Talk:African Americans

Typo

There is a typo in

"The term Negro, is largely out of use in the younger black generation but is still used by a substaintial bloc of older blacks Americans, particularly in the southern U.S.[153]"

"blacks" should be "black"

but I cannot get into the document to edit it out. DogFaceGears (talk) 07:27, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Fixed. Dumarest (talk) 11:12, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Black Americans vs. African Americans

I don't know where to find a source for it, but someone else may want to: In South Florida (and probably other places with large populations of Caribbean blacks), African American is considered an offensive term for Haitian and Jamaican Americans, who do not like to be associated with African Americans. In these places, it is "black Americans" that is preferred (as one cannot differentiate an African American from a Jamaican or Haitian American). —Preceding unsigned comment added by CGrapes429 (talk • contribs) 16:30, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

Segregation in churches

There doesn't seem to be an article on racial segregation in American Christianity. This has got to be an important historical topic. Steve Dufour (talk) 23:28, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

link to lynching article

hi. shouldnt there be at least a link to the lynching article in here? something like:

" led to a movement to fight violence and discrimination against African Americans that, like abolitionism before it, crossed racial lines." (from the section civilrights movement). If you would insert Lynching as an internal link after "violence", the reader would at least have the possibility to get there..... --Corduroycouch (talk) 17:49, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Edit request

{{editsemiprotected}} Please add the following sentence to the last paragraph of the lead section (I came to the article looking for this info and had to go rooting around in the body for it):

"As defined by the US Census, there are over 37 million African Americans, making up approximately 12% of the American population.<ref name=census/>".

Thank you, 86.41.64.98 (talk) 02:04, 29 May 2010 (UTC)

 Done — Malik Shabazz ^Talk/_Stalk 02:59, 29 May 2010 (UTC)

Edit request: 2008 Election of Barack Obama - statistic error

"Ninety-nine percent of African American voters voted for Obama" is incorrect. The number is between 95(CNN) and 96% (Economist and Politico). The 99% figure is from a pre-election poll. The numbers of 95-96% are post-election estimates.

CNN citation: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/04/exit.polls/

Politico: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15297.html

The Economist is a paid site, but quotes 95%.

Taylorjr (talk) 02:33, 22 June 2010 (UTC)Jerry T.

Thank you for identifying the error. I've fixed it. — Malik Shabazz ^Talk/_Stalk 03:04, 22 June 2010 (UTC)

Cultural Influences in the United States -- not well sourced

The last three paragraphs of the section "Cultural Influences in the United States" -- only cite one source. This source is a self-published ebook with sections such as: Five Black U.S. Presidents

The citation (http://www.computerhealth.org/ebook/1865post.htm) doesn't come close to meeting Wikipedia standards for reliability of a source. WP:Reliable. A number of the assertions in those three paragraphs aren't reflected in other historical sources. Hoping To Help (talk) 01:30, 23 June 2010 (UTC) Here is one of many statements from the self published source that is at odds with all other reliable sources:

<quote>

Vivian Thomas was another pioneer in surgery, the first to perform the misnamed Blalock-Taussig shunt on a dying baby girl.

</quote>

Here is a bio of Thomas: http://www.medicalarchives.jhmi.edu/vthomas.htm that describes him as being quite amazing -- but not performing the surgery as claimed. He was a surgical assistant (he did not have medical degree having only attended one year of college) -- so among other things it would have been illegal for him to perform surgery on a living human. He seems like an amazing person that accomplished a huge amount -- just not what the article claims. When Wikipedia uses poor sources to put forth untrue assertion it gives Wikipedia a bad name. For now I'm just going to remove the statements that seem to be overreaching -- but later I may remove the everything that is sourced by (http://www.computerhealth.org/ebook/1865post.htm) unless better sources are found to support what is left. Hoping To Help (talk) 00:27, 27 June 2010 (UTC)

Images

I think Jesse Owens deserves to be in the picture of african americans. can we get his pic in there? Someone65 (talk) 06:55, 25 June 2010 (UTC)

Why is Barack Obama here?

