Colored

This article is about the term used for people of African descent in North America. For other uses, see Color (disambiguation).

Colored is a North American euphemism once widely regarded as a polite description of black people (i.e., persons of sub-Saharan African ancestry; members of the "Black race"). It should not be confused with the more recent term people of color, which attempts to describe all "non-white peoples", not just blacks. 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).

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. In 1863, the War Department established the "Bureau of Colored Troops." The first twelve Census counts in the U.S. enumerated "colored" people, who totaled nine million in 1900. The Census counts of 1910–1960 enumerated "negroes."

Mixed Creoles were sometimes accorded higher status than blacks but were more often considered lesser than people of separate ancestry.^{[citation needed]} Later, "colored" was used to refer to all blacks, due to the difficulty involved in maintaining these distinctions.

"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" generated from this catagorization, to mainly indicated those of African ancestry, but to include any person of darker complexion.

The term people of color in the United States

It is difficult to discuss this term without the discussions of power and privilege. 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. 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^{[attribution needed]} assume the United States to be, are primarily white. Some affinity organizations for people of color will cite historical injustices committed by caucasians as justification for the exclusion and marginalization of whites. It\'s language suggests that white is not a color like black or brown, therefore justifying its exclusion. During the 1980\'s, 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.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

The historical term free people of color refers to people of African descent during slavery who lived in freedom. 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. Because so many of these people had mixed African and European ancestry, they are sometimes labeled mulatto. They are also sometimes referred to as affranchis.

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. 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.

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.

Elsewhere

In the United Kingdom, the term, spelled coloured, has the same meaning; today it is usually used only by older people and is often considered offensive, much as in North America, especially when used as a noun.

The term has also been used variously throughout the Commonwealth of Nations to refer to people from Africa, India, Pakistan, Australian Aborigines, Asians and Native Americans.

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. "Coloured" was one of the racial groups designated under the Apartheid system of racial segregation, along with "Black", "White" and "Indian". 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.

The term coloured is also used to describe persons of mixed race in Namibia, to refer to those of part Khoisan, part white descent. The Basters of Namibia constitute a separate ethnic group that are sometimes considered a sub-group of the Coloured population of that country. 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.

The term coloured or goffal is used in Zimbabwe, where, unlike South Africa and Namibia, most people of mixed race have African and European ancestry, being descended from the offspring of European men and Shona and Ndebele women; under white minority rule in the then-Rhodesia, Coloureds had more privileges than black Africans, including full voting rights, but still faced serious discrimination. In Swaziland, the term Eurafrican is used.

References

See also

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

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