What's in a Name: Who Is an African American?

DiversityInc ^ | 26 June | Raymond Arroyo

[flowerplough]

Any discussions about the terms used to describe African Americans as a group must begin by understanding the historical context within the United States in which these terms were used. It is a history that encompasses more than 300 years, when Blacks were brought to the United States against their will. During the subsequent three centuries, many terms were used to describe African Americans as a group in the United States.

During the 1950s and 1960s, common terms "negro" and "colored" were used, often disparagingly. Today, these two terms are unacceptable and are almost never heard, with the exception of old books and movies.

Raymond Arroyo is the chief diversity officer of Aetna, one of DiversityInc's 25 Noteworthy Companies. This column was first published on Aetna's intranet ...

[VOA]

“
What’s in a Name: Who Is an African American?
“

I only got to see a bit of the PBS show “African American Lives 2”
a few weeks ago.
It was well-done, not as preachy about race as I expected, partly due
to the even-handed tone of the host Henry Louis Gates Jr. (prof at
Harvard).
It was very interesting to see the reaction of the celebrities
when they got the news of how their DNA profile pointed to certain ethnic
groups in Africa and the estimated % of DNA from European sources.

Prof. Gates was actually amused when he, the head of African-American
studies at Harvard, was informed that he has approx. 50% DNA of
European origin, more specifically from Ireland.

One let-down of a sort occurred when some of the celebrities had
their family stories of “Indian blood” (Native-American) shown to
be inaccurate.

AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES 2
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aalives/about.html
Joining Professor Gates in the new broadcast are poet Maya Angelou,
author Bliss Broyard, actor Don Cheadle, actor Morgan Freeman,
theologian Peter Gomes, publisher Linda Johnson Rice, athlete
Jackie Joyner-Kersee, radio personality Tom Joyner, comedian Chris
Rock, music legend Tina Turner, and college administrator Kathleen Henderson,
who was selected from more than 2,000 applicants to have her family
history researched and DNA tested alongside the series’ well-known guests.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~amciv/faculty/gates.shtml

[the invisib1e hand]

Can you jump ?

Jump this, white boy.

;)

[Clemenza]

BTW: She was raised in Jersey City which is home to a large Coptic and Muslim Egyptian community. They are having their festival today, as a matter of fact.

Jersey City, btw, it to New York what Oakland is to San Fran. Multiethnic, a little rough around the edges, yet slowly attracting yuppies who like the fact that it is one or two stops to Manhattan.

[Riverman94610]

You nailed Oakland with your Jersey City analogy.
The only time I was ever in Jersey was in June,1970 back in my hippie days when I was rolling around the country in my Dodge van.
Just missed the Asbury Park ghetto riots by a little over a week.I also remember picking up some long haired hitch-hikers who aggravated me with long racist diatribes while they tried to beg some weed and money off of me.
Not a pleasant intro to your fine state.That was 38 years ago and I’m sure things have gotten a little better since then.

[Verginius Rufus]

I think Anwar Sadat's mother was Nubian.

In Acts 21.38, St. Paul is mistaken for an Egyptian by the Roman chief captain (chiliarch), who is surprised to hear St. Paul speaking Greek. The chiliarch must have thought that Egyptians could be white (since there is no reason to suppose that St. Paul wasn't).

[Riverman94610]

Even a Left wing scholar like WEB DuBois in his work,The World and Africa, posited that one third of the Egyptian skulls indicated Caucasian origin,one third Negroid and the other third mixed or Asiatic.
I think both white supremecist AND Afrocentric types have beat this issue into the ground.Ancient Egypt was a mutt nation with all types and all colors.End of story.