Why are African Americans called African Americans?

Question

or why are they called black. They are not from Africa and they are not black but light brown to dark brown? I'm confused. Why are European Americans called white? They are not the color of white more like tan or beige? I'm not from here...


I learned that most "black/AfricanAmericans" are more than one ethnicity so why aren't they just called "Mixed-Americans"?

No, black people in America have descendents from Africa, they did not come from Africa...unless they are 100% African...then they are truly African-American.

Answer 1

Because their ancestors came from Africa and now born here, they are known as Americans.
To distinguish themselves from other Americans, they came up with African Americans because they are proud of their ancestors.

Answer 2

African Americans is used for those who can trace their geneology back to Africa and whose relatives were forcibly brought to the Americas as slaves.

A great book you may want to check out is The Isis Papers, which really gets into the whole race/ethnicity question.

Answer 3

A reasonable question.

British North America and then the United States have never been comfortable with multi-racial identities. While other European nations that colonized the Americas created all sort of racial designations--griff, mulato, octoroon--64 of them, the United States, particularly the states in the South, employed the "one-drop" rule. By this rule, "one drop" of African "blood" made a child black.

(Yes we know now that ancestry is carried by genes not blood. But it was the old term and many people still use "blood" that way.)

So, legally, no matter what the racial admixture was, people with black ancestry were considered blakc.

Part 2 of your question. The most common term used in the United States for people with African ancestry was "n----r." This was a derogatory form of the word "*****" which is not English but Portegeuse and Spanish. "*****" was a politer term but black people didn't much like it. Also, many well-meaing white people, particularly in the south, pronounced it "Nigrah" which many people feel it really the N-word in disguise. (My very white mother used "Nigrah" all the time but the one and only time when I used the term ":n-----r," when I was six years old, she took a hairbrush and whipped the hell out of me. That word was not permitted in my family.)

Another common word for black people in the USA was "colored." By the way, in USA history, that word always indicated African ancestry--it's not used for people from Asia as it is in other British and British Empire and former British Empire cultures.

In the 1960s, more or less, much African-American leadship pushed for two newer terms--"Afro-American" and "black"--the latter as if Black Power.

Afro-American died out as a term, I don't know why--may it was just too silly sounding. "African-American:" replaced it. The term "Asian-American" came later. And the term "Hispanic American" is also used. The White American, Euro-American, or Caucasian American have not gained widespread use, as white Americans tend to think of themselves as American pure and simple.

But in the history of human populations, nothing is pure & simple; we're all mongrels if you look back far enough.

As for your point of actually skin color, you're right; most of us are pink or brown. White came in because...ah, I preached long enough; tjhere's a book but long study. WHITE OVER BLACK by Winthrop Jordan that explains how English literature had already associated black with inferior and evil and white is good and superior long before the English came to America and became involved with slavery. You know the phrases "white hats" for good guys and "black hats from bad guys" was still around pretty recently. Other English expressions" black-hearted devil means somebody evil...but was used before slavery in the colonies. And think about the old phrase "as pure as driven snow"--ie WHITE WHITE WHITE. This dichomy existed in the English language long before England had serious contact with Africa.

I talk too much.

Answer 4

I have wondered this myself.

Most people born in The USA refer to themselves
as Americans, as well as the rest of the world.

(Although this is also a misnomer because the USA
is not the only "America"-Canada is part of North
America, there is Central and Southern America as well.)

When individuals or groups wish to note their heritage, I think
it should come AFTER the word American in their
description, unless of course they were born elsewhere
and moved here.

My family is of Irish decent, but I always refer to myself as American.. . . period. If the subject comes up, I will say that
I'm an American of Irish decent, (or American Irish.) I have
a friend who was born and raised in Ireland and moved
to the states about 15 yrs ago- it would be appropriate for
him to call him self Irish American, in my opinion.

I think the "African- Americans" have in backwards. It should
be American-African, if they wish to note it. In addition, it would be even better if the name of a country was used instead of a continent if possible, but of course because of
history of slavery, it makes it almost impossible for many families in the USA to trace their heritage.

Answer 5

Although, as you correctly point out, most African Americans are in actuality multiracial, their legal designation in the US has historically recognized only the African part of their heritage. They have simply embraced it as a reason for pride, rather than the derogatory inference it was meant to have.

Answer 6

no tahts true and false all the blacks were tooken from africa an traded as slaves in the U.S and some of the got married to white peopleand had mixed children and soem just married their own race and stayed black forever

Answer 7

because Africa is a status symbol and anything or one connected to the homeland is of royal linage.
now white on the other hand represents the other side of the coin.
it's really very .simple

Answer 8

i think it,s because they are from Africa oreganly and yes i saw there is like assy-amarican some one that is white and is in a nother cuntry i saw it on the news.

Answer 9

because they originated from AFRICA before all of the white people came and took them to AMERICA

Answer 10

I never bother with people's color it is how they behave. I attend a black consultant and he always puts me at my ease and he is very kind.