Black people 4745 225473671 2008-07-13T21:49:21Z Matilda 193756 /* The human race */ fix per comment on talk page {{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}} {{redirect|Black man|the novel|Black Man}} {{race}} The term '''black people''' usually refers to a [[Race (classification of human beings)|racial group]] of [[Human|human beings]] with dark [[skin color]] but the term has also been used to categorise a number of diverse populations into one common group. Some definitions of the term include only people of relatively recent [[Sub Saharan Africa]]n descent (see [[African diaspora]]), while others extend the term to any of the populations characterized by dark skin color, a definition that also includes certain populations in [[Oceania]] and [[Southeast Asia]].<ref>Various isolated populations in Southeast Asia sometimes classified as black include the [[Austronesian]]s and [[Papuan]]s, the [[Andamanese]] islanders, the [[Semang]] people of the [[Malay peninsula]], the [[Aeta]] people of [[Luzon]], and some other small populations of indigenous peoples. </ref><ref>black. (n.d.). ''Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)''. Retrieved [[April 13]], [[2007]], from [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/black Dictionary.com website]</ref> ==The human race== {{offtopic}} [[Image:Kenyan man 2.jpg|right|thumb|A [[Maasai]] man in [[Kenya]]]] {{main|Human|Race and genetics}} In the early twentieth century many scientists held the view that biologically distinct races existed. The races corresponded to the major continental regions of [[Africa]], [[Europe]], [[Asia]] and [[the Americas]]. These races were distinguished from each other based on a few visible traits such as skin color and hair texture. Black people were largely defined by their dark skin and sometimes by their tightly coiled hair. The belief at that time was that not only did the races differ in appearance but in behavior, intellect and origins. Some scientists such as [[Carleton S. Coon]] believed the different races to have evolved separately over millions of years and that racial differences were thus extremely significant. Today most scholars have abandoned these views and see race as a social construct with no biological meaning. Breakthroughs in genetics and the mapping of the [[human genome]] in the late twentieth century have helped dispel many of the earlier myths about race. At least 99.9% of any one person's [[DNA]] is exactly the same as any other person's, regardless of ethnicity.<ref>{{cite journal|last = Ho|first = Mae-Wan |authorlink = Mae-Wan Ho|title = The Human Genome Map: the Death of Genetic Determinism and Beyond |journal = Synthesis/Regeneration |volume=25 |date= Summer [[2001]]|url=http://www.greens.org/s-r/25/25-19.html|publisher = Gateway Green Alliance}}</ref>{{Verify credibility|date=June 2008}} Of the 0.1% variation, there is an 8% variation between ethnic groups within a race, such as between the [[French people|French]] and the [[Dutch people|Dutch]]. On average, only 7% of all human genetic variation lies between major human races such as those of Africa, Asia, Europe, and [[Oceania]]. 85% of all genetic variation lies within any local group. The proportion of genetic variation within continental groups (~93%) is therefore far greater than that between the various continental groups (~7%).<ref>{{cite journal|last = Pearce|first = Neil|coauthors = et al|title = Genetics, race, ethnicity, and health|journal = British Medical Journal|volume = 328|pages = 1070–1072|date= [[1 May]] [[2004]]| url =http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/328/7447/1070?etoc | doi = 10.1136/bmj.328.7447.1070 <!--Retrieved from url by DOI bot-->|publisher = BMJ Publishing Group Ltd|pmid = 15117796}}</ref> Or to put it another way, <blockquote>data also show that any two individuals within a particular population are about as different genetically as any two people selected from any two populations in the world.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Witherspoon | first = D. J. | coauthors = S. Wooding, A. R. Rogers, E. E. Marchani, W. S. Watkins, M. A. Batzer, and L. B. Jorde | year = 2007 | month = May | title = Genetic Similarities Within and Between Human Populations | journal = Genetics | volume = 176 | issue = | pages = pages 351–359 | publisher = Genetics Society of America | location = | issn = 0016-6731 | doi = 10.1534/genetics.106.067355 | accessdate = 2008-07-14 | quote = In particular, the AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION (1997, p. 1) stated that "data also show that any two individuals within a particular population are as different genetically as any two people selected from any two populations in the world" (subsequently amended to "about as different"). quoting AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, 1997 Response to OMB directive 15: race and ethnic standards for federal statistics and administrative reporting (original statement at http://web.archive.org/web/19990507115624/http://www.ameranthassn.org/ombnews.htm; amended 2000 statement at http://www.aaanet.org/gvt/ombdraft.htm). }}</ref></blockquote> Because of these facts, there is general agreement among biologists that human racial differences are too small to qualify races as separate [[sub-species]]. However there is still much controversy regarding the significance of these small differences. For example, some scholars argue that even though there is more variation within populations than between them, the small between-population variation may have implications in medical science.<ref>{{cite news| last = Wade| first = Nicholas| title = Race Is Seen as Real Guide to Track Roots of Disease| publisher = New York Times| date= [[July 30]], [[2002]]| url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9C01E0DC1038F933A05754C0A9649C8B63}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| last = Lewontin| first = R.C.| authorlink =Richard Lewontin| title = Confusions About Human Races| url=http://raceandgenomics.ssrc.org/Lewontin/}}</ref> ===Single origin hypothesis=== {{See also|Recent single origin hypothesis}} Based on genetic evidence, the contemporary [[world population]] is assumed to be descended from a relatively small population of ''[[Homo sapiens]]'' living in Africa some 70,000 years ago (in [[population bottleneck]] scenarios, this group may have been as small as 2,000 individuals).<ref>{{cite news | last =Whitehouse | first =David | author-link=David Whitehouse| title = When humans faced extinction| publisher = BBC| date= [[9 June]] [[2003]]| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2975862.stm}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Brush with extinction| publisher =ABC News Online| url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/indepth/featureitems/s876996.htm}}</ref> The differences in physical appearance between the various peoples of the world is as a result of adaptations to the different environments encountered by various populations subsequent to this split. Examples of African variation due to natural selection include the [[Dinka]], some of the tallest people in the world and the [[Mbuti]], the shortest people in the world. Others such as the [[Khoisan]] people have an [[epicanthal fold]] similar to the peoples of Central Asia. Furthermore, a recent study found that Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest within population skin color diversity.<ref> {{cite journal| last = Relethford| first = J.H.