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This article describes competing perspectives on the word Black (and its equivalents in other languages) as applies to people, both at present and in historical contexts. These perspectives are variously based on racial, socio-political, lexical, biological, and other factors. The concept of a "black" has been traced to the ancient Greeks and Romans who labelled dark skinned peoples from North East Africa as "Kushite", "Nubian", and "Ethiopian." The label Black received something like its present meaning during The Enlightenment when anthropologists of that era recognized five human races: Yellows (Orientals), Reds (American Indians), Whites (Caucasians), Browns (Australoids), and Blacks (Africans). The term Black was soon replaced by Negro but by the 1970s African-Americans reclaimed the term Black, as did segments of other non-white populations who shared in their struggle against racism. By the end of the 20th century, advances in modern genetics suggested that Africa was the birth place of modern humans, causing many people to declare that Blacks are the original race.

Historical background

The role of Ethiopians in defining ancient black identity

They have no role in society. They are crap.

The role of the Bible in defining Black people

Not everyone agrees that the ancient world was as color blind as Snowden suggests and some use Bible scriptures as evidence of racism in antiquity. According to some historians, the tale in 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 Christian, Jewish, and Islamic scholars. 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." Historians believe that by the 19th century, the belief that African-Americans were descended from Ham was used by Southern Christians to justify slavery. According to Benjamin Braude, a professor of history at Boston College, "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." A 1929 Jehovah’s Witnesses publication stated "The curse which Noah pronounced upon Canaan was the origin of the black race." Despite such claims, author David M. Goldenberg denies that the bible is a racist document and blames such anti-black interpretations on post-biblical writers of antiquity like Philo and Origen who equated blackness with darkness of the soul. While scholars continue to debate how blacks were portrayed in the bible, many people believe that the tradition of dividing human kind into three major races: Negroid, Caucasoid, and Mongoloid (now commonly called black, white, and Asian) is partly rooted in tales of Noah's three sons repopulating the Earth after the Deluge and giving rise to three separate races.

Age of Enlightenment: science defines the the Black race

Many argue that racism did not always exist, and that its origins can be traced to the Age of Enlightenment which gave rise to biological classifications and the theory of evolution.

They never had an age of enlightenment.

Late 20th century science: Blacks as the original race

Charles Darwin was perhaps the first to publicly speculate that Africa was the cradle of human kind. Because the monkeys that were the most similar to humans (the great apes) lived in Africa, he believed that Africa was likely the place that humans evolved. However creationist views were still dominant at the start of the enlightenment and Johann Blumenbach believed that humans were created in Russia's Mount Caucacus, and thus Caucasians, which he labeled the white race, were the original ideal type central to humanity but believed climate degraded some whites into browns who degraded into blacks at one extreme, and other whites were degraded into reds who degraded into yellows at the other extreme. In the post-Darwin era Carleton Coon believed that different races evolved into modern humans independently and that Caucasoids were the most advanced because they were the first to become modern humans. Such ideas have become increasingly obsolete with the discovery of the African Eve which shows that all humans alive today can trace their mitochondrial DNA to a single woman who lived in Africa 200,000 years ago. Only tens of thousands of years later did modern humans branch out into the Middle East and Europe and finally North East Asia and the Americas. Scientists believe that the need to absorb vitamin D in Northern climates gradually made skin become lighter. Interpreting such findings, in 1993, black nationalists stated "white people are genetic mutations of black people. Only black women can claim all the genetic material necessary to create other races". Elijah Muhammad of the Nation of Islam echoes such themes: "The original man, Allah, is none other than the black man. The black man is the first and last, marker and owner of the universe. From him came all brown, yellow, red, and white people."

However J. Phillipe Rushton of the university of Western Ontario argues that because blacks were indeed the first race to branch off the human evolutionary tree, they are primarily superior in primitive traits like size of genitalia, salience of muscles and buttocks, and reproductive output, but lag behind when it comes to more evolved traits like brain size and social organization, especially when compared to orientals, who Rushton believes evolved most recently in a challenging ice age environment. "One theoretical possibility," said Rushton, "is that evolution is progressive and that some populations are more advanced than others."

