Colored is a North American euphemism once widely regarded as a polite description of black people (i. The term black people usually refers to a racial group of Humans with dark Skin color, but the term has also been used to categorise a number of diverse e. , persons of sub-Saharan African ancestry; members of the "Black race"). Sub-Saharan Africa is a geographical term used to describe the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara, or those African countries Black is the Color of objects that do not emit or Reflect Light in any part of the Visible spectrum; they absorb all such frequencies of It should not be confused with the more recent term people of color, which attempts to describe all "non-white peoples", not just blacks. Person of color (plural people of color) is a term used primarily in the United States, to describe all people who are not white. White People is the second album by Handsome Boy Modeling School. The term colored in particular (along with Negro) has fallen out of popular usage in the United States over the last third of the 20th century, and is now archaic and potentially derogatory, except in certain narrow circumstances such as the name of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Negro is a term referring to people of Black African ancestry The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The twentieth century of the Common Era began on The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is one of the oldest and most influential Civil rights organizations

The term "colored" appeared in North America during the colonial era. A "colored" man halted a runaway carriage that was carrying President John Tyler on March 4, 1844. John Tyler Jr (March 29 1790 January 18 1862 was the tenth President of the United States (1841-1845 and the first ever to obtain that office via succession Events 51 - Nero, later to become Roman Emperor, is given the title Princeps iuventutis (head of the youth Year 1844 ( MDCCCXLIV) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year In 1863, the War Department established the "Bureau of Colored Troops. Year 1863 ( MDCCCLXIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common " The first twelve Census counts in the U. S. enumerated "colored" people, who totaled nine million in 1900. Year 1900 ( MCM) was an exceptional Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar The Census counts of 1910–1960 enumerated "negroes. Year 1910 ( MCMX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Year 1960 ( MCMLX) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. "

Free people of color were sometimes accorded higher status than blacks, because of the association of the latter with enslaved status. In addition, free people of color were sometimes the children of planters who may have passed on wealth in the form of property or education, including apprenticeship to a trade. In the well-established Creoles of color community in New Orleans and southern Louisiana, many people became educated and owned property, including their own businesses. but were more often considered lesser than people of separate ancestry.

In the slave states, where the world was divided into free and not-free, and especially after the Civil War, "colored" was used by white Americans to refer to all people with African ancestry, in part arising out of southerners' efforts to reestablish white supremacy after the war and emancipation of slaves. Their efforts included violent insurgency to suppress black voting and try to control the lives of all people of color. Once the conservative Democrats regained control of state legislatures, they passed increasingly restrictive laws, imposed legal segregation in the South, and at the turn of the century, disfranchised most blacks and many poor whites. In this way they gained control of elections and forestalled the kinds of interracial alliances that arose in the 1890s with the Populist movement. One-party rule by white Democrats persisted for more than six decades into the 20th century.

"Free Persons of Color"

The term "Free Persons of Colour" first appeared during colonial times (1600-1800s). It was applied to a variety of ethnic people, to include Black, Native American, Portuguese, Sephardic Jews, Greeks, Romanians, Moors, Arabs, Asiatic Indians* and Pakistanis* (*who were here as early as the mid 1600s from England, usually as indentured servants), and varied others including mixed races. The common denominator was skin darker than Northern Europeans. The term "colored" was generated from this catagorization, chiefly to indicate those of African ancestry, but to include any person of darker complexion.

The term people of color in the United States

Main article: Person of color

It is difficult to discuss this term without the discussions of power and privilege. Person of color (plural people of color) is a term used primarily in the United States, to describe all people who are not white. Power is a measure of a person's ability to control the environment around them including the behavior of other people A privilege &mdashetymologically "private law" or law relating to a specific individual&mdashis a special Entitlement or immunity granted by a government This term has very different meanings in different countries and contexts. Some find this term as offensive as the term colored, on the grounds that it fixes whites as the benchmark for racial division, fostering an "us versus them" view of race relations. White People is the second album by Handsome Boy Modeling School. Race relations is the area of Sociology that studies the Social, Political, and Economic relations between races at all different Proponents of the term maintain that that the term minority suffers more so from these drawbacks; many of its proponents believe that "people of color" refers to an identity borne out of shared struggle. It purports that struggle is against caucasian peoples. They also support the acknowledgment that those who wield power and who benefit from racial privilege in a racist society, as such proponents assume the United States to be, are primarily white. White People is the second album by Handsome Boy Modeling School. Some affinity organizations for people of color will cite historical injustices committed by caucasians as justification for the exclusion and marginalization of whites. Its language suggests that white is not a color like black or brown, therefore justifying its exclusion. During the 1980s, the term people of color came to be used by civil rights activists, such as those involved with environmental justice. The term often has a positive connotation and is used more often by non-whites. ^[1]