| title = Human Skin Color Diversity Is Highest in Sub-Saharan African Population| journal = Human Biology| volume = 72| pages = 773–80|url =http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11126724| date = October 2000}}</ref> An example of what might be the result of the simple accumulation of variation over time (due to the fact that Africa has been occupied longer than any other continent) is the large variety of body shapes and facial features found among sub-Saharan Africans. ==Dark skin== {{further|[[Human skin color]] }} [[Image:Albino boy tanzania.jpg|thumb|left|upright|A black woman and her [[albinistic]] son from [[Tanzania]] ]] The evolution of dark skin is tied with the question of loss of body hair. By 1.2 million years ago, all people having descendants today had exactly the receptor protein of today's Africans; their skin was dark, and the intense sun killed off the progeny with any lighter skin that resulted from mutational variation in the receptor protein.<ref>Rogers, Alan R., David Iltis, and Stephen Wooding. 2004. "Genetic variation at the MC1R locus and the time since loss of human body hair." Current Anthropology 45 (1): 105-108.</ref> This is significantly earlier than the [[speciation]] of ''[[Homo sapiens]]'' from ''[[Homo erectus]]'' some 250,000 years ago. Dark skin helps protect against [[skin cancer]] that develops as a result of [[ultraviolet|ultraviolet light]] radiation, causing mutations in the skin.{{Fact|date=June 2008}} Furthermore, dark skin prevents an essential B vitamin, [[folate]], from being destroyed. Therefore, in the absence of modern medicine and diet, a person with dark skin in the tropics would live longer, be more healthy and more likely to reproduce than a person with light skin. White Australians have some of the highest rates of skin cancer as evidence of this expectation.<ref>{{cite web| title = Australia Struggles with Skin Cancer| url=http://www.cancer.org/docroot/NWS/content/NWS_1_1x_Australia_Struggles_with_Skin_Cancer.asp}}</ref> Conversely, as dark skin prevents sunlight from penetrating the skin it hinders the production of [[vitamin D|vitamin D<sub>3</sub>]]. Hence when humans migrated to less sun-intensive regions in the north, low [[vitamin D|vitamin D<sub>3</sub>]] levels became a problem and lighter skin colors started appearing. The people of Europe, who have low levels of [[melanin]], naturally have an almost colorless skin pigmentation, especially when untanned. This low level of pigmentation allows the blood vessels to become visible and gives the characteristic pale pink color of white people. The difference in skin color between black and whites is however a minor genetic difference accounting for just one letter in 3.1 billion letters of DNA.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/15/AR2005121501728_pf.html "Scientists find DNA change accounting for white skin"]. ''[[Washington Post]]''.</ref> ==In Sub-Saharan Africa== {{see|Demographics of Africa}} [[Image:Sub-Saharan-Africa.png|right|thumb|Sub-Saharan Africa is colored green, while North Africa is gray.]] [[Sub-Saharan Africa]] is the term used to describe African countries located south of the [[Sahara]]. It is used as a cultural and ecological distinction from [[North Africa]]. Because the indigenous people of this region are primarily dark skinned it is sometimes used as a [[politically correct]] term or [[euphemism]] for "Black Africa".<ref>{{cite journal| first = Lansana | last = Keita| title = Race, Identity and Africanity: A Reply to Eboussi Boulaga| journal = CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos | volume = 1 & 2| pages = 16| date= 2004| publisher = Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa}}</ref> Some criticize the use of the term in defining the part of Africa inhabited by black people because the Sahara cuts across countries such as [[Mauritania]], [[Mali]], [[Niger]], [[Chad]], and [[Sudan]], leaving some parts of them in North Africa and some in Sub-Saharan Africa. [[Owen 'Alik Shahadah]] argues that the term sub-Saharan Africa has racist overtones: {{quote|Sub-Saharan Africa is a racist byword for "primitive", a place which has escaped advancement. Hence, we see statements like “no written languages exist in Sub-Saharan Africa.” “Ancient Egypt was not a Sub-Saharan African civilization.” Sub-Sahara serves as an exclusion, which moves, jumps and slides around to suit negative generalization of Africa.<ref name=Shahadah/>}} However, some black Africans prefer to be culturally distinguished from those who live in the north of the continent.<ref>{{cite book| last = Keith B. | first = Richburg| title = Out of America: A Black Man Confronts Africa| publisher = Harvest/HBJ Book| date = Reprint edition ([[July 1]], [[1998]])| isbn = 0156005832 }}</ref> ===South Africa=== [[Image:Coloured-family.jpg|thumb|left|Extended [[Coloured]] family with roots in [[Cape Town]], [[Kimberley]] and [[Pretoria]].]] In [[South Africa]] during the [[History of South Africa in the apartheid era|apartheid era]], the population was classified into four groups: ''Black'', ''White'', ''[[Asia]]n'' (mostly [[India]]n), and ''[[Coloured]]''. <!--These terms are capitalized to denote their legal definitions in South African law.--> The Coloured group included people of mixed [[Bantu]], [[Khoisan]], and [[European ethnic groups|European]] descent (with some [[Cape Malays|Malay]] ancestry, especially in the [[Western Cape]]). The Coloured definition occupied an intermediary position between the Black and White definitions in South Africa. The [[apartheid]] bureaucracy devised complex (and often arbitrary) criteria in the [[Population Registration Act]] to determine who belonged in which group. Minor officials administered tests to enforce the classifications. When it was unclear from a person's physical appearance whether a person was to be considered Colored or Black, the "pencil test" was employed. This involved inserting a pencil in a person's hair to determine if the hair was kinky enough for the pencil to get stuck.<ref>{{cite news | last = Nullis| first = Clare | title = Township tourism booming in South Africa| publisher = The Associated Press| date= 2007| url = http://www.canada.com/topics/travel/features/story.html?id=59ec6285-c9fb-41ab-93f9-419f62733f07&k=67896}}</ref> During the apartheid era, the Coloureds were oppressed and discriminated against. However, they did have limited rights and overall had slightly better socioeconomic conditions than Blacks. In the post-apartheid era the government's policies of [[affirmative action]] have favored Blacks over Coloureds. Some South Africans categorized as Black openly state that Coloureds did not suffer as much as they did during apartheid. The popular saying by Coloured South Africans to illustrate this dilemma is: {{quote|Not white enough under apartheid and not black enough under the ANC ([[African National Congress]])}} Other than by appearance, Coloureds can be distinguished from Blacks by language. Most speak [[Afrikaans]] or English as a [[first language]], as opposed to [[Bantu languages]] such as [[Zulu language|Zulu]] or [[Xhosa]]. They also tend to have more European-sounding names than Bantu names.<ref>{{cite news | last = du Preez| first = Max| title = Coloureds - the most authentic SA citizens| publisher = The Star|date=2006-04-13| url = http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3201857}}</ref> In 2008, the High Court in South Africa has ruled that [[Overseas Chinese|Chinese]] South Africans are to be reclassified as black people.<ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article4168245.ece We agree that you are black, South African court tells Chinese], The Times</ref> ==In the Middle East== {{See also|Afro-Arab}} Black African and [[Near East]]ern peoples have interacted since prehistoric times.<ref>[http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=70522 Mauritania: Fair elections haunted by racial imbalance]</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6510675.stm Remembering East African slave raids]</ref> Some historians estimate that as many as 14 million black slaves crossed the [[Red Sea]], [[Indian Ocean]], and [[Sahara Desert]] from 650 to 1900 CE.