What? Where would you hear a thing like that?

Blacks in America have always been economically disadvantaged relative to whites, albeit after the Civil War there have been alternating periods of convergence and divergence with complex forces at work.

In 1860, the vast majority of blacks were slaves. From the end of the Civil War onwards, there seems to be a long term trend of convergence between whites and blacks in socioeconomic indicators, with some setbacks during the harshest years of Jim Crow legislation. It's generally agreed that segregation significantly damaged the economic prospects of blacks. In the 20th century significant factors that continued to hold back black convergence include the wave of suburban out-migration of whites in the 50's and the reverse migration of blacks. There were also major urban riots in the 60's which had long term economic impacts on black communities.

At the risk of breaking the 20 year rule I'll just say that while black-white convergence by some metrics seems to have at least temporarily halted during the 80's, and the reasons behind it are still actively being researched and there is no clear understanding of causality. Factors often considered are the crack epidemic, continuing discrimination, parenting styles and family structure, broken education policies, and so forth. Blaming 'welfare' is at best a wild jump to an unsupported conclusion.

NBER Research Summary: Race and Twentieth-Century American Economic History

I would strongly question where you are getting your information from. At least in America, which is what I assume you are talking about, African Americans were not given full equality under the law until the 1950s and 60s, and even now, there are many institutional barriers towards African Americans attaining widespread prosperity.

Even after slavery was abolished, many blacks were kept in states of near-slavery through sharecropping. Although there may have been a few isolated instances where African Americans were able to achieve prosperity, just as often these places would be destroyed by angry white rioters (there is a specific example I have in mind, but the name is escaping me, if anyone else remembers please don't hesitate to help out). Almost all the sociological research done on welfare shows that when it is done efficiently and effectively, it can bring people out of poverty (food stamps are a great example).

Black culture was not prosperous for a very long time and many would stay that it is still not. Some communities did get close however. Los Angeles saw an influx of black people after WW2 in wealthier neighborhoods, and in return there was a spike in KKK activity, including lynchings and cross burnings that resulted in many of the blacks to either move out entirely or move to poorer, segregated areas. The Tusa Race Riots are another example of a similar thing happening, though more severe.

"Black people were better off without welfare" is commonly told as heinous propaganda, alongside "Blacks were taken care of as slaves" and similar arguments. They stem entirely from ignorance and a fabricated narrative.

This submission has been removed because it involves current events. To keep from discussion of politics, we have a 20-year rule here. You may want to try /r/ask_politics or another current-events focused sub.