They couldn’t say black?
That would have been just as anachronistic as "African". This was 1961, almost the dark ages. Even I think it was, and I was 11 and almost 12, when BHO was allegedly born. I remember reporting on the Alan Shepard Mercury-Redstone flight, both before and after the flight. I had help with the writing, and physical production of the "paper", but I had to deliver the oral presentation. Ah yes, fifth grade, Miss Holt, an original old maid school teacher, and mean as a snake. I liked the rest of my elementary teachers though, so one of seven isn't too bad. Well Blondina Schneider could be mean too, but not to the "good students", even if they weren't necessarily all that "good" in terms of classroom behavior. 'Course she was a big woman, so no one gave her too much guff. She would have fit right in a Wagnerian opera in brass brassier and horned helmet. Still I liked her, and she liked my brother, six years later, the poor little guy. :)