African Americans are citizens of the United States who are (usually) multiracial descendants of slave-owners and enslaved people of predominantly West/Central African and Native American ancestry, or who otherwise self-identify as being African American. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, post-American Civil War African immigrants and descendants of "free people of color" do not self-identify as African American (though some people of Caribbean, Central American, and South American nations self-identify as African-American). |