Recognize Black Americans as a Distinct Indigenous Cultural Group

Addressed to:

The U.S. Congress · The U.S. Census Bureau · The U.S. Department of the Interior

For over four centuries, Black Americans have shaped, defended, and defined the United States — yet their unique heritage remains unrecognized.

Historic Black Americans — the descendants of enslaved and free Black people who have lived on this land for hundreds of years — are not simply “Black.” They are a distinct cultural group, born from the fusion of African, Indigenous, and colonial roots. Their lineage is deeply American — indigenous to this soil through centuries of struggle, creation, and survival.

However, today, government policies and census data categorize all people of African descent under one label: Black or African American. This broad classification erases the distinct history, culture, and lived experiences of Historic Black Americans and merges them with more recent African and Caribbean immigrants — groups who have different cultural identities and experiences.

This misclassification leads to policy blindness — meaning laws and programs intended to address the generational impact of slavery and systemic racism often fail to reach the very people they were meant to serve.

Scholars have long documented that Black Americans are a unique people, formed through centuries of shared experience in the U.S. (Herskovits, The Myth of the Negro Past; Franklin & Higginbotham, From Slavery to Freedom). Genetic studies also confirm Indigenous and European admixture within African American populations (Bryc et al., AJHG, 2015).

🕊️ We Call On:

Congress — to recognize Historic Black Americans as a distinct cultural group indigenous to the United States.

The U.S. Census Bureau — to establish a classification that distinguishes descendants of U.S. slavery from more recent immigrant groups.

The Department of the Interior — to explore protections and recognition for this group’s cultural heritage, as is done for other Indigenous and heritage communities.

Recognition brings visibility. Visibility brings justice.

It’s time for America to formally acknowledge the people who helped build it — and whose blood, history, and identity are deeply rooted in this land.

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#RecognizeBlackAmericans #HistoricBlackAmericanHeritage #IndigenousToAmerica