Timeline: (1967,1989,1991,1997,2005,2013)
What's In a Name?
Negro vs. Afro-American vs. Black
Lerone Bennett, Jr.
Senior Editor, Ebony Magazine
Source: Ebony 23 (November 1967)
"... The word "Negro" is not geographically or culturally specific. "Historically," he says,
"human groups have been named according to the land from which they originated .... The unwillingness of the dominant group to recognize the humanity of the African is evidenced by the fact that when it is necessary or desired to identify Americans in terns of the land of their origin, terms such as Italian-American, Polish-American, Spanish-American, Jewish-American (referring back to the ancient kingdom and culture of Judaea), etc., are employed. In the American mind there is no connection of the black American with land, history and culture--factors which proclaim the humanity of an individual." Baird denies that the English word "Negro" is a synonym for black. He says. "'Negro' does not mean simply 'black,' which would be the simple, direct opposite of 'white.' We talk about a 'white man' or a 'white Cadillac'; we may talk, as many unfortunately do, of a 'Negro man,' but never of a 'Negro Cadillac.'
Baird believes the word "Afro-American" will supplant the word "Negro." He does not object to the term "black," which, he says, lacks the historical and cultural precision of the word "Afro-American." He is supported in this view by Richard Moore, Harlem bookstore owner and author of The Name "Negro"--It's Origin and Evil Use. Moore says the word "Negro" is so "saturated with filth," so "polluted" with the white man's stereotypes, that "there is nothing to be done but to get rid of it." He prefers the word "Afro-American" because of its "correctness, exactness, even elegance." He believes the adoption of the word will force "these prejudiced European-Americans" to reevaluate black people in terms of their history and culture.
"Black," Moore said, "is a loose color designation which is not connected with land, history, and culture. While I recognize it as a step forward in getting rid of the term 'Negro,' I think it is necessary to take the next step. " ..."
Timeline: (1967,1989,1991,1997,2005,2013)
January 31, 1989
'African-American' Favored By Many of America's Blacks
Timeline: (1967,1989,1991,1997,2005,2013)
Vol. 106, No. 1 (Spring, 1991)
From Negro to Black to African American: The Power of Names and Naming on JSTOR
Timeline: (1967,1989,1991,1997,2005,2013)
No. 16 (Summer, 1997)
The Emergence of the Term "African American" at Two Prestigious Institutions: The New York Times and the Supreme Court on JSTOR
Timeline: (1967,1989,1991,1997,2005,2013)
2005
African American, (the term); a brief history | African American Registry
Timeline: (1967,1989,1991,1997,2005,2013)
February 25, 2013
Census to replace “Negro” with “black” or “African-American”
