According to the Census Bureau, there are 42 million black American adults, and 9.2 million of them have cash income below the poverty line (22%).  But that's not a true number, because welfare benefits aren't counted ... at all.  Not the EITC, not Medicaid, not Housing subsidies, not food stamps, nor any other benefits for the poor provided by a plethora of poverty programs provided by the federal, state, county, and city governments, which often include reductions on utilities, phone bills, cable TV, and internet service.  We hardly have any "poor people" in this country, and many of them are living better than the middle class, while only having part time jobs.  This is also true of white people, Asians, and Hispanics, because the poverty pimps are gerrymandering the data to make poverty in American appear higher than it is.
http://federalsafetynet.com/us-poverty-statistics.html

http://www.heritage.org/poverty-and-inequality/commentary/poor-way-measure-poverty