What ever happened to "Afro-American"?

I remember in the early 90s, black people in the US were no longer simply "black" but became known as "Afro-American"; a phrase which lasted about as long as the hairstyle. Almost overnight, in the mid-nineties, it was dropped in favour of the protracted "African-American", a phrase that seems to have gained popularity and applied often to people for whom the label is quite inappropriate given other racial influences.

So what was wrong with "Afro-American" and why is "African-American" so much better? And why do white people not describe themselves as European-American or something equally absurd?

It's a fad, Rick! ;)

I honestly have no idea why Afro- got replaced by African-.

White Americans don't generally go by "European-American", but only because they can usually get much more specific: Irish-American, Italian-American, Lebanese-American, etc, usually picking the part of their ancestry they identify with the most, as most of us are mutts. Black Americans, unfortunately, are much less likely to have any idea what particular modern African nation their ancestors were kidnapped from, so they have to content themselves with something less specific.

I HAVE heard "white" and "African-American" used in the same sentence, as if there is something "bad" about calling people "black". I think this is silliness, myself.

<<I remember in the early 90s, black people in the US were no longer simply "black" but became known as "Afro-American"; a phrase which lasted about as long as the hairstyle. Almost overnight, in the mid-nineties, it was dropped in favour of the protracted "African-American", a phrase that seems to have gained popularity and applied often to people for whom the label is quite inappropriate given other racial influences.>>

I have to disagree with you there; "Afro-American" was popular in the 60's and 70's and got replaced by "African-American" by the 80's. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American#Nomenclature

<<I have to disagree with you there; "Afro-American" was popular in the 60's and 70's and got replaced by "African-American" by the 80's.>>

It would seem that the term "Afro-American" died along with the Afro itself.

Most Black people I have known in the United States do not like the terms "Afro-American" and "African-American" and have told me that they consider themselves to be just "Americans."

Sometimes the news Media gives people misleading impressions about things because their reporters don't talk to the right people. This is true regarding other subjects too.

the afro didnt die its making a come back.....seriously

Frankly, I think "African-American" is stupid. Most of them have never been to Africa, and neither have their parents. I suppose I could call myself a "German-American" but I don't see the point, since I'm a "mutt" and feel no special ties to any European country just because my grandfather had a German surname. Also, if a white South African immigrant decided to call himself "African-American" some people would scream.

Actually, Charlize Theron was on a talk show some time back pointing out that she is, technically and more deservedly than most, African-American!

<<Actually, Charlize Theron was on a talk show some time back pointing out that she is, technically and more deservedly than most, African-American!>>

Yeah, I remember they did a little skit about that on SNL. ;-)

"the afro didnt die its making a come back.....seriously"

Yeah, the Ben Wallace 'fro rules.

<<Also, if a white South African immigrant decided to call himself "African-American" some people would scream. >>

It would sound odd, but in no way incorrect. I remember that Star Jones once said that white South Africans who live in the US are African Americans.

BINGO. If you were born in Africa and are of any race other than Black AND now reside in America OR have the above mentioned lineage as an American...YOU TOO are AfroAmerican. DOH!!! It doesnt take a rocket scientist.

>>Frankly, I think "African-American" is stupid. Most of them have never been to Africa, and neither have their parents. I suppose I could call myself a "German-American" but I don't see the point, since I'm a "mutt" and feel no special ties to any European country just because my grandfather had a German surname.<<

Of course, a major factor here is how many generations have passed since original immigration, how long whatever language(s) happened to be brought with persisted in one's family and or the area one is from, and how dispersed related social groups are. Consequently, not all hyphenated ethnic designations are equal, and some are more titular than others.

Another factor, though, is that in many contexts hyphenation is simply not used. For example, at least here, when indicating ethnicity, most people do not use such, but rather use ethnic designations without the "-American" part. For example, when speaking about ethnicity here, terms like "German" or "Irish" are understood to be referring to ethnicity and not political nationality; this is especially important in the case of "German", as such need not refer to people from what is now politically part of Germany, or ever was part of Germany for that matter. Of course, this makes things ambiguous at times, resulting in it becoming necessary to use things like "from Germany" rather than just "German" when one is referring to nationality amongst individuals today.

One note is that to use hyphenated terms of most sorts here comes off (negatively) as promoting a very superficial civic "multiculturalism" more than anything else, whereas the use of unhyphenated terms tends to lack such connotations. One note though is that the term "African-American" is never unhyphenated here; rather, in practice, pretty much everyone who isn't trying to deliberately sound overtly "politically correct" (in a very superficial fashion, at that) just uses the term "black" here.

>>Also, if a white South African immigrant decided to call himself "African-American" some people would scream.<<

Considering that the term "African-American" is not used in the first place to refer to people who happen to live in the US today who happen to be from some part of Africa, the use of the term would not even be technically correct in the first place. They would still be simply a South African, or if their native language is Afrikaans (and in particular if they are white), more speciflcally an Afrikaner (note that this term is not exactly a subset of the former, as there are people who are Afrikaners who are not necessarily from South Africa proper).

One of the hallmarks of political correctness is that you always use misleading euphemisms. Thus, African-American for black Americans even though they are about as African as the Pope is Japanese, or Native Americans for aboriginal Americans even though anyone born in the Americas is a native American, not just aborigines. Or look at the changes from crippled to handicapped to disabled to differently abled. Or the changes from Merry Christmas to Seasons Greetings.

Part of why I myself oppose such hyphenated terms, though, is not the whole "political correctness" thing, but rather that they have implicit (or not that implicit, actually) nationalistic tones, by emphasizing American political nationality when one is speaking of ethnicity. Such is akin to people anglicizing their surnames when they immigrated to the US and like, or, on a more local level, translating surnames into English in speech (even though this practice has died out here today, probably for lack of ability to translate most surnames here), both of which I, in retrospect, am not the fondest.