Talk:African Americans

Small typo

"Some of these were: slavery, reconstruction, development of the African-American community, participation in the great military conflicts of the United States, racial segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement."

There should be no colon after "were". Could someone fix this?

Citation needed

In the section 'Cultural influence in the United States', this article, when talking about African American inventors, makes an unsourced claim:

Most slave inventors were nameless, such as the slave owned by the Confederate President Jefferson Davis who designed the ship propeller used by the Confederate navy.

In addition, these entire three paragraphs: By 1913 over 1,000 inventions were patented by black Americans. Among the most notable inventors were Jan Matzeliger, who developed the first machine to mass-produce shoes, and Elijah McCoy, who invented automatic lubrication devices for steam engines. Granville Woods had 35 patents to improve electric railway systems, including the first system to allow moving trains to communicate. Garrett A. Morgan developed the first automatic traffic signal and gas mask.[125]

Lewis Howard Latimer invented an improvement for the incandescent light bulb.[126] More recent inventors include McKinley Jones, who invented the movable refrigeration unit for food transport in trucks and trains. Lloyd Quarterman worked with six other black scientists on the creation of the atomic bomb (code named the Manhattan Project.) Quarterman also helped develop the first nuclear reactor, which was used in the atomically powered submarine called the Nautilus.[125]

A few other notable examples include the first successful open heart surgery, performed by Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, the air conditioner, patented by Frederick McKinley Jones. Dr. Mark Dean holds three of the original nine patents on the computer on which all PCs are based. More current contributors include Otis Boykin, whose inventions included several novel methods for manufacturing electrical components that found use in applications such as guided missile systems and computers, and Colonel Frederick Gregory, who was not only the first black astronaut pilot but the person who redesigned the cockpits for the last three space shuttles. Gregory was also on the team that pioneered the microwave instrumentation landing system. In 2000, Bendix Aircraft Company began a worldwide promotion of this microwave instrumentation landing system.[125]

link back to a single source, [125], with the exception of the 'Lewis Howard Latimer invented an improvement for the incandescent light bulb' bit. [125](http://www.computerhealth.org/ebook/1865post.htm) is not a reliable source per WP:Source and WP:NPOV- it, in addition to the above-mentioned inventors and inventions, claims that U.S. Presidents Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Warren Harding, and Calvin Coolidge were black (which grossly violates the current consensus), that the model for the Statue of Liberty was a slave, among other equally spurious claims. In addition, the site's founder, Leroy William Vaughn M.D., M.B.A., has no qualifications in history or sociology of any kind! He is a doctor only of Opthamology- a science with no bearing on history. He provides no proof or backing of his claims, either, which violates WP:Verifiability. In addition, he claims the existence of a perpetual motion machine, which violates Newtonian thermodynamics and has been debunked many times.

For these reasons it is obvious that source 125, http://www.computerhealth.org/ebook/1865post.htm, is not a reliable source and goes against both WP:Verifiability and WP:NPOV. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.180.125.253 (talk) 23:09, 29 January 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for pointing out this problem. I agree that computerhealth.org is not a reliable source. I'm going to find good sources where I can, and delete what can't be supported. Thanks again. — Malik Shabazz ^Talk/_Stalk 01:14, 30 January 2011 (UTC)

Proposal to ban user-created montages from Infoboxes

You are invited to join the discussion at Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Ethnic_groups#Infobox_Images_for_Ethnic_Groups. Bulldog123 09:39, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

review image File:African American Religion chart.png

It looks like the 3rd largest group is listed out-of-order in the legend box? Tielk (talk) 02:26, 17 February 2011 (UTC)

Mitochondrial DNA

This series of edits introduced material that has been disputed. Per the bold, revert, discuss model of editing, it would now be appropriate for the editor wishing to include the material to give a detailed rationale here, explaining why the edits may be appropriate and building consensus regarding inclusion and wording. The source cited is freely available here. - 2/0 (cont.) 20:46, 17 February 2011 (UTC)

The sources say nothing about African Americans having North African or Middle Eastern ancestry. But even if they did, it doesn't matter. Most African Americans have some European ancestry, but that doesn't matter either. What makes people African American is the presence of sub-Saharan African ancestry, not the presence or absence of other ancestry.

And the other edits, about some African Americans descending from North African or Middle Eastern immigrants, just isn't supported by the source at the end of the sentence, a source that has been in the article since 2007. — Malik Shabazz ^Talk/_Stalk 21:00, 17 February 2011 (UTC)

I disagree, it does matter that most black americans have some european ancestry. our experience in this country is what makes us black americans and that includes our ancestry whether it be african or european, a combination or whatever. as someone who identifies as a black american who has more than just african descent, i see this as denying a part of our history. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.224.145.248 (talk) 16:18, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

Edit Request 6/22/11

Please remove Hinduism from the list of religions in infobox. There are not even any sources cited for that. Moreover, the given pie chart doesn't show Hinduism (also Buddhism). 117.204.85.233 (talk) 01:11, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

 Done Thank you for your suggestion. — Malik Shabazz ^Talk/_Stalk 05:54, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

Please remove the word African-American to people whose parents where born in a different country. It is not the same meaning, and we do not have much of a history in America. African-American is not a race, and it shouldn't be treated as such. Change it, it is ignorant and racist.

Which european ethnic group enslaved black africans?

Since geneticists can distinguish between germanic and celtic y-chromosome haplogroups which ethnic group has been shown to have enslaved black africans and raped african american women?

Not an answer, but of interest: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110722213434.htm -- Jo3sampl (talk) 22:27, 25 July 2011 (UTC)