The historical term free people of color refers to people of African descent during slavery who lived in freedom. In the history of Slavery in the Americas a free person of color was a person of full or partial African descent who was not enslaved A related term from the time of slavery is gens de couleur, a French expression that refers to the free descendants of white French colonists and Africans. Gens de couleur is a French term meaning "people of color Because so many of these people had mixed African and European ancestry, they are sometimes labeled mulatto. Mulatto is a term used to describe a person with one white parent and one black parent or a person whose Ancestry is a mixture of black and white They are also sometimes referred to as affranchis. The word affranchi in the context of Haiti and other French Caribbean colonies meant specifically an emancipated slave

Some struggle to identify with the term, arguing the word color merely refers to level of skin melanin, and so fails to define correctly those who are not noticeably non-white or whose racial background includes both races of white and non-white. Melanin is a class of compounds found in the Plant, Animal and Protista kingdoms, where it serves predominantly as a Pigment. It should be further noted that terms such as colored people or people of color are technically misnomers; all white people have color in their skin as well, with the exception of albinos. Albinism (from Latin albus, "white" see extended etymology) is a form of hypopigmentary Congenital disorder,

The term women of color has been embraced and used to replace the term minority women. Some also prefer the term of color to the term minority because they see the latter as describing a stance of subjugation and objectification. Objectification is the process by which Abstract concepts are treated as if they were concrete things or physical objects

Elsewhere

United Kingdom

The term, spelled coloured, has the same meaning as it did in the United States. Today usually only older people use it, as it is often considered offensive, much as in North America, especially when used as a noun.

Some people within the Commonwealth of Nations have used coloured to refer to people from Africa, India, Pakistan, Australian Aborigines, Asians in general, and Native Americans. This is an article about a class of people as identified and defined within Australian law Asian or Asiatic is a Demonym for people from Asia. However the use of the term varies by country and person often referring to people from a particular For indigenous peoples in the United States other than Hawaii and Alaska see also Native Americans in the United States.

Coloured in Southern Africa

In South Africa the term coloured is used exclusively to refer to people of mixed-race, or Khoisan descent, with the term black used for black Africans. The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa In the South African Namibian Zambian Botswanan and Zimbabwean context the term Coloured (also known as Bruinmense Khoisan (increasingly commonly spelled Khoesan or Khoe-San) is the name for two major Ethnic groups of Southern Africa. The term black people usually refers to a racial group of Humans with dark Skin color, but the term has also been used to categorise a number of diverse

The Apartheid system of racial segregation designated "Coloured" as one of the racial groups, along with "Black", "White" and "Indian". In the South African Namibian Zambian Botswanan and Zimbabwean context the term Coloured (also known as Bruinmense The term is not generally considered offensive in South Africa. Most Coloured South Africans have a cultural identity distinct both from that of Blacks and Whites; some (particularly those who have non-Coloured parents) may adopt the cultural identity of one (or both) of their parents. In the South African Namibian Zambian Botswanan and Zimbabwean context the term Coloured (also known as Bruinmense

The term coloured is also used to describe persons of mixed-race in Namibia, to refer to those of part Khoisan, part white descent. Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa on the Atlantic coast The Basters of Namibia constitute a separate ethnic group that are sometimes considered a sub-group of the Coloured population of that country. The Basters (also known as Baasters, Rehobothers or Rehoboth Basters) are the descendants of liaisons between the Cape Colony Dutch Under South African rule, the policies and laws of apartheid were extended to what was then called South West Africa, and the treatment of Namibian Coloureds was comparable to that of South African Coloureds. South-West Africa (Afrikaans Suidwes-Afrika; German Südwestafrika) was the name of what is today the Republic of Namibia.

In Zimbabwe the term coloured or goffal is used where, unlike South Africa and Namibia, most people of mixed race have African and European ancestry, and are descended from the offspring of European men and Shona and Ndebele women. See also Great Zimbabwe National Monument. For information about the March and June 2008 presidential elections see Zimbabwean presidential election Goffal is a term used for people of Mixed race from Zimbabwe, particularly white people of British & Dutch descent with black people The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa on the Atlantic coast Shona (ˈʃoʊnə is the name collectively given to several groups of people in Zimbabwe and southern Mozambique. This article relates to the Ndebele people of Zimbabwe For other uses of the term please see Ndebele. Under white minority rule in the then-Rhodesia, Coloureds had more privileges than black Africans, including full voting rights, but still faced serious discrimination. Rhodesia was the name adopted when the formerly British colony of Southern Rhodesia declared itself independent ( Unilateral Declaration of Independence

In Swaziland, the term Eurafrican is used. The Kingdom of Swaziland is a country located in Southern Africa centred at approximately 26o49'S 31o38'E

References

1. ^ Safire, William. "On language: People of color" The New York Times, November 20, 1988. See also: "The Black Press at 150", editorial, The Washington Post, March 18, 1977

See also

• African American
• Black people
• Coloured
• Asian people
• Goffal
• Creole
• Mestee
• Mulatto
• Negro
• Race
• Racial segregation
• Racism
• Colored People Time