When will people understand that he's not black, he's mulatto (half white, half black). Saying he's black would be like a person who's half white and half Oriental/"Asian" saying he/she is white. Same thing with Rosa Parks, as a matter of fact, Rosa Parks clearly doesn't look full blooded black (she isn't), she has lighter skin.--Fernirm (talk) 00:49, 1 July 2010 (UTC)

Believe it or not, you are not the first person to bring this up. This has been mentioned ad. nauseam, check the archives. The U.S has essentially operated with the One drop rule when it comes to blacks of mixed ancestry, and Obama himself identifies as a black man, thus he is considered black and certainly belongs here. At the very top of the page it states "In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry." —Preceding unsigned comment added by AlecTrevelyan402 (talk • contribs) 13:26, 2 July 2010 (UTC)

Why is white blood never important? If a person of mixed black and white descent wants to identify as white, they can't, but when they want to identify as black, then they are accpeted as such. Besides, people and shows say that Barack Obama is the first "African American" president, but he's not, he's mulatto, and regardless of how people view him, his race is mixed, not black.--Fernirm (talk) 18:54, 3 July 2010 (UTC)

Once again, you show a lack of understanding of how this issue is viewed in the U.S., which reinforces my theory that you are not from here. Obama identifies as a black man. I repeat, in this very article it states "In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry." Obama certainly falls into this category. He, nor do any other African Americans of a mixed background fall under the "white" category in the U.S. Regardless of your personal opinion on the subject, Obama is a black man in the United States. This is because of the long history regarding the identification of people of visible black ancestry in the U.S. And regardless of your opinion, Obama is the first African American president, as he fits the criteria designated. It is Wikipedia's job to accurately report what actually goes on in the world. Whether the term is correct/incorrect or ignorant is not actually relevant here. The media calls Obama "African American", Obama calls himself "African American" and the term (both in direct reference to Obama and generally) is widespread throughout the entire English-speaking world. —Preceding unsigned comment added by AlecTrevelyan402 (talk • contribs) 22:22, 3 July 2010 (UTC)

So I have a question then. In USA, what are mestizos classified as? Mestizo = person of mixed Euro & Amerindian descent. I'm sure you've seen many mestizos because majority of illegal immigrant Mexicans are mestizos. Yet people (general public) falsely says their of "Hispanic/Latino/or even Mexican" race. What race would USA classify them as? (Yes in case you didn't know, Latin America is not a race and are as diverse, or even more diverse than the US). And what about Amerindian Latin Americans, are they getting same treatment as Amerindians from USA? Nope, they're not even considered the same race. Same thing with white Latin Americans (especially Spaniards, which most white Latin Americans are), they're viewed as not white. So how is this issue solved in the US?--Fernirm (talk) 23:05, 3 July 2010 (UTC)

Obama is here because in the US their is in general the so called "one-drop-rule" which basically says if you are part black you are black. And this also goes for many other races to. The one-drop-rule is why Obama is considered. What is going to lead to your classification by most people is the way you look because most people don't know you family history. In America if you look black even if you are only a quarter you would be pushed to identify with blacks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 148.64.49.2 (talk) 00:23, 4 July 2010 (UTC)

In the U.S., people aren't classified as "mulatto" or "mestizo". Mulatto is an archaic term that is generally considered offensive. — Malik Shabazz ^Talk/_Stalk 23:08, 3 July 2010 (UTC)

Please read these articles regarding that subject:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_ethnicity_in_the_United_States_Census

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispanic_and_Latino_Americans

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispanic/Latino_naming_dispute

Again: It is Wikipedia's job to accurately report what actually goes on in the world. Whether the term is correct/incorrect or ignorant is not actually relevant here. Is how the U.S. views race entirely accurate? That's up to interpretation. But on this site, we operate on reliable sources and references. —Preceding unsigned comment added by AlecTrevelyan402 (talk • contribs) 23:13, 3 July 2010 (UTC)

One last question, are African immigrants considered "African Americans", because I saw some article here called African immigration to the United States, so are people called "African Americans" for only descendants of African slaves and not immigrants from Africa? And by the way, I was asking about US gov't classification and general public classification. Because I know general public of US is very misinformed (sorry to say), trust me, I am a white Mexican who's experienced it first hand.--Fernirm (talk) 23:23, 3 July 2010 (UTC)

African immigrants are generally referred by their country of origin. For example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian-American

African Americans are basically descendants of the Atlantic slave trade, or just blacks born and raised in America.

