African Americans fall below the poverty line more than three times as frequently as non-Hispanic whites, are substantially less likely to own homes than are white Americans, and their median household wealth is only 8 percent that of Anglos.1 Even middle-class African Americans, we saw, are on shaky footing. For example, the median net assets for college-educated whites are nearly 20,000 dollars. But for college-educated blacks, median net assets are a miniscule 175 dollars.
