The chart on the right shows the trend of black Oscar nominees in the four acting categories by decade. In the most recent decade—including the past two years, in which no blacks were nominated—there were 18 black nominees, which amounts to 9 percent of all acting nominees during that period. Here’s a 
comparison (for Americans only) with top positions in other fields:
- 4-star military officers: 13 percent
- Members of Congress: 10 percent
- University presidents: ~3 percent
- Senators: 2 percent
- Nobel Prize winners: 1.1 percent
- Fortune 500 CEOs: 0.8 percent
- Billionaires: 0.2 percent
- Governors: 0
POSTSCRIPT: Most of the #OscarsSoWhite backlash has come in the acting categories, which is why I made this chart. The odd thing about this is that the acting categories are a gaudy aurora borealis compared to the paleness of the rest of the awards. With the exception of songwriting, a grand total of eight black artists have been nominated in every single other category over the past decade. Here are the percentages:
