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As a black American, I absolutely despise when people call me "African-American". First of all, I was born in America (August 29, 1995, suburban Philadelphia), not Africa. Secondly, besides ancestral, I have no connection whatsoever to Africa. I have never stepped foot in Africa, nor do I plan to anytime in the near future as I am a broke college kid . Finally, some people make the argument that, by calling myself an "African-American", I am honoring my African heritage. Why should I only honor my African heritage? I am also part Native-American, Irish, and German.
Is anyone else getting tired of hearing "___-American"? Why can't we just call ourselves Americans? If you were born in this country, then I consider you to be an American.
P.S. When I traveled to Paris, France for study abroad last month, NOBODY there considered me "African-American". All of the French students considered me American, which was a GREAT feeling!
Political correctness, I assume. As we are running out of "proper" words, since Negro and Black are considered racist.
"African American" was preceded by Afro-Americans, then replaced Black, and we try very hard not to touch off delicate musings about ethnic labels, identity and the often unspoken differences among people who share the same skin color.
In my opinion, the term African-American should refer to the descendants of slaves brought to the United States centuries ago, not to newcomers who have not inherited the legacy of bondage, segregation and legal discrimination.
I know people who rather would like to be called Jamaican-Americans, or Nigerian-Americans, Haitian-Americans, Caribbean-Americans etc. depending on their countries of origin, but that should be reserved for immigrants or first-generation Americans.
Other people prefer the term Black, which seems to include everyone, regardless of nationality.
If "Blacks" are referred to as "African-Americans," then "Whites" should also be referred to as "European-Americans"
I suspect part of it has to do with attempting to regularize terms, starting with Asian Americans.
For Asian Americans, there is no other clear racial term that isn't a pretty significant insult nowadays, and as the "perpetual foreigners" we don't want to be called just Asian...thus Asian American is the clear preference.
Note that Asian American (or Asian Pacific American) is not hyphenated, not a compound term, but rather Asian is modifying American. We are Americans who happen to be descended from people from Asia.
Compare female Americans, Midwestern Americans, middle-class Americans. All "just Americans" who also happen to have another identifier.
The term African American (also shouldn't be hyphenated) came about after Black had been in regular use for a little while. This is a term that was originally an insult, that was reclaimed by the Black community. That's a pretty common phenomenon for marginalized groups--taking a term that's used as an insult by the dominant group, and turning it on its head. The re-purposing of the term "qu33r" over the past couple of decades is a great example of this. The in-group use of the N-word is a partially unsuccessful version.
So anyway, Black had been in use for a while as the preferred polite term for folks of identifiable African descent (succeeding "colored"), and the trouble was that there was still, obviously, lots of discrimination and the term was still problematic, for some of the reasons mentioned in this thread and also because of the way that "Black" people were often treated.
The quest for another term was on, and African American was seized upon as a more neutral, less fraught term. It has the bonus that everyone can be identified this way: European Americans, Aboriginal Australian Americans, Native Americans (the partial adoption of this term in place of Indians or American Indians happened around the same time), etc. If you have a mixed heritage, you can be Asian/European American or whatever, though that's not a common usage.
Fast forward another couple of decades, and there are still lots of problems associated with race and not all of these terms still feel comfortable. Problems include those mentioned above, particularly the marginalizing of the groups who ordinarily get the double-barreled descriptors, plus the fact that if we're talking about race those distinctions cross international borders. I recall a reporter once talking about apartheid who accidentally said "African Americans" when she meant Black South Africans.
The term most frequently used today for someone who isn't purely of European descent is "person of color". Note that this is very distinct from the old term "colored"--it's again a reclaiming of a term. It has the benefit of being applicable across borders, and is clearly adjectival. That is, "Americans of color" puts American first. It isn't specific to Black folk, however; it's a collective term, and includes anyone who's not White, so it doesn't always work. It can also be awkward sometimes to find an appropriate noun to modify.
I strongly disagree that we should avoid the use of terms like this. As long as people encounter different treatment based on their "race"--whether subtle or overt, unconscious or deliberate--it's important that we have the language to be able to talk about these issues. Imagine trying to discuss how to fix crime if we weren't allowed to have words for assault or theft or owner or property.
On the other hand, I also strongly disagree with using these terms when race isn't a salient characteristic. That is, if we're talking about a racial bias-related incident or institutional inequalities, we need to be able to note that some of the people involved were Black, White, Latino, Asian American, whatever. But if we're announcing that someone has decided to run for Congress or was arrested for armed robbery or what-have-you we don't need to stick in that he or she is ___ American.