<ref>[http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-85410331.html The Unknown Slavery: In the Muslim world, that is &ndash; and it's not over]</ref><ref>[http://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24156 Welcome to Encyclopædia Britannica's Guide to Black History]</ref> The [[Afro-Asiatic languages]], which include [[Semitic languages]] such as [[Arabic]] and [[Hebrew]], are believed by some scholars to have originated in [[Ethiopia]].<ref>[http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0011-3204%28199802%2939%3A1%3C139%3ATALPAI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-J&size=LARGE&origin=JSTOR-enlargePage The Afroasiatic Language Phylum: African in Origin, or Asian?] Daniel F. Mc Call. (JSTOR)</ref> This is because the region has very diverse language groups in close geographic proximity, often considered a telltale sign for a linguistic geographic origin. In more recent times, about 1000 CE, interactions between blacks and Arabs resulted in the incorporation of several Arabic words into [[Swahili]], which became a useful ''[[lingua franca]]'' for merchants. Some of this because of the slave trade; the history of [[Islam and slavery]] shows that the [[Madh'hab|major juristic schools]] traditionally accepted the institution of [[slavery]].<ref name="Lewis">Lewis 1994, [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/lewis1.html Ch.1]</ref> As a result, Arab influence spread along the east coast of Africa and to some extent into the interior (see [[East Africa]]). [[Timbuktu]] was a trading outpost that linked [[west Africa]] with [[Berber people|Berber]], Arab, and Jewish traders throughout the [[Arab World]]. As a result of these interactions many Arab people in the [[Middle East]] have black ancestry and many blacks on the east coast of Africa and along the Sahara have Arab ancestry.<ref>[http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1180338 Extensive Female-Mediated Gene Flow from Sub-Saharan Africa into Near Eastern Arab Populations]</ref> According to Dr. Carlos Moore, resident scholar at Brazil's [[Universidade do Estado da Bahia]], Afro-multiracials in the Arab world self-identify in ways that resemble [[Latin America]]. He claims that black-looking Arabs, much like black-looking [[Latin Americans]], consider themselves white because they have some distant white ancestry.<ref>{{cite web| last = Musselman| first = Anson | title = The Subtle Racism of Latin America| publisher = UCLA International Institute| url=http://www.international.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=4125}}</ref> Moore also claims that a film about [[Egyptian President]] [[Anwar Sadat]] had to be canceled when Sadat discovered that an [[African-American]] had been cast to play him. In fact, the 1983 television movie ''Sadat'', starring [[Louis Gossett, Jr.]], was not canceled. The [[government of Egypt|Egyptian government]] refused to let the drama air in Egypt, partially on the grounds of the casting of Gossett.<ref>[http://www.hollywood.com/celebrity/Louis_Gossett_Jr/192411 Louis Gosset Jr.] Hollywood.com</ref> The objections, however, did not come from Sadat, who had been assassinated two years earlier. Sadat's mother was a black [[Sudan]]ese woman and his father was a lighter-skinned [[Egyptians|Egyptian]]. In response to an advertisement for an acting position he remarked, "I am not white but I am not exactly black either. My blackness is tending to reddish".<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=PoW4pO4q9VwC&printsec=frontcover#PPP1,M1 Anwar Sadat: Visionary Who Dared By Joseph Finklestone] pages 5-7,31 ISBN 0714634875</ref> [[Fathia Nkrumah]] was another Egyptian intimately tied with black Africa. She was the late wife of [[Ghana]]ian revolutionary [[Kwame Nkrumah]], whose marriage was seen as helping plant the seeds of cooperation between Egypt and other African countries as they struggled for independence from European colonization, which in turn helped advance the formation of the [[African Union]].<ref>[http://ausummit-accra.org.gh/index1.php?linkid=289&adate=04%2F07%2F2007&archiveid=140&page=1 African Union Summit]</ref> In general, Arab had a more positive view of black women than black men, even if the women were of slave origin. More black women were enslaved than men, and, because the [[Qur'an]] was interpreted to permit [[Ma malakat aymanukum and sex|sexual relations between a male master and his female slave]] outside of marriage,<ref>See [[Tahfeem ul Qur'an]] by [[Maududi|Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi]], Vol. 2 pp. 112-113 footnote 44; Also see commentary on verses {{Quran-usc-range|23|1|6}}: Vol. 3, notes 7-1, p. 241; 2000, Islamic Publications</ref><ref>[[Tafsir ibn Kathir]] 4:24</ref> many [[mixed race]] children resulted. When an enslaved woman became pregnant with her Arab captor's child, she became “umm walad” or “mother of a child”, a status that granted her privileged rights. The child would have prospered from the wealth of the father and been given rights of inheritance.<ref name="Arab Slave Trade">{{cite web|url=http://www.arabslavetrade.com|publisher="[[Owen 'Alik Shahadah]]"|title="Slavery in Arabia"|}}</ref> Because of [[patrilineality]], the children were born free and sometimes even became successors to their ruling fathers, as was the case with Sultan [[Ahmad al-Mansur]], (whose mother was a [[Fulani]] concubine), who ruled [[Morocco]] from 1578-1608. Such tolerance, however, was not extended to wholly black persons, even when technically "free," and the notion that to be black meant to be a slave became a common belief.<ref>{{cite web| last = Hunwick| first = John| title = Arab Views of Black Africans and Slavery| url=http://www.yale.edu/glc/events/race/Hunwick.pdf}}</ref> The term "[[Abd (Arabic)|abd]]," ({{lang-ar |عبد}},) "slave," remains a common term for black people in the Middle East, often though not always derogatory.<ref>{{cite news|| first = Theola | last = Labbé | coauthors = Omar Fekeiki | title = A Legacy Hidden in Plain Sight | work = Washington Post | url = http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A6645-2004Jan10 | date = 2004-01-11 | accessdate = 2008-01-29 }}</ref> ==In the Americas== Approximately 12 million Africans were shipped to [[the Americas]] during the [[Atlantic slave trade]] from 1492 to 1888. Today their descendants number approximately 150 million.<ref>[http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/galci/Archive.htm "Community Outreach" Seminar on Planning Process for SANTIAGO +5 ], ''Global Afro-Latino and Caribbean Initiative'', [[February 4]], [[2006]]</ref> Many have a multiracial background of African, Amerindian, European and Asian ancestry. The various regions developed complex social conventions with which their multi-ethnic populations were classified. ===United States=== [[Image:Malcolmxmartinlutherking.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Martin Luther King, Jr.]] (left) and [[Malcolm X]] (right) at the [[United States Capitol|U. S. Capitol]] on [[March 26]], [[1964]].]] {{main|African American}} {{see also|African Immigration to the United States}} In the first 200 years that blacks had been in the [[United States]], they commonly referred to themselves as Africans. In Africa, people primarily identified themselves by tribe or ethnic group (closely allied to language) and not by skin color. Individuals would be [[Asante]], [[Yoruba]], [[Kikongo]] or [[Wolof]]. But when Africans were brought to [[the Americas]] they were forced to give up their tribal affiliations for fear of uprisings. The result was the Africans had to intermingle with other Africans from different tribal groups. This is significant as Africans came from a vast geographic region, the [[West Africa]]n coastline stretching from [[Senegal]] to [[Angola]] and in some cases from the south east coast such as [[Mozambique]]. A new identity and culture was born that incorporated elements of the various tribal groups and of European cultural heritage, resulting in fusions such as the [[Black church]] and [[AAVE|Black English]]. This new identity was now based on skin color and African ancestry rather than any one tribal group.