While Rushton's views are extremely controversial, Afrocentric scholars, black supremacists, racialist scholars, and mainstream scientists all increasingly agree that modern humans come from Africa. Nathan Hare suggests the following anthem:

"I, the Black Man, am the original man, the first man to walk this vast and imponderable earth. I, the black man, am an Africa, the exotic, single, quintesence of a universal blackness...the first truly human being the world has ever known."

Current definitions

Because of the ancient, international, and often controversial history of labeling some human beings by the color black, defining who is black is not as easy it seems. Here are some recent attempts:

Socio-political definitions

• The U.S. census 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 provide written entries such as African American, Afro American, Kenyan, Nigerian, or Haitian.

• South Africa's Black Economic Empowerment Charter stated: "'Black people', 'black persons', or 'blacks' are generic terms which mean Africans, Coloureds and Indians who are South African citizens by birth or who have obtained citizenship prior 27 April 1994. This term does not include juristic persons or any form of enterprise other than a sole proprietor. However during apartheid, Blacks were defined by the pencil test, in which a pencil was speared through one's hair, and if it failed to slip out, one was categorized as black.

• According to psychologist Arthur Jensen, "American blacks are socially defined simply as persons who have some degree of sub-Saharan African ancestry and who identify themselves (or, in the case of children, are defined by their parents) as black or African-American"

• According to activist Nirmala Rajasingam "I think the idea of a Black identity, was inspired by the Civil Rights movement in the US. Unfortunately, now Black is identified with people of African origin only, but it didn’t used to be that way. It was used as a political term of people of color uniting to fight racism".

• According to Frank W. Sweet, the most controversial answer to the question "who is black?" is "whoever looks black." He writes that although most who use the label rationalize it in terms of physical appearance, there is little objective consistency in this regard, and that different cultures can assign the same individual to opposite "races": North Americans, Haitians, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Barbadians, Jamaicans, and Trinidadians all have different subconscious and automatic perceptions of just what features define who belongs to which "racial" label.

• "In this country, if you are not quite white, then you are black," said Jose Neinstein, a native white Brazilian and executive director of the Brazilian-American Cultural Institute in Washington. But in Brazil, he added, "If you are not quite black, then you are white."

• According to America's one drop rule a black is any person with any known African ancestry.

Lexical definitions

• Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary defines the term ‘black’ with regard to race as follows: "a person belonging to a dark-skinned race or one stemming in part from such a race; esp. Negro.

• YourDictionary.com defines "black" with regard to race as "Of or belonging to a racial group having brown to black skin, especially one of African origin: the Black population of South Africa.

• Dictionary.com and thefreedictionary.com defines "Black person" as "a person with dark skin who comes from Africa (or whose ancestors came from Africa) "

Biological definitions

• According to Michael Levin "Ordinary speakers acquainted with the out-of-Africa scenario are most charitably construed as intending 'Negroid' to denote individuals whose ancestors 15 to 5000 generations ago (with Harris & Hey, 1999, counting a generation as 20 years) were sub-Saharan African...Hybrid populations with multiple lines of descent are to be characterized in just those terms: as of multiple descent. Thus, American Negroids are individuals most of whose ancestors from 15 to 5000 generations ago were sub- Saharan African. Specifying 'most' more precisely in a way that captures ordinary usage may not be possible. '> 50%' seems too low a threshold; my sense is that ordinary attributions of race begin to stabilize at 75%. University of Western Ontario professor J. Phillipe Rushton states "a Negroid is someone whose ancestors, between 4,000 and (to accommodate recent migrations) 20 generations ago, were born in sub-Saharan Africa.

• Sally Satel of the Policy Review stated “The entities we call ‘racial groups’ essentially represent individuals united by a common descent — a huge extended family, as evolutionary biologists like to say. Blacks, for example, are a racial group defined by their possessing some degree of recent African ancestry (recent because, after all, everyone of us is out of Africa, the origin of Homo sapiens).

