Talk:African Americans

Skip to table of contents

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the African Americans article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27: 60 days

This article is written in American English, which has its own spelling conventions (color, defense, traveled) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

African diaspora Top‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject African diaspora, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of African diaspora on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.African diasporaWikipedia:WikiProject African diasporaTemplate:WikiProject African diasporaAfrican diaspora articles
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

Civil Rights Movement Top‑importance

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Civil Rights Movement, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Civil Rights Movement on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Civil Rights MovementWikipedia:WikiProject Civil Rights MovementTemplate:WikiProject Civil Rights MovementCivil Rights Movement articles

Top

This article has been rated as Top-importance on the importance scale.

To-do list for African Americans:

No to-do list assigned.

WikiProject Civil Rights Movement to do list:

Edit the tasks list

Here are some tasks awaiting attention:

Article requests : All redlinked articles listed at User:Mitchumch/Movement templates#Civil Rights Movement need to be created.
Durham movement (North Carolina)
Greensboro movement (North Carolina) (currently a redirect)
Henry Hezekiah Dee (currently a redirect)
Delano Herman Middleton (currently a redirect)
Charles Eddie Moore (currently a redirect)
Henry Ezekial Smith (currently a redirect)
Cleanup : Rosa Parks, and upgrade to GA status
Black Arts Movement
Collaborate : Tagging all relevant articles with project template.
Expand : And the Walls Came Tumbling Down
Medgar Evers
The Children (Halberstam)
Cambridge movement (civil rights)
Browder v. Gayle
Strom Thurmond filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1957
Photo : Milton Galamison • J. Charles Jones • Gloria Richardson • Richard Durham • Freedom Riders • Freedom Summer • March Against Fear • Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom • Youth March for Integrated Schools (1958) • Youth March for Integrated Schools (1959) • Birmingham riot of 1963 • 16th Street Baptist Church bombing (image of bombing) • Bloody Tuesday (1964) • Biloxi wade-ins (image of wade-ins) • Tallahassee bus boycott • Tent City (Tennessee) • Memphis sanitation strike (image of actual strike) • Americus movement • Hebrew Benevolent Congregation Temple bombing • Baton Rouge bus boycott • Orangeburg massacre • Mansfield school desegregation incident • Bloody Monday (Danville)

Ethnic groups Top‑importance

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Ethnic groups, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of articles relating to ethnic groups, nationalities, and other cultural identities on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Ethnic groupsWikipedia:WikiProject Ethnic groupsTemplate:WikiProject Ethnic groupsEthnic groups articles

Top

This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

WikiProject Ethnic groups open tasks:

Here are some open WikiProject Ethnic groups tasks:

Meta-tasks:
- Place the {{Ethnic groups}} template on the talk page of articles within the scope of this project.
- Resolve the disparity in importance rankings among different ethnic groups
Articles about ethnic groups that currently have issues needing resolution:
Start an article:
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Ethnic groups/Article requests

Feel free to edit this list or discuss these tasks.

United States Top‑importance

	United States portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions. Template Usage Articles Requested! Become a Member Project Talk Alerts United StatesWikipedia:WikiProject United StatesTemplate:WikiProject United StatesUnited States articles
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

Previous discussions concerning the infobox in the top right corner of the article can be found at Talk:African Americans/summary.

Black American over African American[edit]

I have been reading that "Black American" is taking precedence as the newest, best preferred term over "African American." Is either acceptable in most articles right now? Iljhgtn (talk) 18:56, 1 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Also, is it appropriate to capitalize the "B" in "Black Americans" or is it "black Americans"? Iljhgtn (talk) 20:51, 9 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It is correct to capitalize the B in Blacks, as in L for Latinos and A for Asians. However is its NOT correct to do the same for w in whites. Associated Press and New York Times have determined that "white doesn’t represent a shared culture and history in the way Black does." (Personally I see this as regressive in implying all Black cultures are similar, when in reality they are quite varied.) The underlying message however is that whites are the only racial group not befitting a capital letter.

https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-cultures-race-and-ethnicity-us-news-ap-top-news-7e36c00c5af0436abc09e051261fff1f 107.192.19.201 (talk) 21:03, 18 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

