Library Guide for Diversity, Inclusion and Awareness: Race, Ethnicity, Nationality: Black/ African-American

The mural Legendary, located at 512 S Broad St in Center City, celebrates the musical achievements of the hip hop band The Roots, founded by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia in 1987. Read more about the mural and the artists here.

In the United States, the terms Black and African American are commonly used to refer to people of African descent. Most Black people in the US are descended from West or Central African individuals who were captured, enslaved, and brought to the Americas between the 16th and 19th centuries (many also have some white or Native American ancestors).

Black and African American

Some people prefer to be called African American and feel that this terminology is more respectful. However, many people prefer to be referred to as Black (not as a noun but as an adjective, i.e., "a Black student, a Black doctor, a Black woman"). Also, some more recent immigrants to the US from modern African or Caribbean countries may identify with their specific country of origin rather than as African American; for example, they may be more likely to think of themselves as Nigerian American, Haitian American, Ethiopian American, and so on. For more on this discussion about terminology, see this article. Also, in this Twitter thread, author and blogger Gloria Atanmo explains why many people prefer Black. She suggests that, if you're not sure how a person identifies, you can "start with Black and default back to African American if you're corrected."

A related issue is whether Black should be capitalized when referring to a person. Ever since the term came into common use, many have felt that capitalizing it is more respectful and acknowledges the fact that the word refers to a culturally significant identity, not just a particular shade of skin. Recently, a number of major news organizations have revised their style guidelines and begun to capitalize Black, as this Associated Press article discusses. The current editor of this LibGuide has also chosen to capitalize the B.

Globally, apart from people of Sub-Saharan African descent, the word Black can also be associated with the indigenous peoples of Australia/Oceania. (For more information, see the Race, Ethnicity, and Nationality page on Native/Indigenous identities.)