The current, acceptable, feminist-certified, polically correct way to refer to anyone of african descent. Designed to eliminate any unintended racial tension in this hypersensitive, perpetually offended society we've become where people just can't lighten the fuck up anymore.
That's not a poor black guy dressed up as Santa Claus, that's an economically disadvantaged african american exercising the right to achieve monetary compensation by commercially benefiting from the eurocentrically imposed midwinter festival"
by T.Y. July 16, 2004
1) A politically correct term coined by cowardly white Americans who are afraid of offending blacks and are ashamed of being white.
2) A term that makes no sense, since 'African-American' implies that someone was born in Africa and immigrated to America. Therefore, since most blacks in America were born there, they would more correctly be called 'Blacks with African Ancestry'. Having been born in America, these blacks are simply 'Americans'.
3) A term which implies that all black people come from Africa (and that only black people come from Africa), even though black people come from many other parts of the world.
4) A term which singles out black people living in America from black people living elsewhere.
5) A term that even most black people find ridiculous.
2) A term that makes no sense, since 'African-American' implies that someone was born in Africa and immigrated to America. Therefore, since most blacks in America were born there, they would more correctly be called 'Blacks with African Ancestry'. Having been born in America, these blacks are simply 'Americans'.
3) A term which implies that all black people come from Africa (and that only black people come from Africa), even though black people come from many other parts of the world.
4) A term which singles out black people living in America from black people living elsewhere.
5) A term that even most black people find ridiculous.
1) White man 1: Look at that cool shirt that black guy is wearing.
White man 2: SHHHHH! He's not black! He's African-American! Don't be racist!
White man 1: Huh? How is that racist?
2) Most blacks referred to as 'African-Americans' have never been to, and will never be in Africa.
3) Would a person from Egypt be called African-American? Egypt is in Africa. How about a white person from South Africa?
4) Black people from France, Canada, England, Jamaica, Switzerland, Brazil, or even from Africa are 'black', but a black man from America is an 'African-American'.
5) The only black people I have ever heard referring to other blacks as 'African-Americans' were politicians, and even those are few and far between.
White man 2: SHHHHH! He's not black! He's African-American! Don't be racist!
White man 1: Huh? How is that racist?
2) Most blacks referred to as 'African-Americans' have never been to, and will never be in Africa.
3) Would a person from Egypt be called African-American? Egypt is in Africa. How about a white person from South Africa?
4) Black people from France, Canada, England, Jamaica, Switzerland, Brazil, or even from Africa are 'black', but a black man from America is an 'African-American'.
5) The only black people I have ever heard referring to other blacks as 'African-Americans' were politicians, and even those are few and far between.
by macdas March 27, 2007
The "politically correct" term for someone with dark skin. Never mind that not all black people are African, and that not all Africans are black.
by Tipper36 September 10, 2007
What people say when they dont want to say Black person. A dumb term, referring to a black person. I have no idea why we are called that. I mean...Im not African! I was born in New York, I have never been to Africa in my life! Why am I called African-American? They dont have a name like that for white people. But then again no body really knows where white ancestors came from...where do they come from? Did every white person always live in the US???
An African-American is a "person of color". Who's ancestors are probably from Africa. But just because they are called that does NOT make them African!
by muzichick May 06, 2006
The current politically correct term to describe black people.The term for black people has evolved from "nigger" to "negro" to "colored" to "black" to "african-american",and as offensive as some of these terms are today,they were once widely used and accepted.
Thomas is an English guy,Marcy is an Irish chick,Manuel is a mexican dude,and Tyrone is an african-american dude.
by jaypers April 30, 2005
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 27, 2004
African-american people who deserve to be treated just like any other person. People how have minds too and that should be judged by their personality instead of the color of their skin at first glance. People who are great if you get to know them(that was for the racist, regardless of your color). I'm SO proud of being afrian-american.
African-Americans are just like every other good person in the world. Just like that white soccer mom that can do no harm(in some cases).
by MMMUUUHAHAHAH October 22, 2005