[Troy]

Where did the term "African American" come from, and why do blacks use it instead of "black"? To me, the only people it applies to are those who were born in Africa and then moved to America.

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Name : Troy, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 29, City : Detroit, State : MI Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Michael]

I have attempted to post a question/response like this before- that is, that 'African-American' is a poor synonym for 'black' since there are not only people of Negroid (black) descent, but also Caucasians of European and Middle Eastern descent living on the continent of Africa, some for hundreds if not thousands of years. Some of these people end up emigrating to America. This begs the question of whether an Egyptian or Algerian Caucasian, who is of Arab descent, is an African American, or if the white descendant of British colonists who have lived in Zimbabwe or South Africa for over a hundred years is African American. The label 'African American' therefore does not always mean black and is not an accurate ethnic or cultural or racial label since it encompasses such a wide group of people. Yes, the poster above has the right idea, 'African American' is someone who themselves has emigrated from Africa, no matter their background.

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Name : Michael, Gender : M, Age : 30, City : Manassas, State : VA Country : United States, Occupation : History teacher, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Adele25154]

Although many African-Americans were born here,we have a direct link to Africa. We can trace our heritage back to Africa in the same way Italian-Americans trace theirs back to Italy and was not born there. Some African-Americans call themselves black to let people understand that we were also in what we call the USA and most other parts of the world. I hope that you know that all blacks also did not come from Africa that there were blacks in America way before the slave trade living peacefully with the Native American.

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Name : Adele25154, City : Philadelphia, State : PA Country : United States, 

[Hazellboo21441]

Well, if whites hadn't originally moved blacks from Africa in the first place, you wouldn't be confused about the term, now would you?

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Name : Hazellboo21441, Race : Black/African American, Age : 20, City : Jacksonville, State : FL Country : United States, Occupation : Customer Relations, 

[Mark Buchanan]

I just posted the same question just the other day. I was born in the United States. I refer to Caucasians as Euroupean Americans. They are so quick to claim Irish, Swedish, German, etc. Just ask one. The only Americans are the disenfranchised Native Americans.

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Name : Mark Buchanan, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Baptist, Age : 36, City : Cali, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : Government, Education level : Technical School, 

[What?24435]

The United States Government gave us that title. I guess they felt they were doing us a favor by making us feel more of a part of America (as if we weren't already). You'll notice that on all of your official documents the names have changed over the past twenty years. We've gone from colored to negro to black to Afro-American to African American, and I still don't think that they've gotten it right. I was born in California, and I'll probably die in California. I feel that makes me Californian.

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Name : What?24435, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 26, City : Los Angeles, State : CA Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Dominique]

I wouldn't go so far to say as the other responder did that the only Americans are Native Americans. I understand where that person comes from, but I consider myself American. I was born here, grew up here and relate most to things here. But no, I'm not a native, and except for Native Americans, all of us are foreigners. I think African American began when politically correct terms began. Suddenly it wasn't Chinese but Asian American and so on. I think the reason for this is that we're moving further from the first generation of people migrating to the United States. Now there are Asians who were born here and identify with their Asian heritage as much as they do their American culture. As for African American, it is really what you said: Africans who came to live here in America, a long time ago. Of course it was not as voluntary as everyone else, but blacks are descendents of Africans, and they live in America. So your definition was surprisingly right; you just had to think about it in a different way.

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Name : Dominique, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Don't believe in religion, Age : 22, City : Washington, State : DC Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[west-indian-american-female-21]

I agree with you. But native blacks want to identify culturally with their ancestors. Black is only a racial term. There are black hispanics, west-indians,etc. Africans who come to the US are typically called Africans. I don't use the term African-American because my family is from the islands, so ethnically I am West-Indian and racially I am black.

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Name : west-indian-american-female-21, City : metro new york, State : NY Country : United States, 

[wm Thunderhawk]

Each of the various 500 plus native tribes of the U.S. only (there are hundreds of other 'Indian' tribes throughout the Western Hemisphere) believe in their respective creation and origin stories. My distinct culture, the Lakota (Sioux to you) of South Dakota believe we originated from the Black Hills of SD. Recent archaeological discoveries by scientists in So. America, record human fossils dated as being 75,000 to 125,000 years old or more. Indians coming over the Bering Strait? Ludricous and horse feathers! It's just a theory fed to ignorant students still today. Get your head out of the desert sand and be real...

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Name : wm Thunderhawk, Gender : M, Race : American Indian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 60, City : Mission, State : SD Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, 

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