<ref name=Shahadah>{{cite web| last = Shahadah| first = Owen 'Alik| authorlink =Owen 'Alik Shahadah| title =Linguistics for a new African reality| url=http://www.africanholocaust.net/news_ah/language%20new%20reality.htm}}</ref> In March 1807, [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]], which largely controlled the Atlantic, declared [[Abolition of the Slave Trade Act|the trans-atlantic slave trade illegal]], as did the United States. (The latter prohibition took effect [[January 1]], [[1808]], the earliest date on which [[United States Congress|Congress]] had the power to do so under [[wikisource:Constitution of the United States of America#Section 9|Article I, Section 9]] of the [[United States Constitution]].) By that time, the majority of blacks were U.S.-born, so use of the term "African" became problematic. Though initially a source of pride, many blacks feared its continued use would be a hindrance to their fight for full citizenship in the US. They also felt that it would give ammunition to those who were advocating repatriating blacks back to Africa. In 1835 black leaders called upon black Americans to remove the title of "African" from their institutions and replace it with "[[Negro]]" or "Colored American". A few institutions however elected to keep their historical names such as [[African Methodist Episcopal Church]]. "Negro" and "colored" remained the popular terms until the late 1960s.<ref>[http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1594200831/ African American Journeys to Africa page63-64]</ref> The term ''black'' was used throughout but not frequently as it carried a certain stigma. In his 1963 "[[I Have a Dream]]" speech,<ref>{{cite video|url=http://video.google.com/url?docid=1732754907698549493&esrc=sr1&ev=v&q=I+Have+a+Dream&vidurl=http://video.google.com/videoplay%3Fdocid%3D1732754907698549493%26q%3DI%2BHave%2Ba%2BDream&usg=AL29H20jaXzESJi0-5ByuawvRj8e-fNr-w| people = Martin Luther King, Jr.| title = I Have a Dream| medium = Google Video| location = Washington, D.C.|date=August 28, 1963 }}</ref> [[Martin Luther King, Jr.]] uses the terms ''Negro'' 15 times and ''black'' 4 times. Each time he uses ''black'' it is in parallel construction with ''white'' (e.g., black men and white men).<ref>{{cite journal| last = Tom W.| first = Smith| title = Changing Racial Labels: From "Colored" to "Negro" to "Black" to "African American"| journal = The Public Opinion Quarterly| volume = 56| pages = 496–514| url=http://www.soc.iastate.edu/soc522a/PDF%20readings/Smith.pdf|date = Winter, 1992| publisher = Oxford University Press.| doi = 10.1086/269339}}</ref> With the successes of the [[African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)|civil rights movement]] a new term was needed to break from the past and help shed the reminders of legalized discrimination. In place of ''Negro'', ''black'' was promoted as standing for racial pride, militancy and power. Some of the turning points included the use of the term "[[Black Power]]" by Kwame Toure ([[Stokely Carmichael]]) and the release of James Brown's song "[[Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud]]". In 1988 [[Jesse Jackson]] urged Americans to use the term [[African American]] because the term has a historical cultural base. Since then African American and black have essentially a coequal status. There is still much controversy over which term is more appropriate. Some strongly reject the term African American in preference for black citing that they have little connection with Africa.{{who}} Others believe the term black is inaccurate because African Americans have a variety of skin tones.<ref>{{cite news| last = McWhorter| first = John H.| title = Why I'm Black, Not African American| publisher = Los Angeles Times|date=2004-09-08| url = http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/_latimes-why_im_black.htm}}</ref> Surveys show that when interacting with each other African Americans prefer the term black, as it is associated with intimacy and familiarity. The term "African American" is preferred for public and formal use.<ref>{{cite book| last = Miller| first = Pepper| coauthors = Herb Kemp| title = What's Black About? Insights to Increase Your Share of a Changing African-American Market| publisher = Paramount Market Publishing, Inc| date= 2006| isbn = 0972529098}}</ref> The appropriateness of this term is further confused, however, by increases in black immigrants from [[African immigration to the United States|Africa]] the Caribbean and Latin America. The more recent immigrants, may sometimes view themselves, and be viewed, as culturally distinct from native descendants of African slaves.<ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE5DB1F3EF93AA1575BC0A9629C8B63 "'African American' Becomes a Term for Debate"], New York Times, [[August 29]], [[2004]].</ref> The [[Race (United States Census)|U.S. census race definitions]] says a black is a person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. It includes people who indicate their race as "Black, African Am., or Negro," or who provide written entries such as African American, Afro American, [[Kenyan]], [[Nigerian]], or [[Haitian]]. However, the [[Census Bureau]] notes that these classifications are socio-political constructs and should not be interpreted as scientific or anthropological.<ref>[http://www.census.gov/mso/www/c2000basics/00Basics.pdf 2000 US Census basics]</ref> A considerable portion of the [[U.S. population]] identified as ''black'' actually have some [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] or [[European American]] ancestry. For instance, genetic studies of African American people show an ancestry that is on average 17-18% European.<ref>[http://www.isteve.com/2002_How_White_Are_Blacks.htm How White Are Blacks? How Black Are Whites? by Steve Sailer]</ref> ====One drop rule==== Historically the United States used a [[colloquial]] term, the ''[[one drop rule]]'', to designate a black as any person with any known African ancestry.<ref name=Davis>{{cite web| last = James| first = F. Davis| title = Who is Black? One Nation's Definition| url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jefferson/mixed/onedrop.html| publisher = [[PBS]]}}</ref> The one drop rule was virtually unique to the United States and was applied almost exclusively to blacks. Outside of the US, definitions of who is black vary from country to country but generally, multiracial people are not required by society to identify themselves as black (cf. [[mulatto]] and related terms). The most significant consequence of the one drop rule was that many African Americans who had significant European ancestry, whose appearance was very European, would identify themselves as black. The one drop rule may have originated as a means of increasing the number of black slaves<ref>[[Clarence Page]], [http://www.pbs.org/newshour/essays/page_5-1.html A Credit to His Races], ''[[The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer]]'', [[May 1]], [[1997]].</ref> and been maintained as an attempt to keep the white race pure,<ref>[http://backintyme.com/essays/?p=25 "Presenting the Triumph of the One-Drop Rule" ] by Frank Sweet</ref> but one of its [[unintended consequence]]s was uniting the African American community and preserving an African identity.<ref name=Davis/> Some of the most prominent civil rights activists were multiracial but yet stood up for equality for all. It is said that [[W.E.B. Du Bois]] could have easily passed for white yet he became the preeminent scholar in Afro-American studies.