African American

Sometimes Af·ra·mer·i·can

[af-ri-kuhn uh-mer-i-kuhn]

noun

1. an American with Black African ancestry.

adjective

1. of or relating to African Americans.

2. African-American, occurring between the United States and Africa.

   Several international charities are promoting African-American cooperation in expanding access to safe drinking water.

African-American

noun

1. an American of African descent

adjective

1. of or relating to Americans of African descent

Usage

This is the currently preferred term in the US for people of African ancestry

During the 1980s, many Americans sought to display pride in their immigrant origins. Linguistically, this brought about a brief period of short-form hyphenated designations, like Italo-Americans and Greco-Americans. The Black community also embraced the existing term Afro-American, a label that emphasized geographical or ethnic heritage over skin color. The related label, African American, also saw an increase in use among activists in the 1970s and 1980s. African American was even more widely adopted in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s after high-profile Black leaders advocated for it, arguing, as Jesse Jackson did, that the term brought “proper historical context” and had “cultural integrity.” See Black ¹.

Word History and Origins

Origin of African-American¹

An Americanism dating back to 1780–90

Example Sentences

Adam Aleksic, a linguist who posts online as Etymology Nerd, says locking in's origins aren't certain but its use appears to have begun in the early 2000s - particularly in the African American community.

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Starting with a name change in October, the African American Academic Acceleration department — still known as A4 — is now the Advancing Academic Acceleration & Achievement department.

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On her resume, she also lists a job working as the executive assistant to the chief of public affairs at the National Museum of African American History and Culture from 2018 to 2019.

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Carter: It’s a walk through how music, culture, dance is all rooted and connected together from African roots, from the African diaspora meeting the African American diaspora.

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The conflict was so brutal, broad and complex that it strongly motivated Indigenous people and those who would come to be known as African Americans to fight on both sides.

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