Terms No Longer in Common Use
The terms mulatto and colored were widely used until the second quarter of the 20th century, when they were considered outmoded and generally gave way to the use of negro. By the 1940s, the term commonly was capitalized, Negro, but by the mid-1960s it was considered disparaging. By the end of the twentieth century "Negro" had come to be considered inappropriate and was rarely used and perceived as a pejorative. The term is rarely used by younger black people, but remained in use by many older black Americans who had grown up with the term, particularly in the southern U.S.
The word negro is the Spanish and Portuguese word for the color black. In regions such as Latin America where these languages are spoken, negro (pronounced slightly differently than Negro in English), is a normal word used without disparaging intent in relation to black people.
There are many other deliberately insulting terms. Many were in common use, but had become unacceptable in normal discourse before the end of the twentieth century.
Read more about this topic: African American, Terminology
Famous quotes containing the words terms, longer and/or common:
“We are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind’s door at 4am of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends. We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget.”
—Joan Didion (b. 1934)
“When dogs no longer eat excrement, then human beings will no longer practice favoritism.”
—Chinese proverb.
“The common breeds the common,
A lout begets a lout,
So when I take on half a score
I knock their heads about.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)