<ref>{{cite news| last = Nakao| first = Annie| title = Play explores corrosive prejudice within black community| publisher = San Francisco Chronicle| date=2004-01-28| url =http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/01/28/DDGL74I9TF1.DTL}}</ref> He chose to spend his final years in Africa and immigrated to [[Ghana]] where he died aged 95. [[Booker T. Washington]] had a white father,<ref>{{cite web| title = Mixed Historical Figures| url=http://www.mixedfolks.com/historical.htm}}</ref> and [[Malcolm X]] and [[Louis Farrakhan]] both had at least one white grandparent. That said, [[colorism]], or intraracial discrimination based on skin tone, does affect the black community. It is a sensitive issue or a taboo subject. Open discussions are often labeled as "airing dirty laundry".<ref>{{cite web| last = Crawford| first = Larry D.| title = Racism, Colorism and Power| url=http://www.nbufront.org/html/FRONTalView/ArticlesPapers/Crawford_RacismColorismPower.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| first = Trina | last = Jones| title =Shades of Brown: The Law of Skin Color| journal = Duke Law Journal| volume = 49 | pages = 1487|url=http://www.law.duke.edu/shell/cite.pl?49+Duke+L.+J.+1487| date = October 1972| publisher = [[Duke University School of Law]]| doi =10.2307/1373052}}</ref> Many people in the United States are rejecting the one drop rule and are questioning whether a person with one black parent should be considered black or [[Multiracial|biracial]]. Although politician [[Barack Obama]] self-identifies as black, 55 percent of whites and 61 percent of Hispanics classified him as biracial instead of black after being told that his mother is white. Blacks were less likely to acknowledge a multiracial category, with 66% labeling Obama as black.<ref>{{cite news| title = Obama and 'one drop of non-white blood'| publisher = BBS News|date=2007-04-13| url = http://bbsnews.net/article.php/20061222014017231}}</ref> Forty-two percent of African-Americans described [[Tiger Woods]] as black, as did 7% of white Americans.<ref>{{cite web| last = White| first =John Kennet| title =Barack Obama and the Politics of Race| place =Catholic University of America| url=http://www.mindstorminteractive.net/clients/idonline/index.htm}}</ref> ====Blackness==== [[Image:Barack Obama.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Barack Obama]], the first black (presumptive) Presidential nominee in the [[U.S.]], has, throughout his campaign, been criticized as being either "too black" or "not black enough".<ref name=obama-speech>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/18_03_08_obama_speech.pdf |title=Remarks of Senator Barack Obama: 'A More Perfect Union' (transcript) |accessdate=2008-06-27 |date=2008-03-18 |publisher=BBC |format=pdf |quote=This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either "too black" or "not black enough." We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary. The press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well. |pages=p2 }} See also: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWe7wTVbLUU video]</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jun/27/barackobama.ralphnader?gusrc=rss&feed=commentisfree |title=Too black or not black enough, Obama just can't win |accessdate=2008-06-27 |author=Lola Adesioye |date=2008-06-27 |publisher=The Guardian - Comment is Free}}</ref><ref name=obama-time>{{cite web |url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1584736,00.html |title=Is Obama Black Enough? |accessdate=2008-06-27 |author=Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates |date=2007-02-01 |publisher=Time |quote=Barack Obama's real problem isn't that he's too white — it's that he's too black. }}</ref>]]The concept of [[blackness]] in the United States has been described{{Who|date=June 2008}} as the degree to which one associates themselves with mainstream [[African American culture]] and values. This concept is not so much about skin color or tone but more about culture and behavior. [[Spike Lee]] may be considered authentically black by some for his contribution to black consciousness through film. [[Muhammad Ali]] may also be considered authentically black as a global symbol of the black identity.{{Fact|date=June 2008}}<!-- this is [[WP:Original research]] --> Blackness can be contrasted with "[[acting white]]" where black Americans are said to behave with assumed characteristics of stereotypical white Americans, with regard to [[fashion]], [[dialect]] and [[taste in music]].<ref>[http://www.kent.edu/Magazine/Spring2007/ActingWhite.cfm Acting White. By Melissa Edler] Kent State Magazine.</ref> The notion of blackness can also be extended to non-black people. [[Toni Morrison]] once described [[Bill Clinton]] as the first black president,<ref>[http://dir.salon.com/story/books/int/2002/02/20/clinton/index.html Blacks and Bill Clinton]</ref> because of his warm relations with African Americans, his poor upbringing and also because he is a jazz musician. [[Christopher Hitchens]] was offended by the notion of Clinton as the first black president noting "we can still define blackness by the following symptoms: alcoholic mothers, under-the-bridge habits...the tendency to sexual predation and shameless perjury about the same"<ref>No One Left to Lie to by Christopher Hitchens, 1999, pg 47</ref> Some black activists were also offended, claiming Clinton used his knowledge of black culture to exploit black people like no other president before<ref>[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_go1637/is_200204/ai_n6880693 Find Articles 404 File not found<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> for political gain, while not serving black interests. They note his lack of action during the [[Rwanda genocide]],<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1182431,00.html US chose to ignore Rwandan genocide | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> his [[welfare reform]] which led to the worst [[child poverty]] since the 1960s<ref>[http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/jun1999/welf-j02.shtml Clinton's welfare reform has increased child poverty<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> along with the fact that number of blacks in jail increased during his administration.<ref>[http://www.counterpunch.org/gray1207.html Kevin Alexander Gray: Soul Brother? Clinton and Black Americans<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The question of blackness also arose in Democrat [[Barack Obama]]'s [[United States presidential election, 2008|2008 presidential campaign]]. Commentators<ref name=obama-speech /> such as Time magazine<ref name=obama-time /> have questioned whether Obama, the likely first black presidential candidate of a major [[United States of America|American]] political party, is black enough, as his mother is [[white American]], and his father is a Kenyan immigrant. Obama refers to himself interchangeably as black and [[African American]].<ref>[http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/11/60minutes/main2458530.shtml Transcript Excerpt: Sen. Barack Obama, Read A Transcript Excerpt Of Steve Kroft’s Interview With Sen. Obama - CBS News<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> ===Race in Brazil=== {{main|Race in Brazil}} [[Image:Capoeira-in-the-street-2.jpg|thumb|left|[[Capoeira]], an Afro-Brazilian [[martial art]].]] Unlike in the United States, race in Brazil is based on skin color and physical appearance rather than ancestry. A Brazilian child was never automatically identified with the racial type of one or both parents, nor were there only two categories to choose from. Between a pure black and a very light mulatto over a dozen racial categories would be recognized in conformity with the combinations of hair color, hair texture, eye color, and skin color. These types grade into each other like the colors of the spectrum, and no one category stands significantly isolated from the rest. That is, race referred to appearance, not heredity.