Over the years, members of the Black community have been described by varying racial terms, including negro, colored, and African American. However, a recent Gallup poll showed that Black people are now more inclined to be labeled as simply “Black.”
According to the Moxie Exchange, a training and mentoring group aimed at helping businesses develop talent and create inclusive workplaces, the reason behind why a Black person may choose one label over the other may stems from their cultural backgrounds. For example, an article published in November 2020 stated that the term African American was usually used when referring to a descendant of people from an African country who was enslaved.
In contrast, some tended to use the word “Black” when they neither identified as African nor American or couldn’t trace their lineage back to their native land. The organization also noted that the two were not always interchangeable, although some chose to use it in that manner, depending on the situation.