So now we have “Black” History month AND African American History month? Isn’t that redundant?
I believe they are one and the same. However the trend is to expand the celebration as it started as Negro History Week.
Excerpt from Lisa Vox, former About.com Guide
The Origins of Black History Month
http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/blackhistorymonth/a/The-Origins-Of-Black-History-Month.htm
African Americans quickly took up Negro History Week, and by the 1960s, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, American educators, both white and black, were observing Negro History Week. At the same time, mainstream historians had begun to expand the American historical narrative to include African Americans (as well as women and other previously ignored groups). In 1976, as the US was celebrating its bicentennial, the ASALH expanded the traditional week-long celebration of African-American history to a month, and Black History Month was born.
That same year, President Gerald Ford urged Americans to observe Black History Month, but it was President Carter who officially recognized Black History Month in 1978. With the federal government’s blessing, Black History Month became a regular event in American schools. By the opening decade of the 21st century, however, some were questioning whether Black History Month should be continued, especially after the election of the nation’s first African-American president, Barack Obama, in 2008. For instance, in a 2009 article, commentator Byron Williams suggested that Black History Month had become “trite, stale, and pedestrian rather than informative and thought provoking” and served only to relegate “ the achievements of African Americans to an adjunct status in American history.”
But others continue to argue that the need for Black History Month has not disappeared. Historian Matthew C. Whitaker observed in 2009, “Black History Month, therefore, will never be obsolete. It will always be in our best interest to pause and explore the meaning of freedom through the lived experiences of a people who forced America to be true to its creed and reaffirmed the American dream. Those who would eliminate Black History Month often miss the point.”
Not really. There are a lot of black people here who didn't come from Africa. Or do we call naturalized black citizens from Jamaica 'Jamaican-African-Americans?' African-American is more of a political term referring to black people with a leftist agenda.