Why are African Americans called African Americans? (generation, Hispanic, state)

[Clintone]

Why are African Americans called African Americans? Does anyone know?
It doesn't seem to make sense...unless the person in question was an immigrant from Africa who now lives in the U.S.

If I was a Caucasian who was born in Africa and immigrated to the U.S...I could see finding quite the source of amusement in this.

My online profile image for various internet chatrooms would be of a skinny Caucasian man...wearing large glasses and a pocket protector. I would also be wearing suspenders and a bowtie. I might be wearing a fanny pack. I would be playing a riveting game of Dungeons and Dragons against an overweight, redheaded, young adult male, of partially Scottish or Irish descent. He would be wearing jean shorts and a t-shirt that read "Nerdtastic."

My profile description would read. "I am a strong, proud, African American male. I wish to reach out to my people"

[texdav]

For the same reason Geman americans where called that and Italian americans called that;Irish american called that. Its just a statement of rorigin of personn or ancestors.my wife is a rpud cajun if you know what that means.

[irishvanguard]

I really think they never named themselves this. Once politically correct white libs decided, out of guilt, that Negroes could not be call Negroes nor "black" anymore, they came up with the term African Americans.

And I have never heard the Italians or Irish refer to themselves as hyphenated names.

[AnUnidentifiedMale]

The internet is your friend:

African American - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[SHABAZZ310]

Why does it matter to you what black folk call themselves? The description makes perfect since to anyone with commonsense.

[irishvanguard]

Originally Posted by SHABAZZ310

Why does it matter to you what black folk call themselves? The description makes perfect since to anyone with commonsense.

Yep. "Perfect since"

[whogo]

I call people by whatever they want to be called by. I call my black friend Perry---Perry. I notice he always when he needs to describe another black worker describes him as black. I do the same.

I have never heard, in the real blue collar world I live in any black guy describe himself, or any other black individual, as African-American.

[AnUnidentifiedMale]

Originally Posted by SHABAZZ310

Why does it matter to you what black folk call themselves? The description makes perfect since to anyone with commonsense.

A lot of people are fascinated by blacks/African-Americans. They're seen as foreign and exotic.

[Ruth4Truth]

Jesse Jackson first used the term on TV back in the 80's, and it caught on after that. It's considered to be a more respectful term than "Black", and it fits the pattern with other ethnicities: Hispanic-American, Native American, Asian Americans, and that would make most of the rest of the population Euro-Americans. It indicates heritage, not first-generation immigrant status.

[whogo]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Jesse Jackson first used the term on TV back in the 80's, and it caught on after that. It's considered to be a more respectful term than "Black", and it fits the pattern with other ethnicities: Hispanic-American, Native American, Asian Americans, and that would make most of the rest of the population Euro-Americans. It indicates heritage, not first-generation immigrant status.

The fact is few describe themselves as either asian-americans or african-americans. They are both PC white liberal terms. You never see the stupid honkeys describing themselves as Euro-american. My wife describes herself as a filipina when forced to do so.