What’s the difference between the terms, “African American” and “Black American”?
During my first year at Boston University, I completed an introductory writing research course titled, “African American Voices,” and learned a distinction that edified my racial identity and affirmed a sentiment on which I’ve been ruminating since childhood: There is a distinct application between using the terms, “African American” and “Black American.” The term, African American, describes an ethnic group of peoples that share a common ancestry, distinguished by the forced uprooting of native Africans to American soil via the Atlantic Slave Trade from the 16th to 19th centuries. This label also describes a culture, created by said peoples, that has evolved and transcended itself over time and is now the bedrock of mainstream American culture today — music (blues, jazz, country, rock, hip hop), dance, food, politics, literature, film/television, fashion etc. The term, Black American, is a racial identity that is unequivocally tied to a system of oppression that was created to suppress the human rights of those with brown and black skin.
The term, “Negro,” was widely used by Black thought leaders and academics such as James Baldwin and W.E.B. Du Bois. However, the usage of “Negro” was a cultural reclamation of a negative label, once frequently used by white people. “Negro” was socially acceptable to use…