We follow MOS:RACECAPS. It's "Black and White" or "black and white". Rsk6400 (talk) 09:07, 19 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The most recent move discussion happened last march (link), and it ended in consensus against such a move. I'd recommend researching whether things have changed when it comes to RS usage of the terms. Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 13:34, 19 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

That was not a very thoroughly responded to RfC. Would be logical to have another. Iljhgtn (talk) 18:31, 21 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

At the very least we can say that Black American should be prioritized over Afro-American right? Google searching "Afro Americans"/"Afro-Americans" gives 1.5 million results while "Black Americans" gives around 24.6 million. (Both are searched with quotation marks included) Gabecube45 (talk) 20:02, 7 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Support for "Black American" as the recommended preferred usage instead of "Afro", "Afro-" or "African American". Black American is the best, most neutral, and widely used term. Iljhgtn (talk) 15:40, 9 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose: On Google books, "Black African" brings up 2,080,000 results [1], whilst "African American" brings up 23,100,000 results [2].I don't know of anyone who uses the old fashioned term "Afro American". To use it as an example is most inappropriate.Tamsier (talk) 16:12, 16 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

African American flag in lead infobox[edit]

Hello @Rsk6400,

You reverted my edit which placed the Black American Heritage Flag in the lead infobox, saying that the flag is not universally accepted. Would you have any sources to back up your claim?

I can't find anything saying the flag is universally accepted as well, though I did get flooded with a lot of results on Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/discover/black-american-heritage-flag

There have also been at least two instances, that made the news, where the flag was incorporated into fashion: https://girlsunited.essence.com/article/saweetie-met-gala-filipino-black-culture/ and https://www.milwaukeemag.com/this-milwaukee-native-won-the-united-states-of-america-ms-pageant/ Evaporation123 (talk) 03:10, 21 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

We need sources for claims, not for the absence of claims. That's why I think to add the flag, you'd need good sources that positively say that the Black American Heritage Flag is universally accepted as representing the group of African Americans. Tiktok videos or fashion articles are not considered reliable sources. You can find more about reliable sources at WP:RS. Rsk6400 (talk) 08:03, 21 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The flag was designed by an artist who self published (BookBaby) as cited in the flag's article without page number. Many of the article's refs are not reliable and from social media. Protesting here may also lead other editors to that article and nominate it for deletion as potential WP:OR.Tamsier (talk) 16:22, 16 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Featured picture scheduled for POTD[edit]

Hello! This is to let editors know that File:Sgt. Samuel Smith, African American soldier in Union uniform with wife and two daughters.jpg, a featured picture used in this article, has been selected as the English Wikipedia's picture of the day (POTD) for February 1, 2025. A preview of the POTD is displayed below and can be edited at Template:POTD/2025-02-01. For the greater benefit of readers, any potential improvements or maintenance that could benefit the quality of this article should be done before its scheduled appearance on the Main Page. If you have any concerns, please place a message at Wikipedia talk:Picture of the day. Thank you! — Amakuru (talk) 12:11, 29 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

African Americans, also known as Afro-Americans or Black Americans, are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. African Americans constitute the third largest racial or ethnic group in the U.S. after White Americans and Hispanic and Latino Americans. Most African Americans are descendants of enslaved people, having West African and coastal Central African ancestry, with varying amounts of Western European and Native American ancestry. This ambrotype depicts African American Union soldier Sgt. Samuel Smith, of the 119th United States Colored Troops, with his family in c. 1863–65.

Ambrotype credit: unattributed photographer

Recently featured:

Terminology / General — Frequency of Use prior to 1980[edit]

The term African American, popularized by Jesse Jackson in the 1980s, although it was in regular use as far back for the ethnic group in the 18th and 19th centuries, for example, in post-emancipation holidays and conferences,

We could improve the WP:WEIGHT of the references to "african american" use prior to 1980. There are practically zero references in books prior to 1980

We have some good citations here including the 1800s newspaper, but in all there might be half a dozen references recorded prior to Jessee Jackson inventing the term.

African american was not in regular use. Negro was in regular use, and "african american" was an extremely rare exception until 1980.

Tonymetz 💬 21:24, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

"regular use" was not supported by the text, and I've adjusted the article text accordingly. Good catch. Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 23:59, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]