[Ads-l] Link to Article on "African-American"

Thu Sep 1 02:13:00 UTC 2016

Here's a link to the column.

https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/4216-the-origin-of-african-american

[https://yalealumnimagazine.com/uploads/images/6700067/1452028970/arts_fred_african_422x682_0_0_315.jpg]<https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/4216-the-origin-of-african-american>

The origin of â€œAfrican Americanâ€ | Arts & Culture | Yale ...<https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/4216-the-origin-of-african-american>
yalealumnimagazine.com
Most of us became familiar with the ethnonym African American in the 1980s, when Jesse Jackson began popularizing it as an alternative to black.

Fred

________________________________
From: "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
To: "ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU" <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>; Joel Berson <berson at ATT.NET>
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2016 6:11 PM
Subject: Re: "slave"

A few months ago I wrote a column in the Yale Alumni Magazine about my "African-American" (1782) discovery.  The centerpiece of the column was the opinions of two knowledgeable scholars of African-American history speculating about the identity of the anonymous author of the sermon in question.  I had assumed that the author was himself African-American, but one of the historians thought the author could have been a white person adopting the pose of being black.

Fred Shapiro

________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Joel Berson <berson at ATT.NET>
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2016 3:32 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: "slave"

Many if not most enslaved blacks, as well as free blacks, did consider themselves Americans.    They wanted to stay, and to succeed, in in the United States.  Witness the failure of the ante-bellum "colonization movement", aimed at solving racial problems by inducing blacks to remove back to Africa, and thus making America all-white.  Few blacks supported it.

The earliest (current) quotation in the OED for "African-American" is from what I take to be the writing of a black, near the end of the Revolution.  The author is proud to call himself an African-American, and praises the Revolution:

1782   â€˜An African Americanâ€™ Serm. on Capture Ld. Cornwallis p. iii,   That the ruler of the universe may crown with success the cause of freedom, and speedily relieve your bleeding country, is the hearty wish of an African American.

(Thee problem with an analogy with "Chinese" is that it is a "racial" characterization as well as ethnic or political.)

Joel

      From: Flourish Klink <flourish.klink at GMAIL.COM>
 To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
 Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2016 11:54 AM
 Subject: Re: [ADS-L] "slave"

Separate from the historical perspective, I would be shocked if the
enslaved people in question considered themselves Americans. (If someone
kidnapped me, transported me overseas to China and set me to work in a
factory, I certainly wouldn't consider myself Chinese!)

F

On Wed, Aug 31, 2016 at 11:02 AM Joel Berson <berson at att.net> wrote:

> Sali,
>
> Do you consider 1814, when "The Star-Spangled Banner" was written, as
> being during the colonial period of the US?  A very Anglo-philic stance,
> just what the British were still believing then?  :-)  I would say there
> were "enslaved African-Americans" in 1814.
>
> Joel
>
>
>      From: Salikoko S. Mufwene <s-mufwene at UCHICAGO.EDU>
>  To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>  Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2016 9:51 AM
>  Subject: Re: [ADS-L] "slave"
>
> Just a minor correction, JL. From a historical perspective, there were
> enslaved Africans, not enslaved African Americans during the colonial
> history of the US or of the 13 English colonies. During that time the
> class of Americans was very restricted, even some Europeans did not
> count as Americans.
>
> Sali.
>
> On 8/31/2016 7:06 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > Former tennis star James Blake has explained to CNN that "The
> Star-Spangled
> > Banner" is "a song that advocates the killing of slaves."
> >
> > The "hireling and slave" in the song, of course, are not enslaved
> > African-Americans but redcoats, Hessian mercenaries, and cringing Tories.
> >
> > Proof? Read the lyrics.
> >
> > Of course, as D----d T---p has demonstrated, words don't mean much
> anymore.
> >
> >
> > JL
> >
>
> --
> **********************************************************
> Salikoko S. Mufwene                    s-mufwene at uchicago.edu
> The Frank J. McLoraine Distinguished Service Professor of Linguistics and
> the College
> Professor, Committee on Evolutionary Biology
> Professor, Committee on the Conceptual & Historical Studies of Science
> University of Chicago                  773-702-8531; FAX 773-834-0924
> Department of Linguistics
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> Chicago, IL 60637, USA
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