 —Preceding unsigned comment added by AlecTrevelyan402 (talk • contribs) 23:29, 3 July 2010 (UTC) 

(john) Basically what the leading scholars say is that white people raped african american women ancestors and there were more mixed race people during slavery than any other time as much as 20% of the black population. The result is that many african americans have significant white ancestry from varying degrees. This means that there is no way to easily distinguish someone who is half white in the sense of obama from someone who is half white in the sense venessa williams the super model, who is so fair skinned she likely has some white ancestors but is considered african American. That is the african american identity includes mostly people who have some form of white ancestry, in fact gates said it was 58%. So to say Obama is not African American because he has white ancestry, even though most African americans have white ancestry is to basically tell 58% of african americans they are not really african american. That seems silly to me. Most mexicans are some kind of mix of white and indigenous americans but no one calls them white, we just call the mexican/latino race regardless if they are 100% indigenous or 25% indigenous. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.238.18.213 (talk) 08:08, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

The first American Census

I think the facts and number used don't make sense because in the constitution it specifically states that slaves are to be counted as 3/5th of a person not a whole person. Unless this is adjusted to add 2/5th to the population this is invalid. And also only slave were to be counted as 3/5th of a person but free blacks could be counted as whole person so those numbers presented don't make sense. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 148.64.49.2 (talk) 00:31, 4 July 2010 (UTC)

I believe you're mistaken. The first census counted all black people as full people. (See 1790 United States Census.) For purposes of determining the numbers of representatives a state would have in Congress, and only for that purpose, enslaved people were counted as 3/5 of a person. — Malik Shabazz ^Talk/_Stalk 00:49, 4 July 2010 (UTC)

You idiot! If you have one lil' drop of black in you then your black! Rosa Parks is black too, she has lighter skin cuz during slavery white people raped black slaves and then they got pregnant, and their babies turned out wh=ith lighter skin!

Obama's race

"For example, 55% of European Americans classify President Barack Obama as biracial when they are told that he has a white mother, while 66% of African Americans consider him black." First off the link to this poll isn't available, and secondly I have been led to believe(by hearing so elsewhere that this poll wasn't done by Zogby International's telephone polling, but by their non-scientific internet poll where they only poll members of their community. I've started a discussion here about using them as a source, and I think this should be removed from this article.Wikiposter0123 (talk) 19:51, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Small typo

"Some of these were: slavery, reconstruction, development of the African-American community, participation in the great military conflicts of the United States, racial segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement."

There should be no colon after "were". Could someone fix this?

Edit request Yam link

In the sentence "The cultivation and use of many agricultural products in the U.S., such as yams...can be traced to African and African American influences", yam links to Yam (vegetable). This link goes to yams in the genus Dioscorea. Dioscorea yams aren't grown in the US. The yam grown here (and widely used in soul food) is in the genus Ipomoea. This link should be directed to Sweet potato as that article discusses the yams grown in the US (there is also a disambiguation page at Yam which mentions both Dioscorea and Ipomoea yams. 20:13, 4 August 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.104.39.2 (talk)

 Done — Malik Shabazz ^Talk/_Stalk 16:50, 8 August 2010 (UTC)

African-American

In the USA so called blacks are Americans who just happen to be "black", most of whom have black African ethnicity; and whites are just Americans who just happen to be "white", most of whom have European ancestry. No matter how or what, color apparently will always come into the equation. However..... Preconceived ideas about color should not determine how someone, or the (conditioned response) individual for that matter, defines their ethnicity. Americans like to fit everyone in some kind of so called racial box. Most so called whites want to keep it a black and white thing, so called blacks want to keep it a so called black and white thing. That is not having the ability to see that we all are not alike, some are more unlike than others. Contrary to, and be damned the social constructs, scientific and genetic facts point to a new genotype/phenotype that exist within and among Americans who were historically classified as white and black, and they are, contrary to opinions or socially ingrained biases and prejudices, neither so called black nor white.

