As Black History Month continues, I wanted to explore the topic of Black vs. African American Most of us grew up thinking African American was the proper way to address members of the Black community. However, over the past years, we’ve become more educated and realized that term does not apply to everyone.
Since not every member of the Black community identifies as African American and some can find it offensive, the correct term would be Black. The term African American recognizes people who are descendants of enslaved Africans. For others whose families descend from other countries, they can view this term as restrictive since it’s not taking into consideration their family ancestry. Black is inclusive of people from all backgrounds regardless of if they descend from slaves or other parts of the world.
There used to be a large percentage of people who were descendants of enslaved Africans but with time that percentage decreased and the word African American was no longer applicable to every member of the Black community. An increase in migration from other countries helped expand the community and bring more diversity in terms of their ancestry. Another issue with the term African American, according to CBS, is that slavery erased the lineage of many enslaved people, and therefore, many couldn’t trace where they were from. Some prefer the term Black due to this since they aren’t sure if their lineage is from Africa or not.
The term Black is overall favorable due to it taking into consideration the various cultures. Though with anything, it is all up to personal preference. Some may identify as Black and African American or simply Black. This conversation is important and if you are unsure of what term to use, you can either ask the person or default to Black. We must educate ourselves in order to not offend the members of the Black community and show them that we are taking a step towards understanding their preference.