African American
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Revision as of 19:15, 22 January 2013
African-Americans (also called black Americans) have historically been the second largest ethnic group in the United States, after European Americans (although they have recently been overtaken by Hispanic Americans). The term "African-American" is sometimes restricted to the descendants of slaves forcibly brought to America by the aforementioned Europeans; however, there are also more recent immigrants from Africa, or from the Caribbean, another area where Africans were moved as slaves.
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History
For most of the history of the US, African-Americans have been, de jure or de facto, denied most of the liberties granted to other Americans. The American Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Civil Rights Movement were all attempts to remedy this; however, it was only the latter movement, which permanently removed discriminatory provisions from the law, that achieved any sort of lasting success.
Distinct nation
There are those who see African Americans as a distinct nation within the United States, and many African American leaders once fought to have a distinct state. (The republic of Liberia was originally set up for this, but abandoned when it was found that most African Americans did not want to live in Africa.) However, in the modern political climate, this is a fringe opinion, adhered to only by such groups as Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam.
Presidents
Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States, is African-American, although he is not descended from slaves, but directly from an African father. There are suspicions that other presidents, notably Lincoln and Jefferson were of African American lineage. [1]
Embarrassing side effects
As the term "African-American" has gained popularity, an interesting side effect has been observed among Americentric white people: They tend to call all black people "African-Americans."
For example, on 22 September 2010, a third young man came forward to accuse homophobic megachurch pastor Eddie Long of soliciting gay sex. ABC Radio Network News reported that Long "has one of the largest African-American congregations in the world", thus implying that there are many predominantly African-American congregations outside of America.
Also, Mavis Leno, wife of Jay Leno (of "Jaywalking" fame, ironically) once appeared on his show to discuss the treatment of "African Americans" in South Africa.
See also
- African American Vernacular English, colloquially known as "jive"