<ref name="skidmore">{{cite journal| first = Thomas E. | last = Skidmore | title = Fact and Myth: Discovering a Racial Problem in Brazil| journal = Working Paper| volume = 173|url=http://www.nd.edu/~kellogg/publications/workingpapers/WPS/173.pdf| date = April 1992}}</ref> There is some disagreement among scholars over the effects of social status on racial classifications in Brazil. It is generally believed that upward mobility and education results in reclassification of individuals into lighter skinned categories. The popular claim is that in Brazil poor whites are considered black and wealthy blacks are considered white. Some scholars disagree arguing that whitening of one's social status may be open to people of mixed race, but a typically black person will consistently be identified as black regardless of wealth or social status.<ref name=Telles>{{cite book| last = Edward E. | first = Telles| title = Race in Another America: The Significance of Skin Color in Brazil| pages = 95-98| publisher = [[Princeton University Press]]| date= 2004| isbn =0691118663 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| first = Edward E. | last = Telles| title = Racial Ambiguity Among the Brazilian Population| journal = Ethnic and Racial Studies|url=http://www.ccpr.ucla.edu/ccprwpseries/ccpr_012_01.pdf| volume = 25| pages = 415–441| date= [[3 May]] [[2002]]| publisher = California Center for Population Research| doi = 10.1080/01419870252932133}}</ref> ====Statistics==== {{see also|Race and genetics#Admixture in Latin America}} {| class="wikitable" style="float: right; margin: 0 0 0.5em 1em;" |+Demographics of Brazil |- ! Year!! White !! Brown!! Black |- | 1835 | 24.4% || 18.2%||51.4% |- | 2000 | 53.7% ||38.5%||6.2% |- |} From the year 1500 to 1850 an estimated 3.5 million Africans were forcibly shipped to Brazil.<ref name=Telles/> An estimated 80 million Brazilians, almost half the population, are at least in part descendants of these Africans. Brazil has the largest population of Afro-descendants outside of Africa. In contrast to the US there were no segregation or anti-[[miscegenation]] laws in Brazil and as a result intermarriage has affected a large majority of the Brazilian population. Even much of the white population has either African or Amerindian blood. According to the last census 54% identified themselves as white, 6.2% identified themselves as black and 39.5% identified themselves as [[Pardo]] (brown)- a broad multiracial category.<ref>{{cite web| title = CIA World Factbook: Brazil| url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/br.html#People}}</ref> A philosophy of whitening emerged in Brazil in the 19th century. Until recently the government did not keep data on race. However, statisticians estimate that in 1835 half the population was black, one fifth was Pardo (brown) and one fourth white. By 2000 the black population had fallen to only 6.2% and the Pardo had increased to 40% and white to 55%. Essentially most of the black population was absorbed into the multiracial category by intermarriage.<ref name="skidmore"/> A recent study found that at least 29% of the middle class white Brazilian population had some recent African ancestry.<ref>[http://www.funpecrp.com.br/gmr/year2007/vol2-6/gmr0330_full_text.htm Sex-biased gene flow in African Americans but not in American Caucasians]</ref> ====Race relations==== Because of the ideology of miscegenation, Brazil has avoided the polarization of Society into black and white. The bitter and sometimes violent racial tensions that divide the US are notably absent in Brazil. However the philosophy of the racial democracy in Brazil has drawn criticism from some quarters. Brazil has one of the largest gaps in income distribution in the world. The richest 10% of the population earn 28 times the average income of the bottom 40%. The richest 10 percent is almost exclusively white. One-third of the population lives under the poverty line of which blacks and other non-whites account for 70 percent of the poor.<ref>{{cite web| last = Barrolle| first = Melvin Kadiri| title = African 'Americans' in Brazil| publisher =New America Media| url=http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=5b8d531de860940110af2433244782c6}}</ref> In the US blacks earn 75% of what whites earn, in Brazil non-whites earn less than 50% of what whites earn. Some have posited that Brazil does in fact practice the one drop rule when social economic factors are considered. This because the gap income between blacks and other non-whites is relatively small compared with the large gap between whites and non-whites. Other factors such as illiteracy and education level show the same patterns.<ref>{{cite web| last = Roland| first = Edna Maria Santos| title = The Economics of Racism: People of African Descent in Brazil| url=http://www.falapreta.org.br/durban/racism.doc}}</ref> Unlike in the US where African Americans were united in the civil rights struggle, in Brazil the philosophy of whitening has helped divide blacks from other non-whites and prevented a more active civil rights movement. Though Afro-Brazilians make up half the population there are very few black politicians. The city of [[Salvador, Bahia]] for instance is 80% Afro-Brazilian but has never had a black mayor. Critics indicate that in US cities like [[Detroit]] and [[New Orleans]] that have a black majority, have never had white mayors since first electing black mayors in the 1970s.<ref>Charles Whitaker, "[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_n4_v46/ai_9329550/pg_3 Blacks in Brazil: The Myth and the Reality]," ''[[Ebony (magazine)|Ebony]]'', February 1991</ref> Non-white people also have limited media visibility. The Latin American media, in particular the Brazilian media, has been accused of hiding its black and indigenous population. For example the [[telenovelas]] or [[Soap Opera|soaps]] are said to be a hotbed of white, largely blonde and blue/green-eyed actors who resemble [[Scandinavia]]ns or other northern Europeans more than they resemble the typical whites of Brazil, who are mostly of [[Southern European]] descent.<ref>[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3069253/site/newsweek/%5B/url%5D Soap operas on Latin TV are lily white]</ref><ref> [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A19009-2000Aug1&notFound=true The Blond, Blue-Eyed Face of Spanish TV]</ref><ref>[http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2004/08/19/pride_or_prejudice/ Skin tone consciousness in Asian and Latin American populations]</ref> These patterns of discrimination against non-whites have led some to advocate for the use of the Portuguese term 'negro' to encompass non-whites so as to renew a black consciousness and identity, in effect an African descent rule.<ref>[http://www.newamerica.net/publications/articles/2006/brazil_separates_into_a_world_of_black_and_white Brazil Separates Into a World of Black and White], ''Los Angeles Times'', [[September 3]], [[2006]]</ref> ==In Asia and Australasia== [[Image:Vanuatu blonde.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Pacific Islander boy: a [[Melanesian]] from [[Vanuatu]]<ref>[http://news.softpedia.com/news/Naturally-Blonde-Blacks-48181.shtml Naturally blonde blacks]</ref>]] There are several groups of dark-skinned people who live in various parts of [[Asia]], [[Australia]] and [[Oceania]]. They include the [[Indigenous Australians]], the [[Melanesians]] (now divided into [[Austronesian]]-speaking populations and [[Papuan]]s, and including the great genetic diversity of [[New Guinea]]), the [[Andamanese]] people of the [[Andaman and Nicobar Islands]] of [[India]], the [[Semang]] people of the [[Malay peninsula]], the [[Aeta]] people of [[Luzon]], the [[Ati (tribe)|Ati]] of [[Panay]], the [[Vedda people]] of [[Sri Lanka]]<ref>[http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/chapter6/text6.htm Chapter 6: The Negrito Race]</ref>, and various [[indigenous peoples]] sometimes collectively known as [[Negritos]]. By their external physical appearance ([[phenotype]]) such people resemble Africans with dark skin and sometimes tightly coiled hair. Genetically they are distant from Africans and are more closely related to the surrounding Asian populations in the same way that Africans are more closely linked genetically to Europeans despite differences in skin color and hair texture.