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As applied to Black people, "Black" can be a political, racial, ethnic, societal or cultural classification. A variety of racial, socio-political, lexical, and biological factors can influence the definition of a "black person".

There is no universally agreed-upon definition for who is "black". For example, some assert that only people of recent African descent are "black" while others argue that "black" may refer to individuals with dark skin colour regardless of ethnic origin.

Historical background

The label Black received something like its present meaning during The Enlightenment when anthropologists of that era defined five human races: Yellows (East Asians), Reds (Native Americans), Whites (Caucasians), Browns (Australoids, Latinos, Indians, Southeast Asians), and Blacks (Africans).

The role of the Bible in defining black people

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 Jewish, and Christian 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." The biblical passage, Book of Genesis 9:20-27, which deals with the story of Noah's family makes no reference to skin color. Historians believe that by the 19th century, the belief that blacks were descended from Ham was used by southern United States whites 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.".

On the other hand, author David M. Goldenberg contends that the Bible is not a racist document. According to Goldenberg, such anti-black interpretations came from 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, some people believe that the tradition of dividing human kind into three major races: Negroid, Caucasoid, and Mongoloid (now also 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.

The views of Frank Snowden about defining ancient black identity

Frank M. Snowden, Jr claims that terms like "Kushite", "Nubian", and "Ethiopian" were ancient synonyms for terms like "colored", "black", or "Negro." He also argues that Ethiopians were the founders of religion and greatly influenced many of the customs of Egyptians who, he argues, were descendants of the Ethiopians. "The experiences of Africans who reached the alien shores of Greece and Italy constituted an important chapter in the history of classical antiquity," he claims. Drawing on evidence from terra cotta figures, paintings, and sources like Herodotus and Pliny the Elder, Snowden contradicts modern assumptions that Greco-Romans viewed Africans with racial contempt. According to Snowden, many Africans worked in the Roman Empire as musicians, artisans, scholars, and generals and also slaves, but Snowden argues that they were noted as much for their virtue as for their complexion, which the Greeks described as a 'burnt face' (from which the Greek name Ethiopian was derived).

Age of Enlightenment: science attempts to define 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.

The concept of “black” as a metaphor for race was first used at the end of the 17th century when a French doctor named Francois Bernier divided up humanity based on facial appearance and body type. He proposed four categories: Europeans, Far Easterners, Lapps, and finally blacks who he described as having wooly hair, thick lips, and very white teeth. The first major scientific model was created in 18th century when Carolus Linnaeus recognized four main races: "Europeanus", which he labeled the white race; "Asiatic", which he labeled the yellow race; "Americanus", which he labeled the red race; and "Africanus", which he labeled the black race. According to Linnaeus, the black male could be defined by his skin tone, face structure, and curly hair. Linnaeus believed blacks were cunning, passive, inattentive, and ruled by impulse. To Linnaeus, black females were apparently shameless, because "they lactate profusely". Linnaeus' protege, anthropology founder Johann Blumenbach completed his mentor's color coded race model by adding the brown race, which he called "Malay" for Polynesisians and Melanesians of Pacific Islands, and for aborigines of Australia. According to Dinesh D'Souza, "Blumenbach's classification had a lasting influence in part because his categories neatly broke down into the familiar colors: white, black, yellow, red, and brown." Some anthropologists added the brown race back in as an Australoid category (which includes aboriginal peoples of Australia along with various peoples of southeast and south Asia, especially Melanesia and the Malay Archipelago), and viewed it as separate from Negroids (often lumping Australoids in with Caucasoids) despite the fact that their skin is also dark. By the 1970s the term black replaced Negro in the United States Debate continues to exist over whether the term black should be capitalized or not as are other ethnic labels like Hispanic. Responding to the issue, Norm Goldstein, stylebook editor for the Associated Press stated "African-Americans, Hispanics, Arabs, and similar descriptions are considered nationalities (or dual nationalities), while 'black' and 'white' are the more commonly used terms for the Negroid and Caucasian races."