TL;DR: The term arose because of racism, has problems because of racism, but there will continue to be a need for terms like this (and we'll continue to experiment with what might be best/most respectful/least awkward) so long as racism is around.
Edited because computers can't recognize intent from context.
The word "race" in English is roughly 5 centuries old, and it originally meant "wines with characteristic flavor" (1520), "group of people with common occupation" (c. 1500), and "generation" (1540s). Meaning "tribe, nation, or people regarded as of common stock" is by 1560s.
The generally accepted definition today is that "race is one of the great divisions of mankind based on physical peculiarities" is only from 1774 .
The "color coding" of people as white, black, brown, red, and yellow is clearly simplistic thinking. In current polite discourse both red and yellow are now considered completely insulting. But the other three still remain with us.
But the attempt to eliminate white and black and replace them with European American or African American is a little like an attempt to replace our history.
The so called hyphenated Americans (i.e. Italian-Americans or Irish - Americans) was an insult. It implied that these people weren't full Americans. After decades they became point of pride. The term African-Americans can be seen as an insulting way to imply that most Black Americans ancestors were just another immigrant group.
The generations of my family in the United (as I know them) are: "I am a 2nd generation Spaniard, 3rd generation Hungarian, 2rd generation Syrian, 3rd generation French and 9th generation German." I don't think that is in any way unusual. Most Black Americans are 5-10 generations in America, and they did not come looking for a better life or religious freedom.
There are many countries which do not keep records of people's ethnicity. In fact, it is forbidden by the constitution. Mexico is one such country, although they are permitted to ask you what language you speak at hom.
we all agree with u, but it was invented by the black community because they wanted a black pride, nothing to do with rest of america, they wanted to be separate.
I myself admire you for your statement, I wish more was like you
Why put a backhanded insult on a compliment like that?
I agree with the OP entirely, as a fellow Black American. I have never identified with Africa. People who are born in America are American in my opinion. I don't see how someone can claim otherwise.
For African-American, I honestly believe the extra syllables softens up the description.
There is nothing at all wrong with "black" and "white." (Except for the fact that people are more brownish or peachy or pinkish.) I find "person of color" to be ridiculous, because there is grammatically no difference between "person of color" and "colored person."
It's all a bunch of crap anyway. These are societal chains we would do well to break. Since all of us are homo sapiens sapiens, that's really the only race that matters. The other descriptors are usually for the scoundrels who think there's something to eugenics.
My personal windmill to tilt at is Americans who call themselves Italian, even though they don't speak Italian and have never visited Italy. Some of the worst meals I have been forced to politely choke down came from people who crowed, "I'm Italian so I KNOW food." As if cooking is some sort of birthright.
I grew up using the term "Negroes", which was considered respectful and much better than the previous term typical in my region: "coloreds" (or the N word.)
Then in high school (mid 1970s) I was informed by a teacher (who was Negro) that the correct word was "African American", and she made fun of me for still saying "Negro".
So I used "African American" because I thought I was supposed to. But then (mid 1980s) I had a roommate (who was African American) who told me that the correct term was "Black", and she made fun of me for still saying "African American."
Then sometime (the 2000s?) the correct term instead of "Black People" became "People of Color", because Black people aren't actually Black, and most people are mixed and it is disrespectful to refer to people by their color, anyway.
The same issue comes up when refering to "Native Americans"/"American Indians"/"Indians"/"Native Born"/"First Nation People". One term or another offends somebody somewhere.
And "Mexican Americans/Latinos/Hispanics/People of Color."
So what is an old lady to say in order to avoid offending people?
If you're just talking about people you know it's easy to just call people by their names. But when it is people you don't know and you want to discuss a statistical change of ethnicity in a region, or to physically describe a person or group of people in a location, what term should one use to properly refer to statistically different groups of people????
I want to applaud the OP for being 20 years old and just wanting to be seen as an American. That should be true for all of us.
So what is an old lady to say in order to avoid offending people?
I can only tell you what has worked for me -- not caring one smidge about skin color. It's as important as eye color or hair color. There are so many better ways to describe people than by skin color. "The guy with dreadlocks" is a much more accurate description than, "that black guy over there." I always manage to find something better when describing others. "The tall dude with the Ramones t-shirt."
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. Finally, some people make the argument that, by calling myself an "African-American", I am honoring my African heritage. Why should I only honor my African heritage? I am also part Native-American, Irish, and German. 
