[SSS Two]

Would they be refered to way back in 1961 as ‘black’? Wouldn’t it have been Negro?

The image of the Certificate of Live Birth says Sen. Obama's father is "African", not "black".

Perhaps the significance of the term "African" is that Sen. Obama's father truly was African, and not a black American.

[HawaiianGecko]

"If the mother’s race is Caucasian and not White, why would the father’s be Black and not Negroid or Negro?"

Having been a systems professional for nearly forty years, I can assure you that when converting one system to another, changes can are usually are made.  I can clearly imagine a line of code that says.

  If UPPER(OldSystem.Race)    =    'NEGRO' or OldSystem.Race   =  'NEGROID'  OR OldSystem.Race     =  'COLORED'
 
       NewSystem.Race = 'BLACK'

Else

   NewSystem.Race = OldSystem.Race

End

Add(NewSystem)



When DBAs create new databases, fields with known validity checks are created.  The 'Race' field is going to have the current world options, not the options that were in vogue 50 years ago or all the options that someone can think of.  Any database architect that would allow the following options would be laughed out of his profession.