African American or Black??

            

Charlize Theron (Actress)











 Rihanna (Singer)

Pele (Soccer Player)

                                                                                     

Who is African American, and Who is Black?

Many people think the terms African American and Black are 

interchangeable. The truth is, not all African Americans are black, and not all American Blacks consider themselves African American.  The key differences depend on the person in question. The term African American was first published in the 1920’s as a way to classify citizens of the United States who have total or partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa. Initially most of the individuals categorized as “African American” were those who were descendants of enslaved blacks from West and Central African.  As the population of immigrants into the United States grew, Americans found it easier to classify the population into four basic groups; white, American Indian, African American/Negro (this included all people of non-European descent with darker skin tones including Latino, Hispanic, etc.), and Asian.  Over time, each ethnicity classified under African American gain their own ethnic distinction and African American became the term used for American blacks, and African immigrants living in America.  The 80’s and 90’s provided one last shift in the definition of an African American. Multiracial individuals (People of mixed race with dark and light skin color, with one parent that is fully or partially black.), Caribbean blacks, European blacks, and other individuals of color, were able to convince the government to make “Black” an ethnic group for those who were not born in Africa.

Which brings us to the answer of our original question. Although her skin color is white, Charlize Theron is African American. She was born and raised in South Africa, and her native language is Afrikaans. Even with Rihanna’s very light skin tone she is a Caribbean Black American. She was born and raised in Barbados. Pele, who is often confused as an African man, is Brazilian Portuguese. He was Born and raised in Brazil and never held African or American Citizenship. Situations such as this have caused many Blacks to stop referring to themselves as African American.  A person does not have to be any specific color to be African; to be “Black” on the other hand, implies that you are a person of color with some African descent, but not necessarily from Africa.  

The Lady Debaters