Home > Blogs > Post Content

The Journey From 'Colored' To 'Minorities' To 'People Of Color' (1526 hits)

March 30, 2014 9:25 PM ET
KEE MALESKY

Can race and ethnicity be represented by the colors found in a crayon box?

Language is and always will be an essential element in the struggle for understanding among peoples. Changes in the words and phrases we use to describe each other reflect whatever progress we make on the path toward a world where everyone feels respected and included.

A Google Ngram search comparing the frequency of the use of "colored people," "minorities" and "people of color" delivers interesting results. The use of the phrase "colored people" peaked in books published in 1970. For "minorities," the top-ranked year was 1997. Since then, the term has steadily declined but continues to significantly outstrip the use of "people of color," which reached its apex in 2003 (although it is important to note that 2008 is the latest year for which results are available).

Let's consider the evolution of that ubiquitous phrase, "people of color." It's not new.

A little research into early sources turns up "An Act to Prohibit the Importation of Slaves into any Port or Place Within the Jurisdiction of the United States" (signed in 1807), which applied to "any negro, mulatto, or person of colour" — indicating that the term was well-enough established to be used in the text of legislation.

People who fit this broad category could no longer legally be brought into the country for the purpose of involuntary servitude. But the precise definition of "person of color" has varied among the states and over time.

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/20...

Posted By: Steve Williams
Sunday, April 29th 2018 at 11:03AM
You can also click here to view all posts by this author...

Report obscenity | post comment

Share |

As the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper noted in November 1912:

"The statutes of Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas assert that 'a person of color' is one who is descended from a Negro to the third generation, inclusive, though one ancestor in each generation may have been white. According to the law of Alabama one is 'a person of color' who has had any Negro blood in his ancestry for five generations. ... In Arkansas 'persons of color' include all who have a visible and distinct admixture of African blood. ... Thus it would seem that a Negro in one state is not always a Negro in another."

The Oxford English Dictionary's earliest reference for "person of color" is from the French gens (or hommes) de couleur, in the late 18th century. A 1797 survey of the population of what is now Haiti described three classes of people, including "The class which, by a strange abuse of language, is called people of colour, originates from an intermixture of the whites and the blacks."

"Person" or "people" as a term for human beings, that's pretty much uncontroversial. But color — which can be used as a noun, an adjective or a verb (transitive and intransitive) — is a word packed with history, prejudice and confusion when it's used to describe someone's complexion as an indication of race or ethnicity.

The adjective form — "colored" — we hardly need the OED to confirm, but it says the term is now:

"Usually considered offensive ... Coloured was adopted in the United States by emancipated slaves as a term of racial pride after the end of the American Civil War. It was rapidly replaced from the late 1960s as a self-designation by black and later by African-American, although it is retained in the name of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In Britain it was the accepted term for black, Asian, or mixed-race people until the 1960s."

Sunday, April 29th 2018 at 8:32PM
Steve Williams

".....Coloured was adopted in the United States by emancipated slaves.a self-designation by black and

later by African-American, although it is retained in the name of the National Association for the

Advancement of Colored People. In Britain it was the accepted term for black, Asian, or

mixed-race people until the 1960s." ..."

Sunday, April 29th 2018 at 8:32PM
Steve Williams

**************************************************************************

I, Robert Powell, take FULL credit for the TERM....COLORED 'blackWhiteRedYellow' people

...... this blog seems Linguistically Deceptive.....

I, Robert Powell, used this....COLORED 'blackWhiteRedYellow' people from euroRACIST ignorance as

DEFINED by latinNegroISTS of the slaverAmericana paganChristian ERA...

--- All People in Family of Adaam(as) were COLORED by euroRACISM by paganChristianity

AND

The Lies, and Misconception by euroRACIST paganChristians of the African Asian Monotheistic Tradition

.....I have NEVER been classified as colored, black, coon, mellowYellow, or other NONSENSE terms....

The African Asian Monotheistic belief of the Creator of Adaam(as) did NOT, or EVER; COLOR Mankind...

ps..

that quip about freed slaves...wanting to be Coloured....USING what MIND, or intelligence?

....slaveMaster thought.....No freed or enslaved SLAVE in 1800-1864 was Intelligent!

Monday, April 30th 2018 at 8:11AM
robert powell

This article is a continuous barrage of cring-worthy ideas, and I was still trying to get Ron to understand why he doesn't cring, when he got overwhelmed and resorted once again to trying to silence me. But he forgot that I had my own power to not be part of his show to his phantom robotic likers.

Monday, April 30th 2018 at 11:01AM
Steve Williams

True......Cringe is a trait we should all have....

Hey I like this phrase.....

"..... his phantom robotic likers....."

Monday, April 30th 2018 at 11:01AM
Steve Williams

May I use this later....?

Monday, May 28th 2018 at 8:35AM
robert powell

Absolutely.
Monday, May 28th 2018 at 9:06AM
Steve Williams

The Journey From 'Colored' To 'Minorities' To 'People Of Color'

SUBJECT

Can race and ethnicity be represented by the colors found in a crayon box? .. the evolution of ...

…..Language is and always will be an essential element in the struggle for understanding

the term was well-enough established to be used in the text of legislation.

************************************************************************

The box of crayon....'blackColour'.....

Can one also say that:

"..the term was well-enough established to be used in the science of psychology and social science.?"

Sunday, July 29th 2018 at 2:08PM
robert powell

howdy
Sunday, November 4th 2018 at 8:08PM
robert powell

I've been thinking about that lately, "the science of psychology". Psychology can be very stubborn.

Monday, November 5th 2018 at 4:45AM
Steve Williams