• Page 42 of the abridged version of "Race, Evolution, and Behavior" states: "In both everyday life and evolutionary biology, a 'Black' is anyone most of whose ancestors were born in sub-Saharan Africa

Other view points

Many people feel that being black is too complex an issue to be adequately captured by any of the standard definitons:

• Lewis R. Gordan (Director of the Institute for the Study of Race and Social Thought at Temple University) says "Not all people who are designated African in the contemporary world are also considered black anywhere. And similarly, not all people who are considered in most places to be black are considered African anywhere. There are non-black Africans who are descended from more than a millennia of people living on the African continent, and there are indigenous Pacific peoples and peoples of India whose consciousness and life are marked by a black identity".
• Psychiatrist Ikechukwu Obialo Azuonye says "being dark skinned is a widespread phenomenon which does not define any specific group of human beings. The tendency to reserve the designation black to sub-Saharan Africans and people of their extraction is manifestly misinformed".
• Cultural writer and filmmaker Owen 'Alik Shahadah adds "the notion of some invisible border, which divides the North of African from the South, is rooted in racism, which in part assumes that a little sand is an obstacle for African people. This barrier of sand hence confines/confined Africans to the bottom of this make-believe location, which exist neither politically or physically". Shahadah argues that the term sub-Saharan Africa is a product of European imperialism, "Sub-Saharan Africa is a byword for primitive African: a place, which has escaped advancement. Hence, we see statements like 'no written languages exist in Sub-Saharan Africa.' 'Egypt is not a Sub-Saharan African civilization.'
• Activist Nirmala Rajasingam also considers most standard definitions of black too narrow: "It was a failure because it divided the Black community into its constituent parts.. into Jamaican or Punjabi or Sri Lankan Tamil and so on, rather than build up Black unity.. But you know, there are young Asians who would like to call themselves Black, but the African youth will say 'You are not Black, you are Asian. We are Black'. Similarly, there are young Asians who will say 'We are not Black, we are Asian.'. So it has all become diluted and depoliticized."
• Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop also feels that the standard conceptions of black people fall short stating: "There are two well-defined Black races: one has a black skin and woolly hair; the other also has black skin, often exceptionally black, with straight hair, aquiline nose, thin lips, an acute cheekbone angle. We find a prototype of this race in India: the Dravidian. It is also known that certain Nubians likewise belong to the same Negro type...Thus, it is inexact, anti-scientific, to do anthropological research, encounter a Dravidian type, and then conclude that the Negro type is absent."

Criticism

There are objections to the standard definitions of black people, as well as criticisim of the term itself. Owen 'Alik Shahadah says "as a political term it was fiery and trendy but never was it an official racial classification of peoples who have a 120,000 year old history. Indians are from India , Chinese from China . There is no country called Blackia or Blackistan. Hence, the ancestry-nationality model is more respectful and accurate: African-American, African-British, African-Brazilian, and African-Caribbean. But that's not his only objection:" In addition, because it is a term placed on us, we have no bases for its control, and hence they are able to say; 'Ancient Egyptians weren't black.' Black has no meaning; except the meaning they place on it, if and when they chose.

