[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

There is an awful lot of linguistic background to this, so please pardon the use of some of them.

In Roman times, sub-Saharan African blacks were known by their kingdoms of Nubia, hence “Nubians.” While there were other African kingdoms before then, Nubian was the first name really associated with blacks.

In the 15th Century, “negro” became the Spanish-Portuguese term for black people from sub-Saharan Africa. This lasted for about 400 years, synonymous with the English word “black”.

In the United States, only in the late 19th and 20th Centuries did other words emerge, mostly in the South. By then, “black” was considered somewhat offensive, and variations of “negro” appeared, accepted or rejected based on social class.

The word “nigger” was only used by the poor of whatever color. Oddly enough, the word “nigra” was regarded as more polite by the middle and upper classes, having a *Latin* derivation of the word “niger”, which meant “shiny black” instead of “dull black.” “Colored” was often used as a legal term, probably coming about to group many different variations of mixed race people together.

“African-American” is a contrivance that was useful to blacks until about the 1990s, when increasing numbers of African immigrants started to arrive in the US. It will likely continue to fall out of favor, because these immigrants both reject is as a label, and resent being called African-Americans.

[Salamander]

Read before it’s gone.

Hang gliders.

LOL

[Defiant]

People should be called what they want to be called, not what someone else decides they should be called. People should not be called what Jesse Jackson decides they should be called, however. He made it up and decreed that it should be used from here on out. I have always refused to use that term.

[PallMal]

The phrase gets really ridiculous when it's used not only to describe people, but objects.

For example, I will watch one of those crime shows, and the narrator says "they found an African-American hair at the scene". So I'm saying, how do they know that the person was an American?

[trillabodilla]

Wonder what they would call me, an Irish-English-German-Cajun mix of a mut? A Red Neck?

[Sergio]

There is a gentleman I know who is 6th or 7th generation South African and is now a naturalized U.S. citizen. He is white with sandy blond hair and blue eyes. He speaks English, Greek, Hebrew, and few African tribal languages. He’s a SiFi geek and a surfer dude. He has advanced degrees in Theology, Philosophy, and Psychology. He still goes to college to keep sharp.

On the first day of one of the classes my friend was enrolled in, the professor asked everyone to introduce themselves and describe themselves ethnically.

Heads just about exploded when he described himself as African American.

[Svartalfiar]