You can almost see the history of the USA through the prism of its mapped demographic distribution. Here, the shaded areas indicate high concentrations of black Americans, or African Americans if you prefer (the terminology has shifted several times since even the 1960s). By the time we reach some future point, the idea of "in combination" will become more prominent. Most people in the United States without question have ancestry "in combination" somewhere in the past, some kind of mix of ethnic lineage. DNA tests can now prove it, and probably even more so in the future for those with curiosity. One of the more interesting trends is people wanting to know if they have any American Indian somewhere in their makeup. The Seminole Freedmen or Black Seminoles are a salient example of this being demonstrably provable even without testing.
Above, you can see a sort of social archeology at work. The Old South and Slavery, coastal and riparian concentrations (notably along the Mississippi River, the "Blues Highway"), and the Great Migrations to urban areas. The High Plains more thinly populated by African Americans and indeed, by anyone at all. In Colorado, there is a black population centered around Denver and the smaller cities. Overall, the black population in the USA is given in recent census reports as about 13% of the total population.
Today's Rune: Initiation.
2 comments:
What is readily apparent is that most people really don't migrate far or fast from the place of their birth unless forced to by economic necessity or government intervention.
Interesting to see populations mapped out that way.
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