Late 20th century: Blacks as the original race

Charles Darwin was perhaps the first to publicly speculate that Africa was the cradle of human kind. Because apes are very similar to humans and live in Africa, he believed that this was probably where humans evolved. However biblical views were still dominant at the start of the enlightenment. Blumenbach believed that humans were originally white, having populated the world after the Biblical flood from Mount Ararat (at the modern Turkey/Iran border).

In the post-Darwin era, Carleton Coon postulated in his Multiregional hypothesis that people living in different regions of the world evolved into anatomically modern humans (AMH) independently. He hypothesised that Caucasoids evolved before other human populations (and were therefore the most advanced AMH). In this hypothesis Caucasoid people would be seen as the first AMHs.

Recent evidence has made some aspects of the Multiregional hypothesis increasingly obsolete, although increasingly supporting the Hybrid-origin theory. The dominant modern hypothesis is the Recent single-origin hypothesis which postulates that all modern humans are mainly descended from a small African population that existed about 200,000 years ago. In this model all humans fully evolved into Homo sapiens recently, and represent a very recent and genetically similar species. In this model the first AMHs may well have been black people because they likely evolved in the same African environment that produced the black race as we know it today. Be that as it may, by definition all modern humans are equally related to original AMHs. The "academic" Steve Olson argues that since all modern humans lived in Africa until 60,000 years ago (although migrations out of Africa are dated by researchers to be anywhere from 100,000 to 50,000 years ago), there simply hasn't been enough time for important genetic differences to evolve, and that all living races are "exceedingly similar". "We're all Africans under the skin" says geneticist Spencer Wells

Whereas Coon claimed that Caucasoid people were more "advanced" because they evolved first, the psychologist J. Phillipe Rushton has argued the opposite, that because African people were the first people, they are superior in "primitive traits", like size of genitalia, salience of muscles and buttocks, and reproductive output. On the other hand other human populations are superior in more "advanced traits", like brain size and social organization. He theorises that people from East Asia evolved most recently in a challenging ice age environment and are therefore the "most advanced". While there is some modern scientific evidence to support aspects of Coon's evolutionary ideas, Rushton's ideas are not seen as scientifically valid by many biologists, geneticists or anthropologists. (see Race, Evolution and Behavior) Geneticist David Suzuki challenged Rushton's views during a live televised debate saying:

I do not believe that we should dignify this man and his ideas in public debate. His claims must be denounced, his methodology discredited, his grant revoked and his position terminated at this university. This is not science.

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 African, the exotic, single, quintesence of a universal blackness...the first truly human being the world has ever known."

Some scientists speculate that black people lost their dark skin colour because the selective pressure in temperate regions was for subcutaneous vitamin D production rather than protection from strong sunlight. Consumers of primarily vegetarian diets found insufficient dietary sources of vitamin D in Northern climates, which were therefore unavailable for colonization until a mutation developed that limited skin pigmentation and thereby promoted vitamin D synthesis.

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, maker and owner of the universe. From him came all brown, yellow, red, and white people."

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

• In Sub-Saharan Africa where the majority population is black terms specifically describing black people are not as commonly used as in the western world. In many Bantu languages the term for people or person is synonymous with black person. For example "muntu" means person and Mzungu means a white person.

• 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. The Census Bureau however notes that these classifications are socio-political constructs and should not be interpreted as being scientific or anthropological in nature.

• Statistics Canada uses the term Black as a synonym for African when interpreting the Canadian census.

• 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.

• According to Professor R Bhopal a black is "A person with African ancestral origins, who self identifies, or is identified, as Black, African or Afro-Caribbean (see, African and Afro-Caribbean). The word is capitalised to signify its specific use in this way. In some circumstances the word Black signifies all non-white minority populations, and in this use serves political purposes. While this term was widely supported in the late 20th century there are signs that such support is diminishing."