<ref>{{cite journal| first = Kumarasamy | last = Thangaraj| coauthors = et al| title = Genetic Affinities of the Andaman Islanders, a Vanishing Human Population|url=http://hpgl.stanford.edu/publications/CB_2002_p1-18.pdf| journal =Current Biology | volume = 13, Number 2| pages = 86–93(8)| date= [[21 January]] [[2003]]| doi = 10.1080/00438240600564987}}</ref> ==In Europe== {{main|Afro-European}} For many centuries throughout the [[Age of Discovery]] and the [[Colonialism|colonial empires]], black people came from the colonies to the "mother country", either voluntarily (sometimes for education) or under duress (sometimes as slaves). Even prior to that, the [[Arab slave trade]] brought large numbers of Africans to the furthest reaches of Europe; for example, [[Peter the Great]] took as a protégé [[Abram Petrovich Gannibal]], whose descendants number poet [[Alexandr Pushkin]] and [[Hugh Grosvenor, Earl Grosvenor|Hugh Grosvenor]], [[heir apparent]] to [[Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster|Britain's wealthiest aristocrat]].<ref>[http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/specials/rich_list/ Sunday Times Rich List 2007 - Business<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Most of the black people living in [[Europe]], however, have their origins in relatively recent waves of immigration. Since the decolonisation of the mid-twentieth century, substantial black populations have moved to certain countries in Europe; other European countries have very few black people. At present, black people have limited visibility in mainstream European society, except in a handful of roles such as sporting activities. ===Britain=== [[Image:NaomiCampbell.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Naomi Campbell]]]] ''See also: [[British African-Caribbean community]] and [[Black British]]'' According to [[National Statistics]], as of the 2001 census, there are over a million black people in the [[United Kingdom]]; 1% of the total population describe themselves as "Black Caribbean", 0.8% as "Black African", and 0.2% as "Black other".<ref>[http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=273 National Statistics Online<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The largest single number comes from [[Nigeria]], just over 88,000<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/uk/05/born_abroad/countries/html/overview.stm BBC NEWS | UK | Born Abroad | Countries of birth<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>. Britain encouraged workers from the [[Caribbean]] after [[World War II]]; the first symbolic movement was those who came on the ship the ''[[Empire Windrush]]''. The preferred official [[umbrella term]] is "black and minority ethnic" (BME), but sometimes the term "black" is used on its own, to express unified opposition to racism, as in the [[Southall Black Sisters]], which started with a mainly [[British Asian]] constituency. Black Britons tend to live in the cities, whereas the white population is moving more to suburbs and the countryside (see [[white flight]]). ===Eastern Europe=== As African states [[decolonisation|became independent]] in the 1960s, the [[Soviet Union]] offered them the chance to study in Russia; over 40 years, 400,000 African students came, and many settled there.<ref>[http://www.mediarights.org/film/black_russians MediaRights: Film: Black Russians]</ref><ref>[http://www.africana.ru/Golden/info/black_russians_project_engl.htm Лили Голден и Лили Диксон. Телепроект "Черные русские": синопсис. Info on "Black Russians" film project in English]</ref> This extended beyond the Soviet Union to many countries of the [[Eastern bloc]]. ===Russia=== A cultural classification of people as "black" exists in [[Russia]]. Certain groups of people who are ethnically different, and generally darker, than ethnic urbanite [[Russians]] (since many Russians from the countryside can be dark) are pejoratively referred to as "blacks" (''chernye''), and face specific sorts of [[social exclusion]] (see [[Racism in Russia]]). [[Romani people|Roma]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgians]], and [[Tatar]]s fall into this category.<ref> ''The Unmaking of Soviet Life: Everyday Economies After Socialism'' By Caroline Humphrey [[Cornell University]] 2002 p36-37</ref> Those referred to as "black" are from the [[Post-Soviet states|former Soviet republics]], predominantly [[peoples of the Caucasus]], e.g. [[Chechens]].<ref>Lisa Taylor, [http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/63/333.html Emergency—Explosion of State and Popular Racism follows Moscow Blasts], International Solidarity with Workers in Russia (ISWoR), [[13 September]] [[1999]].</ref> Although "Caucasian" is used in [[American English]] to mean "[[white people]]", in [[Russian language|Russian]] &ndash; and [[List of dialects of the English language|most other varieties of English]] &ndash; it only refers to the [[Caucasus]], not European people in general. ==Debates on historical populations== ===Race of ancient Egyptians=== {{main|Race of ancient Egyptians}} {{see also|Egyptians}} [[Image:Egyptian races.jpg|thumb|1820 drawing of a fresco of the tomb of [[Seti I]], depicting (from left): Libyan, Nubian, Asiatic, Egyptian.<ref>[http://personalwebs.coloradocollege.edu/~ctorresrouff/walkerlabpubs/buzon2006current.pdf Biological and Ethnic Identity in New Kingdom Nubia]</ref>]] A controversy over the skin color and ethnic origins of the [[ancient Egypt]]ians was sparked as part of the [[Afrocentrism|Afrocentric]] debate.<ref name = "hrsvxs">[http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/afrocent_roth.html Building bridges to Afrocentrism]</ref> [[Afrocentrism|Afrocentrist]] scholars such as [[Cheikh Anta Diop]] contend that [[ancient Egypt]] was primarily a "black civilization". One source cited in support of their argument is [[Herodotus]], who wrote around 450 B.C. that "Colchians, Ethiopians and Egyptians have thick lips, broad nose, woolly hair and they are burnt of skin."<ref>{{cite web |title=Huge Ancient Egyptian Photo Gallery| url=http://www.freemaninstitute.com/RTGhistory.htm}}</ref> However, Classical scholar [[Frank M. Snowden, Jr.|Frank Snowden, Jr.]] cautions against the reliance on accounts by ancient writers to describe the physical characteristics of other ancient peoples, as they held different connotations from those of modern-day terminology in the West. He also points out that other ancient writers clearly distinguished between Egyptians and Ethiopians.<ref>{{cite book | last=Snowden, Jr. | first=Frank M. | editor=Mary R. Lefkowitz and Guy MacLean Rogers (eds.) | title=Black Athena Revisited | location=Chapel Hill | publisher=University of North Carolina Press | year=1996 | pages=113-14 | quote=....the Afrocentrists are mistaken in assuming that the terms ''Afri'' (Africans) and various color adjectives for dark pigmentation as used by Greeks and Romans are always the classical equivalents of Negores or blacks in modern usage.... That the pigmentation of the Egyptians was seen as lighter than that of Ethiopians is also attested by the adjective ''subfusucli'' ("somewhat dark") which Ammianus Marcellinus (22.16.23) chose to describe the Egyptians....