What Percentage of People in Indianapolis are Black?

African-Americans, also known as black people, are a racial group originating from Africa, including sub-Saharan Africans, Kenyans, Nigerians, and Caribbean people such as Haitians and Jamaicans. The area now known as Indianapolis has been inhabited since 10,000 BC. C., when the Lenape people were the first to settle in the area. In 1818, the Lenape relinquished their tribal lands in the Treaty of St.

Mary's and in 1821, Indianapolis was founded as a planned city for the new seat of Indiana's state government. Alexander Ralston and Elias Pym Fordham designed a 1 square mile (2.6 km) grid next to the White River for the city. The completion of the Michigan and national highways and the arrival of the railroad later consolidated Indianapolis' position as a manufacturing and transportation center. This is reflected in two of its nicknames: Crossroads of America and Railroad City. Since the consolidation of the 1970 city-county, known as Unigov, local government administration has been managed by an elected 25-member city-county council headed by the mayor. The Central Indiana Regional Transportation Authority (CIRTA) is a quasi-governmental agency that organizes regional carpools and van rides and operates three connections to public workforce from Indianapolis to employment centers in Plainfield and Whitestown.

Health care in Indianapolis is provided by more than 20 hospitals, most of which belong to private, non-profit health systems such as Ascension St. Vincent Health, Community Health Network, and Indiana University Health. Several are teaching hospitals affiliated with the Indiana University School of Medicine or the Marian University School of Osteopathic Medicine. Other major non-profit private hospitals based in the city include Ascension St. Vincent Hospital Indianapolis, Community Hospital East, Community Hospital North, and Franciscan Health Indianapolis.

According to data from the U. S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS), racial population estimates are produced for the United States, states, counties, Puerto Rico, municipalities (county equivalents for Puerto Rico), places, urban areas and communities (equivalent places for Puerto Rico), and smaller civil divisions. The ACS defines African-Americans as people who originate from any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East or North Africa; people who indicate their race as white or who report entries such as Irish, German, Italian, Lebanese, Arab, Moroccan or Caucasian; people from any of the black racial groups in Africa; people who indicate their race as black or African-American; or who report entries such as African-American, Kenyan, Nigerian or Haitian; people who have origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) and who maintain a tribal affiliation or an attachment to their community; people who indicate their race as American Indians or Alaska Natives or who report entries such as Navajo groups, Blackfeet, Inupiat, Yup'ik or Central American Indian groups or South American Indian groups; and people native to Hawaii and other Pacific Islands. The map below shows the diversity in Indianapolis. Areas in green are more diverse while areas in red are much less diverse.

Diversity here means a mix of people of different races and ethnicities living close to each other. For example, completely black or white areas would be considered lacking diversity. Most of Indianapolis is located within Indiana's 7th congressional district represented by Democrat André Carson while the fifth northern district is part of Indiana's 5th congressional district represented by Republican Victoria Spartz. In 1957 Indiana announced plans to build an interstate highway through the center of Indiana Avenue neighborhoods in Indianapolis. Indianapolis is also a center for academic research in medicine and health sciences with institutions such as the Indiana Bioscience Research Institute; School of Medicine; School of Nursing; Indiana University School of Dentistry; School of Osteopathic Medicine at University of Indiana; and American College of Sports Medicine. Data users should be aware that methodological differences may exist between different data sources. According to ACS data from 2019, approximately 28% of people living in Indianapolis are African-American.

Kathleen Hampe
Kathleen Hampe

Lifelong food geek. Passionate bacon buff. Lifelong pop culture fan. Avid music aficionado. Amateur music specialist. Certified twitteraholic.

Leave Reply

All fileds with * are required