Black Americans’ share of national wealth barely doubled in 125 years.

Evidence

African Americans possessed 1 percent of the national wealth in 1990, after holding 0.5 percent in 1865, even as the Black population remained at around 10 to 14 percent during that period. — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 1109

Categorization

• SEED: A ‘post-Civil-Rights, post-slavery’ wealth stagnation figure that could anchor an essay debunking progress narratives — the near-static 0.5-to-1 percent share over 125 years is a sharp, single-statistic counterpoint.