Overview:
As America approaches its 250th birthday, Black Americans remain hopeful about the nation’s future. But younger adults are more skeptical about equality, institutions and whether the American Dream still works.
Young Black Americans, particularly those under age 30, are less convinced that the laws, policies, and practices that govern everyday life in the U.S. work as promised. Unconvinced that the American Dream — study hard, work hard, get ahead — is still alive, they are more insistent on confronting history, and slightly more guarded toward institutions and questions of belonging.
Yet like their elders, young Black people temper that cynicism with pride in their country, a firm belief in the right to vote, and an insistence on using that power to bring about equality and revive the American Dream.
LEARN MORE: Numbers Don’t Lie: The Racial Divide Isn’t As Wide As You Think
That is the take-away from the National Collaborative for Health Equity’s 4th Annual Heart of America Survey. The online survey of 1,322 Americans, including 172 Black people, from May 28 to June 3 revealed a complex emotional landscape for Black Americans: pride intertwined with worry; faith tempered by doubt.
Pride and Cynicism
Black Americans, young and old, feel pride in their country, but also cite the litany of failures. They treasure the right to vote, but won’t hesitate to highlight an unfair system. They see a fractured nation but won’t let it consume them. Like other demographics, they feel the squeeze of grocery bills and employment discrimination, racism at work and at play, and barriers hindering access to healthcare, a quality education, and good jobs.
They seriously doubt whether promises of justice and fairness will ever exist and reward their centuries of hard work. And, despite carrying burdens from the past, Black Americans persistently believe this country can and will rise to meet its highest ideals; they said plainly that they love this nation and treasure the right to vote.
Among Black Americans, the poll captured a desire for honest history and cross-racial understanding. It reveals a people ready for genuine engagement and bold action towards delivering on America’s grand promise of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
More than 8 in 10 respondents said America is more divided now than ever before. Still, even with fresh, Trump-era evidence of racial bias and hard-won equity gains slipping away, 71% are hopeful Americans can bridge their differences and unite the nation.
Yet through every challenge and hardship, one force holds steady: resilience. It sustains Black families and strengthens communities.
A majority of Black respondents pointed to the same fault lines. More than 8 in 10 respondents said America is more divided now than ever before. Still, even with fresh, Trump-era evidence of racial bias and hard-won equity gains slipping away, 71% are hopeful Americans can bridge their differences and unite the nation.
Hope vs. History
Among young Black people aged 18 to 29, our poll found a generation that sees deeper structural problems, demands an honest reckoning with the past, and holds America to a higher standard than their elders. But like older generations, young people, too, have hope for the future.
Yet beneath that hope lies a clear view of how deep the fractures run in American society
The poll traced Black Americans’ worries and aspirations around national unity, racism, equality, voting rights, the economy, and the path toward racial healing. While Black Americans see disunity and divisiveness as part of America’s culture (82%), only around 4 in 10 said they are personally worried about the discord, while nearly 70% aren’t worried about it at all.
Moreover, pride in being an American remains strong.
About half of respondents said they feel proud to be American, with 26% calling themselves “extremely proud” and another 26% rating their pride highly. Around 29% landed in the middle, and 19% said they do not feel proud to be an American.
At the same time, pride and criticism coexist: many Black Americans who say they love their country also point to the broad inequities in American society, and demand that the nation find a course toward equity and fairness. They hold the nation to high standards.
Racism and Young Black People
The poll found that experiences with racism were widespread, with 48% of Black respondents reporting personally experiencing racism, and 19% saying they encounter it “often.” One of the sharpest age-related divides among Black respondents was with racism.
The gap between the youngest and oldest respondents is dramatic. Younger Respondents between ages 18 and 29 are roughly two to three times more likely to say they have faced racism than those over 75. This difference may reflect changing awareness, shifting definitions of what counts as discrimination, or genuine generational changes in lived experiences and expectations.
Whatever the cause, it signals that younger Black Americans carry a heavier day-to-day burden of racism encounters.
As new questions arise daily around partisan gerrymandering and mail-in voting, Black respondents cited voting rights as a top priority—a full 80% rated voting rights as important, with only 16% viewing it as less important. The strength of the response demonstrates that access to the ballot box remains at the heart of how Black Americans view their power. It remains a way to protect what has been gained and to press for what remains out of reach.
But when asked about the American Dream, the mood of Black Americans is negative.
Among all Americans, 52% now believe the dream has slipped out of reach for most people; that figure increases to 55% of Black people. Meanwhile, just 45% of Black respondents said the American Dream is achievable.
Generational Divides
Across the survey, a generational divide emerges.
Among all respondents ages 18 to 29, only 45% believed the American Dream was still achievable. For a young Black population already squeezed by rising costs and escalating bias, this skepticism diminishes a core American promise that hard work guarantees a better quality of life. For many young Blacks, the country is not living up to that promise.
The clearest generational split concerns the perceived roots of inequality in America.
A commanding 63% of Black adults ages 18 to 29 believe inequality is systemic in America, a bias percolating in the country’s institutions and systems rather than resulting from the choices of individuals. Among Blacks ages 50 to 64, that view drops to just 23%. The 40-point gap is the single widest divergence in the data, suggesting that younger Black Americans frame today’s challenges through the lens of structure and policy. Meanwhile, their parents’ generation leans toward explanations rooted in personal actions.
Young Black adults strongly want schools to teach the full history of America, including slavery and racism. Three-quarters of respondents in this age cohort call this “very important.” Support remains solid among older cohorts but noticeably cooler, with 56% of those ages 50 to 64 saying the same.
The 19-point difference points to a generation that treats historical honesty as foundational, not optional.
Broken Promises
When asked whether America lives up to its ideals of freedom, fairness and equal opportunity, young Black adults are markedly more skeptical. Only 26% of 18- to29-year-olds say the country delivers “a great deal” or “quite a bit.” Among 50- to 64-year-olds, that number more than doubles to 54%. This gap may reflect a demand for accountability rather than a lack of patriotism, as younger respondents appear to see the country falling short of its stated promises.
Further, young Blacks question the federal government’s intent to protect voting rights. Just 66% of 18- to 29-year-olds see the federal government’s role as important, compared to 82% of those ages 65 and older. Older Black Americans place greater faith in national institutions, while younger adults approach them with more caution.
A sense of neighborhood community matters less to the young than to their elders. Among 18- to 29-year-olds, 69% consider the neighborhood community important. That figure rises with each age bracket, reaching 79% among those ages 65 and older.
Dr. Gail C. Christopher is the Executive Director of the National Collaborative for Health Equity, Senior Scholar at the Center for Advancement of Well-Being at George Mason University, and former Senior Advisor and Vice President of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. Her latest book, RX-Racial Healing, is available HERE.