Gallery

• Oprah Winfrey is considered black by all definitions of the term. According to genetic tests done by PBS' African lives, she is 89% Sub-Saharan, 8% Native American, 3% East Asian. which means that most of her ancestors were born in sub-Saharan Africa. On average African-Americans are about 83% African genetically. Oprah Winfrey is considered black by all definitions of the term. According to genetic tests done by PBS' African lives, she is 89% Sub-Saharan, 8% Native American, 3% East Asian. which means that most of her ancestors were born in sub-Saharan Africa. On average African-Americans are about 83% African genetically.
• Barack Obama self-identifies as black and could identify as black or multi-racial on the U.S. census and by many dictionaries, though the British census would classify him as mixed and some biological definitions would claim he's not black because only half of his ancestors are from sub-Saharan Africa instead of most.
• Although Ethiopians was once a synonym for Negro and Ethiopians are classified as black by the U.S. and British census, a 2001 Oxford genetic cluster study called this into question, and anthropologist Carleton Coon classified them as a Mediterranean type of Caucasoid. Such views however are not mainstream.
• The term aeta comes from a word for "black" in tagalog, but aetas would be Asian or South Asian on the U.S. and British census respectively. They're also not classified as black by any biological definition or dictionary definitions that emphasize African ancestry, though Afrocentric scholars argue that all dark-skinned people are Africoid. However they are part of Johann Blumenbach's brown race. The term aeta comes from a word for "black" in tagalog, but aetas would be Asian or South Asian on the U.S. and British census respectively. They're also not classified as black by any biological definition or dictionary definitions that emphasize African ancestry, though Afrocentric scholars argue that all dark-skinned people are Africoid. However they are part of Johann Blumenbach's brown race.
• Although Australoids are frequently called black in Australia, this Tasmanian aboriginal would not be classified as black by the U.S. or British census. She would also not be classified as black by any biological definition or dictionary definitions that emphasize African ancestry, except by Afrocentric scholars who argue that all dark-skinned people are Africoid. Johann Blumenbach would have classified her as a member of the brown race.
• Although some Dalits called themselves black to show solidarity with African-Americans in the civil rights movement, this Dalit man would not be classified as black by the U.S. or British census, which would classify him as Asian or South Asian respectively. Anthropologists however have typically classified Indians as Caucasoid,Australoid and mixes of both corresponding to the white and brown races of Johann Blumenbach's model Although some Dalits called themselves black to show solidarity with African-Americans in the civil rights movement, this Dalit man would not be classified as black by the U.S. or British census, which would classify him as Asian or South Asian respectively. Anthropologists however have typically classified Indians as Caucasoid,Australoid and mixes of both corresponding to the white and brown races of Johann Blumenbach's model
• Tiger Woods coined the term Cablinasian to describe his ethnicity and could identify as black, Asian, Native American, White, or multi-racial on the U.S. census and by many dictionaries, though the British census would classify him as mixed and some biological definitions would claim he's not black because only a quarter of his ancestors are from sub-Saharan Africa instead of most. Tiger Woods coined the term Cablinasian to describe his ethnicity and could identify as black, Asian, Native American, White, or multi-racial on the U.S. census and by many dictionaries, though the British census would classify him as mixed and some biological definitions would claim he's not black because only a quarter of his ancestors are from sub-Saharan Africa instead of most.
• The Black Irish are not considered black by any racial definitions of the term, however John Beddoe, the founder and president of the British Anthropological Institute, developed in his book "The Races of Man" (1862), an "Index of Nigressence", from which he argued that the Irish had craniofacial features close to Cro-Magnon man and thus had links with the "Africinoid" races. Many dictionaries also define black as a synonym for swarthy, from which the Black Irish got their name. The Black Irish are not considered black by any racial definitions of the term, however John Beddoe, the founder and president of the British Anthropological Institute, developed in his book "The Races of Man" (1862), an "Index of Nigressence", from which he argued that the Irish had craniofacial features close to Cro-Magnon man and thus had links with the "Africinoid" races. Many dictionaries also define black as a synonym for swarthy, from which the Black Irish got their name.
• LOOK AT THAT NIGGER! As a child, Michael Jackson was considerd black by all definitions of the term including Dictionary.com's which defines a black person as a dark skinned nigger who comes from Africa or has ancestors who come from Africa.
• As an adult, Michael Jackson's ancestors still come from Africa, but he is no longer dark skinned and thus does not meet the first requirement in Dictionary.com's definition. He is still black according to the census and biological definitions. As an adult, Michael Jackson's ancestors still come from Africa, but he is no longer dark skinned and thus does not meet the first requirement in Dictionary.com's definition. He is still black according to the census and biological definitions.
• Bill Clinton is not considered black by any definition of the term, however Nobel prize winner Toni Morrison metaphorically described him as the first black president because of his dysfunctional background
• According to Cavalli-Sforza, Europeans are genetically intermediate between Africans and East Asians making many Blasians no more black on the genetic level than whites are.
• Some scholars argue that ancient Egyptians, like King Tutankhamen, were black.
• Afrocentrists caused controversy by arguing that Jesus may have been black. This cannot be true because niggers suck and are shit.. Afrocentrists caused controversy by arguing that Jesus may have been black. This cannot be true because niggers suck and are shit..
• Warren Harding may have some negro blood making him the first black president to those who cite the one drop rule.
• Recent genetic tests found that Whoopi Goldberg is of 92% sub-Saharan ancestry.. Recent genetic tests found that Whoopi Goldberg is of 92% sub-Saharan ancestry..

