6

Why are some Americans named to indicate their ancestry? It is not common to say, German Americans, or Russian Americans; however, African American, and Asian American are accepted nomenclatures. Even President Obama's Wikipedia entry reads, "He is the first African American to hold the office."

What is the origin / reason for this?

Update: "I am an American. Black. Conservative. I don't use African-American, because I'm American, I'm black and I'm conservative. I don't like people trying to label me. African- American is socially acceptable for some people, but I am not some people." -Herman Cain

CMR
  • 365
  • 1
  • 3
  • 11
  • 2
    Your premise is suspect. If Italian-American or German-American is not (apparently) common, it doesn't follow that these are not accepted nomenclatures. If a usage or label for a group of people is (apparently) common, it doesn't follow that they have been "named" this. You cite Wikipedia for some reason, but you've failed to search for parallel usages. "Committee members had little taste for a second battle over Scalia and were in any event reluctant to oppose the first Italian-American Supreme Court nominee." [Wikipedia] – jbelacqua Apr 03 '11 at 07:05
  • @jgbelacqua, one is accepted, another is uncommon; however, my question was only towards the history of the terms. I was sure there is some history behind this, which is an answer indicates. – CMR Apr 03 '11 at 12:03
  • 4
    There were objections from some american black politicians that Obama wasn't African-American because he had an African and American parent but wasn't a descendant of slaves and so wasn't African-American. So 'African-American' isn't the same as African-and-American – mgb Apr 03 '11 at 16:12
  • @jgbelacqua, I understand. However, my knowledge is very limited, and I might hurt someone's feelings. I apologize if so. Would you be able to fix the question? – CMR Apr 03 '11 at 22:49
  • @CMR I think perhaps it is too broad -- are you asking about hyphenated Something-Americans or African-Americans in particular? I'm partly cranky because there have literally been books written about any given Something-American group and their history. As it stands now, do you think Alain's answer is sufficiently enlightening? Perhaps this gives a good idea of your desired scope. – jbelacqua Apr 04 '11 at 01:30
  • 1
    The real question is what we're going to call Canadians when that term becomes african-american-listed. – intuited Apr 04 '11 at 08:27
  • I've heard German American. If you don't hear it that often, perhaps it is because there are less folks around these days clearly identifiable as that. Read up on Prohibition, and you will see all kinds of references to German Americans and Irish Americans (who felt directly attacked by it). – T.E.D. Oct 17 '11 at 22:56

1 Answers1

10

"African American" is a Politically Correct way of avoiding to say "Black" which replaced "Colored", which in turn replaced the infamous "N-word", because this was perceived to be too discriminatory. It was coined after the terms "Anglo American" and "Irish American". It is also more precise because you can have a dark skin and not be of African ancestry (see Papua New Guinea or Andaman for instance).

"Asian American" (replacing "Oriental") and "Native American" (replacing "Indian") were phrases coined in a similar way.

Neither the German nor the Russian immigrants have been markedly discriminated against as a community. Nevertheless the phrase "German American" and "Russian American" also exist if somewhat less commonly used. Other significant immigrant communities have their corresponding label as well ("Italian American" for instance).

Alain Pannetier Φ
  • 17,926
  • 4
    I think 'black' replaced 'colored' which replaced 'Negro' (the latter was probably replaced at the time because the N-word, a pronunciation variation, was derogatory back then, too). – Mitch Apr 03 '11 at 15:15
  • @Mitch, thx for the precision, I updated the answer accordingly. – Alain Pannetier Φ Apr 03 '11 at 15:47
  • Leading to the ridiculous scene where that American reporter asked Nelson Mandela how it felt to be the first African-American president of ZA. – mgb Apr 03 '11 at 16:05
  • 2
    I don't think Africa-American is really the same as German/Irish-American etc. Those terms are only used when you need to be specific about somebodies culture - African American is purely a euphemism for black. – mgb Apr 03 '11 at 16:09
  • 2
    Negro is not the infamous "N-word", but it is slightly dated. It appears for example in the title of the United Negro College Fund started in 1944. – Henry Apr 03 '11 at 16:20
  • @Henry - Thx for the edit and the comment. I've corrected the link. – Alain Pannetier Φ Apr 03 '11 at 17:41
  • @Henry interestingly the NAACP predates the UNCF by half a century but uses a later euphemism – mgb Apr 03 '11 at 18:25
  • 1
    @Alain, this is probably a sensitive area, where words seem to have varying meaning in various countries. The term "coloured" is supposedly unacceptable in South Africa (Usage & Abusage - Eric Partridge) – CMR Apr 03 '11 at 22:51
  • 2
    It's wrong to say that German-Americans have never been discrimated against here. During World War I, all the stores and restaurants with "German" in their name were renamed with "Liberty" or something similar, because of discrimination. However, I do agree that Germans immigrants have had a much easier time than Irish, Jews, blacks, and Asians. – Peter Shor Apr 04 '11 at 15:08
  • 1
    @Peter Shor, not to mention the Japanese !!! – Alain Pannetier Φ Apr 04 '11 at 15:44
  • 1
    In addition to "African American" being overly precise (i.e. excluding black people from other continents), equating African American with black is also less accurate: There are millions of caucasians in Africa (around 5 million in South Africa alone), and many have moved to America. Thus the etymology of "African American" is, as you suggest, a euphemism serving political correctness, and not – as with the others – place of origin. – Brian M. Hunt Oct 17 '11 at 21:42
  • 1
    This Ngram shows that until 1940 or so, "German-American" was actually the most common of these terms (probably because of the large number of Americans of German descent). However, searching Google books, one can find the term "African-American" used for black Americans in the 19th century; although it has recently grown much more common, it is by no means a recent coinage. – Peter Shor Oct 17 '11 at 21:44
  • @PeterShor - My guess for that would be that once WWII broke out, and for quite a while thereafter, being German at all became a Very Bad Thing. So those with that heritage chose to fully assimilate. The genetics of Melanin deprives most (but not all) African Americans of that option. – T.E.D. Oct 17 '11 at 23:02