African Americans are an ethnic group in the United States primarily descended from enslaved Africans, numbering about 49.2 million people in 2024 and representing roughly 14% of the U.S. population.

African Americans (also historically called Black Americans) are a major ethnic group in the United States with deep historical, cultural, and political significance. They trace their ancestry largely to Africans forcibly brought to the Americas through the transatlantic slave trade.