Negro facts for kids

The word “Negro” is used in the English-speaking world to refer to a person of black ancestry or appearance. It has been used for people of African ancestry as well as people from other places. The word negro means 'black' in Spanish and Portuguese. It comes from the Latin niger which means 'black'.

"Negro" replaced the term "colored" as the most polite term. This was done when the term "black" was more offensive. This use of the word was accepted as normal until the Civil Rights Movement in the late 1960s. It was accepted even by the people it was used to describe. One example of this is Martin Luther King, Jr. using the term "negro" when talking about his own race in his 1963 speech "I Have a Dream."

During the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, some African-American leaders in the United States did not like this word. People like Malcolm X wanted the word Black to be used. This was because they saw a connection between the term "Negro" and slavery, segregation, and discrimination.

Since the late 1960s, many other terms have been more commonly used. These include "Black", "Black African", "Afro-American" and "African American". African American is used in the United States to refer to Black Americans. These people were often called American Negroes in the past.

The term "Negro" is still used in some ways. It is used by the United Negro College Fund and the Negro league in sports.

The United States Census Bureau said that "Negro" would be used on the 2010 United States Census, with "Black" and "African-American". This was because some older Black Americans still feel this is the word that describes them.

In English

Around 1442 the Portuguese first went to sub-Saharan Africa. They were trying to find a way to get to India by boat. The term negro was used by the Spanish and Portuguese as a simple description of people. It means "black". From the 18th century to the late 1960s, "negro" was the proper English-language term for most people of sub-Saharan African origin.

Most people stopped using the word "Negro" by the early 1970s in the United States. Many older African Americans grew up when "Negro" was widely said to be the correct term. They thought the term "Black" was more offensive than "Negro." This can be seen by the use the word by historical African-American organizations and institutions. Currently, "Negro" is generally thought to be not offensive when used in a historical way. For example, baseball's Negro Leagues of the early and mid-20th century. It is also used in the name of older organizations. These include Negro spirituals, the United Negro College Fund or the Journal of Negro Education. The U.S. Census now uses "Black, African-American or Negro." The term "Negro" is used to try to include older African Americans who think it is a better term.

The word Negroid was used by 19th and 20th century racial anthropologists. The suffix -oid means "similar to". "Negroid" as a noun was used to name a larger category of people than "Negro".

Related pages

• African American
• Black people

Images for kids

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  A European map of West Africa, 1736. Included is the archaic mapping designation of Negroland.

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  Prevalence of "negro" as a demonym has varied in American English. All-Negro Comics was a 1947 comic anthology written by African-American writers and featuring black characters.

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  "Negritos o Aetas" illustration in Bosquejo Geográfico e Histórico-natural del Archipielago Filipino (Ramón Jordana y Morera, 1885)

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  Street plate in Medina of Tunis showing, in Arabic and French, Negroes street.