}}</ref> Keita and Boyce confront this issue in a 1996 article entitled, "The Geographical Origins and Population Relationships of Early Ancient Egyptians". As anthropologists, they point out the danger in relying on ancient interpretation to reveal for us the biological make up of a population. In any case they contend, the relevant data indicates greater similarity between Egyptians and Ethiopians than the former group with the Ancient Greeks.<ref>{{cite book | last=Keita, Boyce | first=Shomarka, A.J.| editor=Theodore Celenko(ed) | title=Egypt in Africa | location=Chapel Hill | publisher=Indianapolis Museum of Art | year=1996 | pages=25-27 | quote=....''The descriptions and terms of ancient Greek writers have sometimes been used to comment on Egyptian origins. This is problematic since the ancient writers were not doing population biology. However, we can examine one issue. The Greeks called all groups south of Egypt "Ethiopians." Were the Egyptians more related to any of these "Ethiopians" than to the Greeks? As noted, cranial and limb studies have indicated greater similarity to Somalis, Kushites and Nubians, all "Ethiopians" in ancient Greek terms.''....}}</ref> Ancient Egyptians are often portrayed in modern media as Caucasians, and many blacks, Afrocentrists in particular, have been critical of this.<ref>{{cite web| title = The Identity Of Ancient| url=http://www.calumet.purdue.edu/mcnair/cynthia_research.pdf}}</ref> According to [[Egyptology|Egyptologists]], ancient Egypt was a multicultural society of Middle Eastern, Northeast African, and Saharan influences.<ref name = "hrsvxs"/><ref>[http://homelink.cps-k12.org/teachers/filiopa/files/AC383EB269C648AAAA659593B9FC358C.pdf Were the Ancient Egyptians black or white]</ref> Anthropological and archaeological evidence shows that an [[Africoid]] element was evident in ancient Egypt,<ref>{{cite video| people = [[Basil Davidson]]| title=The Nile|url=http://www.lincoln.edu/history/his307/davidson/1/dif3.wmv}}</ref> which was predominant in [[Abydos, Egypt|Abydos]] in the [[First dynasty of Egypt]].<ref>Studies and Comments on Ancient Egyptian Biological Relationships, by S.O.Y. Keita, History in Africa, 20: 129-154 (1993)</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last=Keita | first=S.O.Y. | title=Further studies of crania from ancient northern Africa: an analysis of crania from First Dynasty Egyptian tombs. | journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology | year=1992 | month=March | volume=87 | issue= 3 | pages=245–254 | url=http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/110482899/ABSTRACT?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 | accessdate= 2007-09-23 | quote=The predominant craniometric pattern in the [[Abydos, Egypt|Abydos]] [First Dynasty] royal tombs is "southern" (tropical African variant)... However, lower Egyptian, Maghrebian, and European patterns are observed also, thus making for great diversity... The centroid values of the various upper Egyptian series viewed collectively are seen to vary over time. The general trend from Badari to Nakada times, and then from the Nakadan to the First Dynasty epochs demonstrate change toward the northern-Egyptian centroid value on Function I with similar values on Function 11. This might represent an average change from an Africoid (Keita, 1990) to a northern-Egyptian-Maghreb modal pattern.... This northern modal pattern, which can be called coastal northern African, is noted in general terms to be intermediate, by the centroid scores of Function I, to equatorial African and northern European phenotypes. | doi=10.1002/ajpa.1330870302}}</ref> ===Biblical perspective=== {{further|[[Hamitic]]}} According to some historians, the tale in [[Curse of Ham|Genesis 9]] in which Noah cursed the descendants of his son Ham with servitude was a seminal moment in defining black people, as the story was passed on through generations of Jewish, Christian and Islamic scholars.<ref>Bernard Lewis, Race and Slavery in the Middle East: An Historical Enquiry, (Oxford University Press, 1982), pp. 28-117</ref> According to columnist Felicia R. Lee, "Ham came to be widely portrayed as black; blackness, servitude and the idea of racial hierarchy became inextricably linked." Some people believe that the tradition of dividing humankind into three major races is partly rooted in tales of Noah's three sons repopulating the Earth after the [[Noah's Flood|Deluge]] and giving rise to three separate races.<ref>{{cite web| title = The Descendants of Noah| url=http://www.bible-truth.org/GEN10.HTM}}</ref> The biblical passage, [[Book of Genesis]] 9:20-27, which deals with the [[sons of Noah]], however, makes no reference to race. The reputed [[curse of Ham]] is not on [[Sons of Noah|Ham]], but on [[Canaan]], one of Ham's sons. This is not a racial but geographic referent. The Canaanites, typically associated with the region of the Levant (Palestine, Lebanon, etc) were later subjugated by the Hebrews when they left bondage in Egypt according to the Biblical narrative.<ref>{{cite book| last = Redford| first = Donald B. | title = Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times| pages = 23-87| publisher = [[Princeton University Press]]| date= 1993| isbn = 0691000867 }}</ref><ref name=Goldenberg>{{cite book| last = Goldenberg| first = David M.| title = The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam| publisher = [[Princeton University Press]]| date = New Ed edition ([[July 18]], [[2005]])| isbn = 0691123705 }}</ref> The alleged inferiority of Hamitic descendants also is not supported by the Biblical narrative, nor claims of three races in relation to Noah's sons. Shem for example seems a linguistic not racial referent. In short the Bible does not define blacks, nor assign them to racial hierarchies.<ref name=Goldenberg/> Historians believe that by the 19th century, the belief that blacks were descended from Ham was used by southern United States whites to justify slavery.<ref name=FRLee>Felicia R. Lee, ''[http://www.racematters.org/noahscurseslaverysrationale.htm Noah's Curse Is Slavery's Rationale]'', Racematters.org, [[November 1]], [[2003]]</ref> According to Benjamin Braude, a professor of history at Boston College: {{quote|in 18th- and 19th century Euro-America, Genesis 9:18-27 became the curse of Ham, a foundation myth for collective degradation, conventionally trotted out as God's reason for condemning generations of dark-skinned peoples from Africa to slavery.<ref name=FRLee/>}} Author David M. Goldenberg contends that the Bible is not a racist document. According to Goldenberg, such [[racist]] interpretations came from post-biblical writers of antiquity like [[Philo]] and [[Origen]], who equated blackness with darkness of the soul.<ref>Goldenberg, D. M. (2005) ''The Curse of Ham: Race & Slavery in Early Judaism, Christian'', Princeton University Press</ref> ==See also== * [[List of topics related to Black and African people]] * [[Africans]] * [[African-American]] * [[Afro-Latin American|Afro-Latino]] * [[Negritos]] * [[Black pride]], [[Black Power]], [[Black nationalism]], [[Black separatism]], [[Black supremacy]] * [[Stereotypes of black people]] ==Footnotes== {{reflist|2}} ==External links== * [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/vor?type=phrase&alts=0&group=typecat&lookup=Champaign%2072.13.3&collection=Perseus:collection:Greco-Roman Black warrior, Ancient Greek Alabastron, 500 BC] * [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Ethiopian_soldier_Louvre_MNC476.jpg Ethiopian warrior, Ancient Greek Alabastron, 480-470 BC] {{sisterlinks}} [[Category:Black Africa]] [[Category:Black African diaspora]] [[Category:Race]] [[cs:Černoch]] [[de:Schwarzafrikaner]] [[es:Negro (persona)]] [[fr:Race noire]] [[gl:Negro (raza)]] [[hr:Negroid]] [[id:Ras Negroid]] [[he:שחורים]] [[lt:Juodaodis]] [[pl:Czarna rasa człowieka]] [[pt:Negro (etnia)]] [[ru:Негроидная раса]] [[sk:Negroidná rasa]] [[fi:Negridi]] [[vi:Đại chủng Phi]] [[zh:黑色人种]]