Successful black immigrants narrow black–white achievement gaps

•Foreign-born blacks have become a large part of the American black population in the last decades.•Compared to native-born blacks, foreign-born blacks are more likely to be high-earning, employed, highly educated, and not institutionalized.•The systematic differences in outcomes between foreign-born blacks and native-born blacks have masked the widening of black-white achievement gaps.

Foreign-born blacks have become a large part of the American black population. Compared to native-born blacks, they are more likely to be high-earning, employed, educated, and not institutionalized. The systematic outcome differences have masked the widening of black–white achievement gaps.