Lexical definitions

• Oxford English Dictionary, which is the probably the most-widely accepted authority on the English language , defines black as: relating to a human group having dark-coloured skin, especially of African or Australian Aboriginal ancestry.

• 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) "

• Dictionary.com defines "Black" as: pertaining or belonging to any of the various populations characterized by dark skin pigmentation, specifically the dark-skinned peoples of Africa, Oceania, and Australia.

• The OED online defines "Black" as: Having an extremely dark skin; strictly applied to negroes and negritos, and other dark-skinned races; often, loosely, to non-European races, little darker than many Europeans. and figuratively (as opposed to literally) as: Of or pertaining to the negro race.

• Merriam-Webster online defines Black as a : having dark skin, hair, and eyes : SWARTHY <the black Irish> b (1) often capitalized : of or relating to any of various population groups having dark pigmentation of the skin <black Americans> (2) : of or relating to the African-American people or their culture <black literature> <a black college> <black pride> <black studies>.

Biological definitions

There is no universally accepted biological definition of race. Some biologists claim that race is a biologically quantifiable phenomenon, while others argue that race is biologically meaningless. Nevertheless attempts have been made to define black people genetically.

• 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%.

Other viewpoints

Many people are offended by the notion that black ethnicity is limited to the sub-Saharan region of Africa:

• 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.'

Others feel it is wrong for peoples of African descent to be claiming claiming a unique identity at all that is independent of other dark skinned groups:

• 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."

Criticism

There are objections to the standard definitions of black people, as well as criticism 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." 'Alik Shahadah also objects that "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."

Capitalization

There is some controversy, as will be seen if one traces the history of this article, as to whether the word "black" should be capitalized when referring to a racial group (e.g., using the paragraph immediately above this one, "There are objections to the standard definitions of black people" versus "There are objections to the standard definitions of Black people"). Section 8.43 of the Chicago Manual of Style calls for the use of lowercase letters when referring to race by color (hence, "black people," "white people," etc.). Some scholars feel that such terms denote a special significance, especially the term "black," and thus elect to capitalize. (See, for example, footnote 9 at .) Undoubtedly there are strong arguments on each side of the issue. This article reflects the Chicago Manual of Style's usage (except, of course, in quotations) under the theory that doing so is the most politically neutral viewpoint because it reflects adherence to a well-respected stylebook.

Gallery

• Oprah Winfrey is 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 have about an 83% African ancestry.
• Barack Obama self-identifies as black and could identify as black or multi-racial by many definitions, some definitions would dispute his right to identify as black because only half of his ancestors are from sub-Saharan Africa. Barack Obama self-identifies as black and could identify as black or multi-racial by many definitions, some definitions would dispute his right to identify as black because only half of his ancestors are from sub-Saharan Africa.
• Tiger Woods coined the term Cablinasian to describe his ethnicity. He could self-identify as black, Asian, Native American, white, or multi-racial, some definitions would claim that he is 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. He could self-identify as black, Asian, Native American, white, or multi-racial, some definitions would claim that he is not black because only a quarter of his ancestors are from sub-Saharan Africa instead of most.
• As a child, Michael Jackson fit the dictionary definition of a black person because he was a dark-skinned person whose ancestors come from Africa. As an adult he is no longer dark skinned and thus does not meet the first part of the dictionary definition; however, he is still black according to census. As a child, Michael Jackson fit the dictionary definition of a black person because he was a dark-skinned person whose ancestors come from Africa. As an adult he is no longer dark skinned and thus does not meet the first part of the dictionary definition; however, he is still black according to census.
• Nelson Mandela is the only living black person to have ranked among A&E's 100 most influential people of the last 1000 years.
• Some scholars created controversy by claiming that ancient Egyptians, like King Tutankhamen, were black.
• Warren Harding may have had black ancestry, making him the first "black president" by some definitions.

