Black America means both a group of people and a web of institutions.

Evidence

Let’s admit right up front that the very idea of “black America” is a bit tricky. My use of the phrase suggests two possible meanings: First, the collective group of black Americans as it exists today. And second, the set of institutions that have traditionally served as the foundations of black communities in America since the early nineteenth century. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 330

Categorization

• DEFINE: Two senses of ‘black America’ — as collective people and as institutional infrastructure — which the rest of the chapter develops.