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Definition: African American from Good Word Guide

African American is the term now generally applied to Americans of African descent. It has been preferred to Afro-American since the late 1980s, when the latter term was judged to have derogatory overtones, and is often used in place of black. Black American is also widely used today. Equivalent coinages recorded in other countries, such as African Canadian, are known but are not yet widely familiar.


AFRICAN AMERICANS

From Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society
African Americans are a people whose ancestors are from Africa. Although there are obvious mixtures among African Americans, the dominant ancestry of the people is from Africa. African Americans first used this term to define themselves, but for various reasons they have also used terms such as Negro, Colored, Afro-American, and Black at various times in their history. The most frequently used terms now are African American and Black, which are used interchangeably. The term African by itself is, to a lesser extent, used interchangeably with African American and Black by more culturally conscious African Americans. Approximately 35 million African Americans reside in the United States, constituting 12.3% of the total population, according to the 2000 U.S. Census. Most of them (88%) live in metropolitan areas. Approximately half of all African Americans live in the South. This entry reviews their history, from slavery through emancipation and ongoing struggles for equity and civil…
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Full text Article BLACK THEOLOGY

From Global Dictionary of Theology
African American theology is a study and interpretation of religious beliefs and practices of significance to African Americans in the United States of America. It is a form of theology that takes as its epistemological starting point the historical and social experience of people of African descent…
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A culture of the USA having its origins in racial exploitation. The first African Americans arrived from Africa as slaves in Jamestown in 1619. Denied basic human rights from the beginning, their population in the southern states grew slowly, until the 19th century cotton boom led to a huge…
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Full text Article African-Americans

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Introduction In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, African-Americans have taken their place in the upper echelons of US society. The descendants of slaves are now government officials, business leaders, scientists, entertainers, and sportspeople. They include top military officer and Secretary…
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Full text Article African Americans

From Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America
CENGAGE LEARNING, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED U.S. Census...
African Americans are descendants of people from Africa, many of whose ancestors came to the United States as slaves during the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries. Africa, the second-largest continent, is bisected by the equator and bordered to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east by…
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Full text Article African Americans

From Encyclopedia of American Studies
Marcus Garvey. 1924. George Grantham Bain...
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Full text Article African Americans and Guns

From The Gun Debate: An Encyclopedia of Gun Control & Gun Rights
Researchers indicate that African Americans face a far greater risk of being victims of gun violence than the American population as a whole. African American males in their teens and early 20s are especially prone to suffer from gun violence. In 2000, it was estimated that while the overall…
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Full text Article AFRICAN AMERICANS

From The Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of the American Enlightenment
A number of African American authors saw antislavery and equalitarian elements within the ideas and values of the Enlightenment and articulated them even when many of the white leaders of the American Enlightenment were unwilling to challenge the system of slave trading and slaveholding. African…
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Full text Article African Americans and the presidency

From Encyclopedia of the American Presidency
The relationship between the African-American experience and the executive branch of the U.S. government defies easy summary. In many ways it parallels the history of African Americans. Before African Americans were allowed full participation in the political system, the attention afforded them by…
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Full text Article African Americans

From Dictionary of American Government and Politics
African Americans are Black Americans of African ancestry. Most Black Americans are descendants of captive Africans who survived the era of US slavery, although some are – or are descended from – voluntary immigrants from Africa, the Caribbean, Central America, South America or elsewhere. In total, …
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Full text Article African Americans: An Overview

From Encyclopedia of American Studies
The historical forces and events that gave rise to the populations of African-descended Americans constitute one of the most dramatic and complex developments in human history. The contact between Africa and the Americas has resulted in the emergence of a people, particularly in the United States of…
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