The term black people is used in some socially-based systems of racial classification for humans of a dark-skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups represented in a particular social context. Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class and socio-economic status also play a role, so that relatively dark-skinned people can be classified as white if they fulfill other social criteria of "whiteness" and relatively light-skinned people can be classified as black if they fulfill the social criteria for "blackness" in a particular setting. As a result, in North America, the term "black people" is not necessarily an indicator of skin color but of a socially based racial classification related to being African American, with a history related to institutionalized slavery.
Famous quotes containing the words black people, black and/or people:
“White people really deal more with God and black people with Jesus.”
—Nikki Giovanni (b. 1943)
“Had middle class black women begun a movement in which they had labeled themselves “oppressed,” no one would have taken them seriously.”
—bell hooks (b. 1955)
“That is what we must make people feel... the catch in the throat, the wrench to steady the nerves, the determination to carry on.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)