noun : an American of African and especially of black African descent;
A Black American of African ancestry;
an American whose ancestors were born in Africa
adjective :used to describe African-Americans; pertaining to or characteristic of Americans of African ancestry
Usage Note: The Oxford English Dictionary contains evidence of the use of black with reference to African peoples as early as 1400, and certainly the word has been in wide use in racial and ethnic contexts ever since. However, it was not until the late 1960s that black (or Black) gained its present status as a self-chosen ethnonym with strong connotations of racial pride, replacing the then-current Negro among Blacks and non-Blacks alike with remarkable speed. Equally significant is the degree to which Negro became discredited in the process, reflecting the profound changes taking place in the Black community during the tumultuous years of the civil rights and Black Power movements. The recent success of African American offers an interesting contrast in this regard. Though by no means a modern coinage, African American achieved sudden prominence at the end of the 1980s when several Black leaders, including Jesse Jackson, championed it as an alternative ethnonym for Americans of African descent. The appeal of this term is obvious, alluding as it does not to skin color but to an ethnicity constructed of geography, history, and culture, and it won rapid acceptance in the media alongside similar forms such as Asian American, Hispanic American, and Italian American. But unlike what happened a generation earlier, African American has shown little sign of displacing or discrediting black, which remains both popular and positive. The difference may well lie in the fact that the campaign for African American came at a time of relative social and political stability, when Americans in general and Black Americans in particular were less caught up in issues involving radical change than they were in the 1960s. ·Black is sometimes capitalized in its racial sense, especially in the African-American press, though the lowercase form is still widely used by authors of all races. The capitalization of Black does raise ancillary problems for the treatment of the term white. Orthographic evenhandedness would seem to require the use of uppercase White, but this form might be taken to imply that whites constitute a single ethnic group, an issue that is certainly debatable. Uppercase White is also sometimes associated with the writings of white supremacist groups, a sufficient reason of itself for many to dismiss it. On the other hand, the use of lowercase white in the same context as uppercase Black will obviously raise questions as to how and why the writer has distinguished between the two groups. There is no entirely happy solution to this problem. In all likelihood, uncertainty as to the mode of styling of white has dissuaded many publications from adopting the capitalized form Black.
A Black American of African ancestry;
an American whose ancestors were born in Africa
adjective :used to describe African-Americans; pertaining to or characteristic of Americans of African ancestry
Usage Note: The Oxford English Dictionary contains evidence of the use of black with reference to African peoples as early as 1400, and certainly the word has been in wide use in racial and ethnic contexts ever since. However, it was not until the late 1960s that black (or Black) gained its present status as a self-chosen ethnonym with strong connotations of racial pride, replacing the then-current Negro among Blacks and non-Blacks alike with remarkable speed. Equally significant is the degree to which Negro became discredited in the process, reflecting the profound changes taking place in the Black community during the tumultuous years of the civil rights and Black Power movements. The recent success of African American offers an interesting contrast in this regard. Though by no means a modern coinage, African American achieved sudden prominence at the end of the 1980s when several Black leaders, including Jesse Jackson, championed it as an alternative ethnonym for Americans of African descent. The appeal of this term is obvious, alluding as it does not to skin color but to an ethnicity constructed of geography, history, and culture, and it won rapid acceptance in the media alongside similar forms such as Asian American, Hispanic American, and Italian American. But unlike what happened a generation earlier, African American has shown little sign of displacing or discrediting black, which remains both popular and positive. The difference may well lie in the fact that the campaign for African American came at a time of relative social and political stability, when Americans in general and Black Americans in particular were less caught up in issues involving radical change than they were in the 1960s. ·Black is sometimes capitalized in its racial sense, especially in the African-American press, though the lowercase form is still widely used by authors of all races. The capitalization of Black does raise ancillary problems for the treatment of the term white. Orthographic evenhandedness would seem to require the use of uppercase White, but this form might be taken to imply that whites constitute a single ethnic group, an issue that is certainly debatable. Uppercase White is also sometimes associated with the writings of white supremacist groups, a sufficient reason of itself for many to dismiss it. On the other hand, the use of lowercase white in the same context as uppercase Black will obviously raise questions as to how and why the writer has distinguished between the two groups. There is no entirely happy solution to this problem. In all likelihood, uncertainty as to the mode of styling of white has dissuaded many publications from adopting the capitalized form Black.
by Docta Peppa Gangsta Chimp4Life December 26, 2004
Get the african-american mug.An excessively boring subject where the goal is to torture and confuse poor unsuspecting students. Rakes, shovels and unamed weapons are usually used.
(During a potentially deadly 45minute lesson of Agricultural Science)
Mr Hatt: "Hey Bob can you grab that shovel over there for me?"
Bob: "Why sure!"
(skips across ground and falls through pothole into a pile of dung)
Mr Hatt: "Forgot to mention that, Least its a nice colour, that theres the sign of healthy crap".
(this is, in essence, an example of how useful the information you are taught in Ag science is)
Mr Hatt: "Hey Bob can you grab that shovel over there for me?"
Bob: "Why sure!"
(skips across ground and falls through pothole into a pile of dung)
Mr Hatt: "Forgot to mention that, Least its a nice colour, that theres the sign of healthy crap".
(this is, in essence, an example of how useful the information you are taught in Ag science is)
by norm12345678910 October 19, 2006
Get the Agricultural Science mug.south africa - the best country ever! so so so nice and hot! gorgeous beaches, hot sun, sexy lads what more can you ask for! the best time to go is winter time in england - summer time in south africa. still nice and hot in april but starts gettting colder around end of may until about middle of september. temperatures don't go lower than 10degrees in pretoria nt much lower than that in durban. cape town is the coldest at that time. a really nice place to go is sun city in pilanesburg.
absolutely beautiful country, does have a few minor bad points. but overall wicked. nicest places to go are durban, sun city, cape town, pilanesburg safari, mpumalanga, noth western province. good word to use over there is - lekker -
by sarah March 17, 2005
Get the south africa mug.by Perkywhitenips July 29, 2006
Get the african flapjacks mug.by Jay September 20, 2004
Get the go back to africa mug.When you pull your balls out of your zipper, tuck them under your belt and let them hang over the front of your belt buckle.
by B242 July 19, 2009
Get the African Belt Buckle mug.A sport in Africa in which a man grabs hold of an elephant´s penis and attempts to hold on for as long as possible while the penis and elephant flail around.
by A Roxxor October 21, 2009
Get the African Rodeo mug.