See also

• African-American
• Colored
• Human genetic variation
• Mulatto
• Negrito
• Negro
• Negroid

References

1. Snowden, F. (1991) Blacks in Antiquity: Ethiopians in the Greco-Roman Experience, Harvard University Press (ISBN 0674063813)
2. ^ Gould, S. J. (1996) The Mismeasure of Man (p. 402), W. W. Norton & Company (ISBN 0393314251)
3. Aly Colón. ""Black, black, or African American"". Poynter Online. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help) Accessed 27 October 2006.
4. ^ D'Souza D. (1996) The End of Racism, Free Press; New Ed edition (ISBN 0684825244)
5. ^ Felicia R. Lee, Noah's Curse Is Slavery's Rationale, Racematters.org, November 1, 2003
6. Ham, K., Wieland, K. and Batten, D., (1999) One Blood: The Biblical Answer to Racism, Master Books (ISBN 0890512760)
7. Goldenberg, D. M. (2005) The Curse of Ham: Race & Slavery in Early Judaism, Christian, Princeton University Press
8. The Descendants of Noah (bible-truth.org)
9. ' George M. Fredrickson. The Historical Origins and Development of Racism, backgrounder to RACE - The Power of an Illusion, PBS. Accessed online 4 November 2006.
10. Knudtson P. (1991), A Mirror to Nature: Reflections on Science, Scientists, and Society (p. 163), Stoddart Publishing (ISBN 0773724672)
11. Quickfacts: U.S. Bureau of the Census
12. Statement 040 Glossary, BEE Codes of Good Practice, Department of trade and industry (South Africa). (Draft.)
13. South African activist teacher gets education doctorate (Stanford University news release, 06/10/91)
14. Jorion, P.J.M. (1999). , Psycoloquy 10(064)
15. ^ interview by Ahilan Kadirgamar Lines. August 2002. Retrieved on 2006-10-08
16. Frank F. W. (2005) Legal History of the Color Line: The Rise and Triumph of the One-Drop Rule, Backintyme (ISBN 0939479230)
17. "People of Color Who Never Felt They Were Black: Racial Label Surprises Many Latino Immigrants", The Washington Post, December 26, 2002
18. Who is Black? One Nation's Definition (PBS), by F. James Davis
19. Cite error: The named reference Boulaga was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
20. yourdictionary.com
21. thefreedictionary.com
22. thefreedictionary.com
23. Levin M. The Race Concept: A Defense, Behavior and Philosophy, 30, 21-42 (2002)
24. ^ Cite error: The named reference Rushton was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
25. Rushton J. P. (2000) Race, Evolution, and Behavior: A Life History Perspective, Charles Darwin Research Inst. Pr; 3rd edition (ISBN 0965683613). Abstract available here
26. African-American Philosophy, Race, and the Geography of Reason
27. Azuonye I. O. Who is "black" in medical research?, British Medical Journal 1996;313:760
28. ^ Cite error: The named reference Shahadah was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
29. The African presence in Indian antiquity by Runoko Rashidi
30. ^ African-American Lives on PBS Part II
31. African Ancestry Inc. traces DNA roots, By Steve Sailer
32. Caucasoid subraces (Racial Reality)
33. ]
34. Phrenology and Race in Nineteenth-Century Britain (victorianweb.org)
35. Toni Morrison "Clinton as the first black president", New Yorker, October 1998
36. Marks J. The Human Genome Diversity Project Good for If Not Good as Anthropology? (first appeared on the back page (p. 72) of the Anthropology Newsletter, April 1995.)
37. So what colour was Jesus?, BBC News, 27 October, 2004
38. Vaughn L. (2002) Black People and Their Place in World History, Self Published (ISBN 0971592004 ), by Leroy Vaughn

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