True. The 1960's was decade of the "negro" which was used as race. But we must also keep in mind that HI did not become a state until a few years before Obama's birth. Other nations use the term "African" as a race. We should somehow confirm that this indeed was the term used in HI in the early 1960s before we jump to any conclusions.
We would have to find a Certificate Of Live Birth of a black American born in HI at the same time to compare.
Can you show us a document of any kind from any era that shows that? It makes no sense. There are numerous races in Africa by the millions. It should be easy to find some document somewhere that has "African" used for race if it ever was.