"African American" = 'black'

[Wilson Gray]

Back in the day before black was beautiful, I once wrote a leter to the
editor decrying the fact that
"black(s)" was used for sub-Saharan Africans, whereas "(American)
Negro(es)" was used only of black Americans. My point was
that "Negro" should also be applied to Africans, rather than the
insulting "black." As Richard Pryor once

pointed out in the '70's, "I'm not 'black'! I'm colored!" WRT to "colored,"
it has never quite gone out of
use. I still hear it used by blacks, whites, Latins, and various
flavors of Asians.

-Wilson

On 5/6/06, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "African American" = 'black'
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Yes, I remember getting a freshman theme featuring this usage before 1989.
>
>   JL
>
> Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU> wrote:
>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Charles Doyle
> Subject: "African American" = 'black'
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> BTW: Among students, hyper-sensitive to racial terminology
> if not (other) realities, it's not at all uncommon to find
> black Africans referred to as "African Americans."
>
> --Charlie
> ____________________________
>
> >Sender: American Dialect Society >Poster: Laurence Horn
> >Subject: Re: "obtain" 'suffer/incur'
> >------------------------------------------------------------
>
> . . . the semi-apocryphal "The budget is back in the African-
> American".
> >
> >LH
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> How low will we go? Check out Yahoo! Messenger's low  PC-to-Phone call
> rates.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org