It appears that some American 'blacks' are more focused on "race" because they have been defined or categorized into a misnomer of what they are. Many of them and the powers that be have tried to make them Africans...and most anyone from Africa will tell you that they are not. It is an attempt to retro-define a group of people who come in various hues, colors, sizes, shapes with bits and pieces of various sub cultures. If individuals who are genetically mixed are no longer in one box, then they must be in another. Those who are still in some box, need to get over it and accept those who are not, but in another so called American box. Individuals are not responsible for their parentage, nor should they have to apologize for it or acquiesce to others to be what they are not. Here, the one shoe does not fit all. The media, Africansist, academics, and OMB have grouped all blacks to equate to being African. Many blacks do not use the misnomer and do not equate black with African-American. In the USA so called blacks are Americans who just happen to be "black", most of whom have black African ethnicity; and whites are just Americans who just happen to be "white", most of whom have European ancestry. No matter how or what, color apparently will always come into the equation. However.....

An African-American is either a naturalized citizen who migrated from Africa, or a black person born here to African immigrant parents.

Utoo (talk) 10:07, 8 August 2010 (UTC)

Despite your opinion, the term 'African-American' is defined at the top of this articles page:

"African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry."

African immigrants are identified by their country of origin (ie Nigerian-American.) Please do not modify or remove sourced reliable content from this article because it is not compatible with your view on what an African American is. —Preceding unsigned comment added by AlecTrevelyan402 (talk • contribs) 14:27, 8 August 2010 (UTC)

African American

The use of the label African to refer to black Americans is a misnomer and disingenuous. Most blacks in the USA have black African ethnicity, but they are not Africans, an arbitrary classification chosen by OMB because many misguided black individuals were told that they were Africans. And in Obamas case, even one of the many so called definitions of an African in America does not fit. If the man is not biracial, then he is black. If white is still white, then black is still black. Subsaharan-Americans is a more befitting label for black Americans who are descendants of slaves. The classification by OMB, labels individuals, it does not define the ethnicity of individuals. It is an attempt to retro label individuals, including slaves, who certainly were not Americans, they were property, to be sold or rented. The blatant use of the misnomer. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Utoo (talk • contribs) 14:58, 8 August 2010 (UTC)

Once again, despite your views on the subject, the definition of an African-American is at the top of this page, and is backed by reliable references that render your opinion moot. An African-American is a citizen or resident of the United States who has origins in any of the black populations of Africa. This is the very definition used on the official U.S. census, and so it stands. It is not wikipedia's job to report what you feel is accurate information, this site reports what is reliably sourced. And "Subsaharan-Americans"? Patently ridiculous terminology.

African-American

A new and better classification of Americans is needed. Such issues divide. The 2010 American Census has muddled the entire ethnic classification even more. Without addressing the hyper-hypehenation that has become an obsession with some in this country, and begin to instill what it means to be an American, a country that is already on a hyphenated slippery slope will continue to be on that slippery slope. A great deal is about the mind set that everyone has to fit into some kind of so called racial box; where there is no definitive definition on what it(racial) means. Equating nationalities, culture, ethnicity, color or continent as being something akin to a racial category does not bring people to a better understanding of who or what they are. Attack the problem, discuss, yes, but a better classification of people(s)/individuals in this mobile, global society is needed.

