Black people

Black is a racial classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Often in countries with socially based systems of racial classification in the Western world, the term "black" is used to describe persons who are perceived as darker-skinned in contrast to other populations. It is most commonly used for people of sub-Saharan African ancestry, Indigenous Australians, and Melanesians, though it has been applied in many contexts to other groups, and is no indicator of any close ancestral relationship whatsoever. However, not all people considered "black" have dark skin and often additional phenotypical characteristics are relevant, such as certain facial and hair-texture features. Indigenous African societies do not use the term black as a racial identity outside of influences brought by Western cultures.

Contemporary anthropologists and other scientists, while recognizing the reality of biological variation between different human populations, regard the concept of a unified, distinguishable "Black race" as socially constructed. Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified "black", and these social constructs have changed over time. In a number of countries, societal variables affect classification as much as skin color, and the social criteria for "blackness" vary. Some perceive the term 'black' as a derogatory, outdated, reductive or otherwise unrepresentative label, and as a result neither use nor define it, especially in African countries with little to no history of colonial racial segregation.^[1]

In the anglosphere the term can carry a variety of meanings depending on the country. In the United Kingdom, "black" was historically equivalent with "person of color", a general term for non-European peoples. While the term "person of color" is commonly used and accepted in the United States,^[2] the near-sounding term "colored person" is considered highly offensive, except in South Africa, where it is a descriptor for a person of mixed race. In other regions such as Australasia, settlers applied the adjective "black" to the indigenous population. It was universally regarded as highly offensive in Australia until the 1960s and 70s. "Black" was generally not used as a noun, but rather as an adjective qualifying some other descriptor (e.g. "black ****"). As desegregation progressed after the 1967 referendum, some Aboriginals adopted the term, following the American fashion, but it remains problematic.^[3]

Several American style guides,^[4][5] including the AP Stylebook, changed their guides to capitalize the 'b' in 'black', following the 2020 murder of George Floyd, an African American.^[4][5] The ASA Style Guide says that the 'b' should not be capitalized.^[6]