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Some say that blacks should not be referred to as African Americans because they have no relations with the African Continent while others say the term "black" takes the legacy away from slave ancestors who did not choose to leave Africa.
Anyone who is not directly from Africa is black. You can only hyphenate if you immigrated from another country. Maybe first generation descendents, but beyond that...no.
Both sides of my family have been in this country since the 1700s so I consider myself and my lineage more American than the average white American since the majority of white Americans are 3rd or 4rth generation Americans when I am around 8th generation American.
With all due respect, why must you compare your heritage to that of whites? It's not a contest.
Some say that blacks should not be referred to as African Americans because they have no relations with the African Continent while others say the term "black" takes the legacy away from slave ancestors who did not choose to leave Africa.
Since the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People still use Colored to describe themselves, I think Colored is the best term.
Anyone who is not directly from Africa is black. You can only hyphenate if you immigrated from another country. Maybe first generation descendents, but beyond that...no.
So I guess that means Asian-Americans don't exist either, right?
Some say that blacks should not be referred to as African Americans because they have no relations with the African Continent while others say the term "black" takes the legacy away from slave ancestors who did not choose to leave Africa.
For those living in America, I think the correct reference would be U.S. Citizen, or simply... American.
Actually it's accurate. Although to quantify it as many is disingenuous. For example mulattoes fleeing the Haitian Revolution brought their slaves to Louisiana.
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Toussaint L'Ouverture (1743-1803), a self-educated slave, took control of Saint-Domingue in 1801, sending more refugees to the Gulf Coast. Some exiles went directly to present-day Louisiana; others went to Cuba. Of those who went to Cuba, many came to New Orleans in the early 1800s after the Louisiana territory had been purchased by the United States (1803). This influx from Saint-Domingue and Cuba doubled New Orleans' 1791 population. Some refugees moved on to St. Martinville, Napoleonville, and Henderson, rural areas outside New Orleans. Others traveled further north along the Mississippi waterway.
In Louisiana, the term Creole came to represent children of black or racially mixed parents as well as children of French and Spanish descent with no racial mixing. Persons of French and Spanish descent in New Orleans and St. Louis began referring to themselves as Creoles after the Louisiana Purchase to set themselves apart from the Anglo-Americans who moved into the area. Today, the term Creole can be defined in a number of ways.
Louisiana historian Fred B. Kniffin, in Louisiana: Its Land and People, has asserted that the term Creole "has been loosely extended to include people of mixed blood, a dialect of French, a breed of ponies, a distinctive way of cooking, a type of house, and many other things. It is therefore no precise term and should not be defined as such."
neither is more accurate... use the term that the individual wants to be called by.
I use them interchangably. I've never caught grief for saying "black" or "African American" Black people are as diverse as whites, and I would just go by an individual's preference.
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Originally Posted by h0tmess
What if you are white and from South Africa?
Interesting point. I always forget those Afrikaners
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