Talk:Black American

The color black

Is use of "black" to refer to anyone with black ancestors common anywhere other than the US? I (from the UK) was shocked when I first heard Americans saying "I knew her for years before I found out she was black" on discovering that someone had a black grandparent. I also find it strange when someone says "he's black you know" when someone clearly looks white!

Questions

I have only ever heard "black" used this way in America, and I think it is only used by White Americans. Is this so? Whould a Black American say "I knew her for years before I found out she was white" if someone had a white ancestor?

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is the last paragraphs in this article necessary? does not relate to America. Greg Godwin

If the UK and Brazil are exceptions then I think the last paragraph is unnecessary. I think that the US usage is different to the rest of the world, and I am trying to find out on this talk page. If this is the case, then a note that US uses the term "black" differently to the rest of the world is valid, i.e. change "in the UK" to the rest of the world.

Moved from article - "In the UK people with some black and some white ancestory are referred to as "of mixed race" rather than black. " Greg Godwin

I've kept the Brazil piece because it technically relates to America (i.e. South America). Are we talking the United States only? - if thats the case then the whole article would need to be renamed. Greg Godwin

The main body seems to refer to the US. I am unsure whether it should be renamed or expanded to cover what is meant by this term in differnt parts. I expect that it was originally meant to convey the USA meaning of "Black American", for the simple reason that most people in the world would think "He is a Black American" (unless qualified) to mean he is a Black US citizen. After all, just saying "He is American" normally means he is from the US. I wonder whether black Canadians would be as upset by being called Black Americans as white Canadians are when called Americans.

-- Chris Q 11:52 Sep 20, 2002 (UTC)

I'm not touching the Brazilian part. I guess if people wanted to add information on other countries in The America's they could. Having a UK entry doesn't apply though - Greg Godwin

OK, that seems a good decision. If I get enough response to the questions to say whether US usage is unique (in the Americas, the World or both) I will add a paragraph mentioning that -- Chris Q 12:00 Sep 20, 2002 (UTC)

As I understand it, it's about the term "black american", which is in use in the USA. The stuff about Brazil and UK is there as a comparison. -- Tarquin