See also

• African American
• Colored
• Negro
• Negroid
• Human genetic history
• Human genetic variation
• List of topics related to Black and African people

References

1. Negritos and Australoids have dark skin, but are not thought to have recent African ancestry. Some would consider them "blacks", and some would not.
2. ^ Gould, S. J. (1996) The Mismeasure of Man (p. 402), W. W. Norton & Company (ISBN 0-393-31425-1)
3. ^ Felicia R. Lee, Noah's Curse Is Slavery's Rationale, Racematters.org, November 1, 2003
4. The Golden Age, The Watchtower (now is called Awake!)(1929, July 24) p. 702, 24 July 1929, cited in Ham, K., Wieland, K. and Batten, D., (1999) One Blood: The Biblical Answer to Racism, Master Books (ISBN 0-89051-276-0)
5. Goldenberg, D. M. (2005) The Curse of Ham: Race & Slavery in Early Judaism, Christian, Princeton University Press
6. The Descendants of Noah (bible-truth.org)
7. Snowden, F. (1991) Blacks in Antiquity: Ethiopians in the Greco-Roman Experience, Harvard University Press (ISBN 0-674-06381-3)
8. ' George M. Fredrickson. The Historical Origins and Development of Racism, backgrounder to RACE - The Power of an Illusion, PBS. Accessed online 4 November 2006.
9. ^ Cite error: The named reference DSouza was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
10. The Importance of “Whiteness” in American Legal History (PowerPoint presentation)
11. Audrey Smedley, Race in North America: Origin and Evolution of a Worldview (Westview, 1999), excerpted online at library.marist.edu. Accessed online 4 November 2006.
12. Definition of Australoid (Yahoo Education)
13. The Origin of Races (apologeticspress.org)
14. F. James Davis, Who is Black? One Nation's Definition, Penn State University Press (1991). Excerpted online, accessed 4 November 2006.
15. The African Eve: New Confirmation That We All Came from Africa, Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, No. 30 (Winter, 2000-2001), pp. 62-63;Sex, Time, and Power: How Women's Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution, by Leonard Shlain, M.D.
16. http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/200104/olson
17. http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/nov/27inter.htm
18. Knudtson P. (1991), A Mirror to Nature: Reflections on Science, Scientists, and Society (p. 163), Stoddart Publishing (ISBN 0-7737-2467-2)
19. http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-75-663-3727/science_technology/david_suzuki/clip5
20. Luca Cavalli-Sforza et al., The History and Geography of Human Genes, p. 266f. ISBN 0-691-08750-4
21. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/meta/long_309540.htm Quickfacts: U.S. Bureau of the Census
22. http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/demo26e.htm
23. Jorion, P.J.M. (1999). , Psycoloquy 10(064)
24. ^ Interview by Ahilan Kadirgamar Lines. August 2002. Retrieved on 2006-10-08
25. Frank F. W. (2005) Legal History of the Color Line: The Rise and Triumph of the One-Drop Rule, Backintyme (ISBN 0-939479-23-0)
26. "People of Color Who Never Felt They Were Black: Racial Label Surprises Many Latino Immigrants", The Washington Post, December 26, 2002
27. Who is Black? One Nation's Definition (PBS), by F. James Davis
28. http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/58/6/441
29. http://www.oed.com/about/
30. http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/black?view=uk
31. Cite error: The named reference Boulaga was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
32. yourdictionary.com Definition of "black"
33. Definition of "black person"
34. Definitio of "black person"
35. Definition of Black Dictionary.com
36. OED definitions of black as an adjective
37. Merriam-Webster online definition of Black.
38. Cite error: The named reference Risch was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
39. Cite error: The named reference serre was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
40. Levin M. The Race Concept: A Defense, Behavior and Philosophy, 30, 21-42 (2002)
41. ^ Cite error: The named reference Shahadah was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
42. African-American Lives on PBS Part II
43. African Ancestry Inc. traces DNA roots, By Steve Sailer
44. Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, New York: Times Books, 1995.
45. Vaughn L. (2002) Black People and Their Place in World History, Self Published (ISBN 0971592004 ), by Leroy Vaughn

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