Black History Month starts on Thursday, almost a century after Carter G Woodson first conceived of the idea. This animation shows how the geography of black America today has changed since then.
Design
Woodson shared much in common with another scholar, WEB Du Bois. Both men studied at Harvard and both believed in the power of reason and truth in overcoming prejudice. My starting point for this design was to look back at the beautiful data visualizations which Du Bois created in 1900 (I attempted to update a few of them last year). This one, which shows where black Americans lived in 1900, caught my eye and I wondered how much had changed since then.
Classrooms were always a crucial part of Woodson’s goal to raise awareness of African Americans’ contributions to civilization – and they still are. (I have been working with Math For America and Eleanor Terry Vierling to create datasets like this one that students can visualize for themselves. If you’re a teacher, read on to find out how you can use this in your class too.)
Data
I will admit that this one was not easy. Although the Census Bureau has lots of easily accessible numbers about the United States today, the further back you go in history, the more complicated records get. In this case, most of the older records were buried in a pdf which meant I had to type out individual years. I then tried to adjust the older numbers based on more accurate recent data about population change.
The result is still a little imprecise but it does show just how much where black Americans live now has been shaped by where black Americans lived 116 years ago.
You can view the data here.
If there is a statistic you would like to see visualized, please write to me at mona.chalabi@theguardian.com