The classification of people(s) into some distinct so called "racial" category is just that an invented artificial social concept promulgated by theories beginning in the early 17th century and culminated by the artificial labeling in the 19th century. African American is a misnomer. People of color who are descendants of enslaved "black" Africans are of black African ethnicity, but they are not Africans. Therefore no one, of any hue is technically an African American. They more aptly might be called  "black" Americans. And the topic makes sense because all Africans are not "black" so why not "white" African Americans. But again, it is just a muddled misnomer. And the descendants of slaves wont work either, because there were Africans in America who were not slaves, but rather owned slaves, both "white" and "black" ones. This issue is that is is not an opinion but a fact. OMB got it wrong, because they did not follow the recommendations of the committee that finalized the categories.  If Wikipedia insist on being correct, then they should include the whole story bout how the usage of the use of  misnomer has come into play..not just the Jesse Jackson version. It is just a simple matter of an observation, that many black Americans do  not use black as synonymous with African=American. Noting this as a part of the AA information would make it more correct. Not opinion but first hand knowledge having had input to  the committee's recommendation, that OMB choose to ignore.  Some reasons are  pointed out within the topic. therefore not dealing with a definition but a classification. Utoo (talk) 01:59, 9 August 2010 (UTC)  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Utoo (talk • contribs) 20:52, 8 August 2010 (UTC) 

Utoo (talk) 21:12, 8 August 2010 (UTC)

African-Americans are not the largest minority group in the country. Hispanics are. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.132.100.210 (talk) 00:01, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

Actually blacks are the largest racial minority and hispanics are the largest "linguistic ethnic group minority".

Utoo I don't know if this answers your concerns but I think it's generally accepted that African-American refers to the heritage of American slave descendants (this also obviously includes free blacks who descended from the slave-era 1619-1865). It isn't official, but it's widely known (at least in the black community) Black immigrants refer to themselves by hyphenated national origin just as whites do when referring to their heritage. The only ones confused are non-blacks, and thats really not our problem. The point is that we know who we are. There is really nothing complicated about the term. "Black" does not differentiate me from a black from Haiti or a black from Nigeria, African-American does. And no I don't think Im African, Im very comfortable with my Americaness.Sourcechecker419 (talk) 01:56, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

granville woods

in the paragraph about famous inventions, it mentions that granville woods invented some sort of telegraph system. but the article it links to says that woods was of aboriginal australian and malaysian descent. dpes this really belong? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.242.17.94 (talk) 19:05, 4 September 2010 (UTC)

European y-chromosome haplogroups of african americans?

What are the specific european y-chromosome haplogroups that african american males have? This information could be used to find the specific european ethnic group of males who raped black women. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.99.132.30 (talk) 17:30, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

From what I've been able to gather from various studies and dna testing sites such as 23andme, White-Americans are typically of West European descent, and they mostly carry Y-haplogroup R1b. I have also seen some African Americans get R1b on their test results, suggesting a West European male ancestor.

AlecTrevelyan402 (talk) 00:35, 24 October 2010 (UTC)

Problems

I have some problems with the admixture part of the article. What does that have to do with anything? Criticizing a show? Indians? They don't belong here. B-Machine (talk) 14:13, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

I consider myself an African American and by reading wikipedia's definition I now understand why no college professor accepts this source as a form of reseach in any research paper I have done. thank you for helping me understand. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 168.38.111.142 (talk) 19:56, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

Replace Beyonce With Miles Davis

Miles Davis should replace the picture of Beyonce. 74.214.36.94 (talk) 01:15, 22 November 2010 (UTC)

She does look kind of silly there. Who is considered the greatest African American in the field of music? Steve Dufour (talk) 15:44, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

If you want to expand the range of careers in the montage how about Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., perhaps the greatest African American in the military. Steve Dufour (talk) 16:15, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

Could somebody please explain why Michael Jackson's picture was replaced? He is the most influential African American musician of all time and deserves to be pictured.

Family names

I was just looking for info on African American family names and was a bit surprised that WP does not seem to have an article on the topic. (That is the general topic of what sort of names people have and why, not a list of names.) Should there be a section in this article? Steve Dufour (talk) 15:44, 7 December 2010 (UTC)