices Center finds that Americans of all racial groups say they are aware of the influences of black people on American culture. The study also found that most Americans believe Black Americans are given credit for their contributions and are celebrated for them.
However, less than half of black adults in the United States believe that black Americans are celebrated or given adequate recognition for their contributions. Culture was not defined in the survey, leaving participants to interpret.
More than two in three Americans say they are very or somewhat aware of black contributions to culture, and black Americans are more likely to mention this familiarly. Among Black adults, 80% said they are aware and 51% are very aware of Black influences on culture.
White adults were most likely to say Black Americans get enough credit and celebration for their contributions, with 61% saying Black influences are given much or some credit for contributions, and 67% saying those contributions are celebrated.
Nearly half of Americans said they learned about those contributions in K-12 schools, while more than half said they learned about black cultural contributions through friends, family, media or personal experiences.
Americans ages 18 to 39 are 51% more likely to say they learned about the contributions of black people in school than 43% of Americans ages 40 and older.
Not all schools teach classes in culture or art, and in recent years, some states have moved to ban the teaching of “critical race theory.”
While critical race theory is a topic taught only in higher education, these laws have had an impact on the teaching of race in K-12 schools.
