That doesn’t explain its use during the Harlem Renaissance by many of its artists. Nor does it explain the very strong feelings that Aframs felt when Fascist Italy invaded. If they were that out off by the term due to minstrel shows then none of these things would’ve happened. Ethiopianism died out for other reasons but minstrel shows isn’t one of them or at best it’s very low on the list.
Ethiopian as an ethno-identifier amongst "Black Americans" and the concept/movement known as "Ethiopianism" are two different entities. As a potential group identifier, it had already lost its popularity decades prior to the Harlem Ren because by that time, terms such as "Afro-American", "Black", and "Negro" were the go to terms. The movement known as "Ethiopianism" though, continued in/under a newer updated form of Pan-Africanist/Pro-Black thought without the host population (Aframs) calling themselves "Ethiopian". "Aframs" in centuries prior, identified with Biblical Ethiopians and that's how they at one point in time began to identify that way as a name for the people
by the time of the Harlem Ren, "Aframs" were no longer identifying as "Ethiopians" but they DID identify with modern Ethiopia(ns) as fellow brothers and sisters of the Negro/Black (the terms Aframs would have identified themselves as during that era) race.
This is why Alain Locke asked Selassie if he was/he considered his people "black or negro" because those were the terms "Aframs" identified with, not the term "Ethiopian"
