WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily Black History Month feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090226/CENSUSLOGO)

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10: CENSUS AND BLACKS

Profile America for the 10th day of Black History Month.  One of the areas that will be closely watched in the upcoming census is the population totals for the nation's minority communities.  The first census in 1790 counted nearly 760,000 African-Americans, 92 percent of them slaves.  The 2000 Census counted 36.6 million blacks.  On the brink of the Civil War, there were 4.4 million blacks noted in 1860.  In the long span of the census, African-Americans were the highest percentage of the total population in 1790, at just over 19 percent.  The lowest proportion occurred in 1930, at less than 10 percent.  This special edition of Profile America is a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau, conducting the 2010 Census beginning April 1st.  

Sources: Ancestry: 2000, Census 2000 Brief, C2KBR-35

Profile America is produced by the Public Information Office of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on a monthly CD or on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look under the "Newsroom" button).  

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau

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