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Help! I'm reading a book for my English class next year and I need to write about the racial attributes of the book. It's an older book, written in the 1960's and it uses the term "Negros", but I'm almost postive that's not politically correct anymore. I want to use non-offensive terms in my English report if all possible and I'd like to know what the politically correct term is. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Also if you are of the referenced nationality, some suggestions on what isn't offensive to you would also help.
Thanks

I'm not sure where you're from or how old you are, but my first suggestion is you ask a person of the Negro race what their preferred term is.

When I write I tend to switch between the more common "black" (small "b") and the more recent and not as widely accepted, "African-American." "Negro" is not politically incorrect, but neither is it a commonly used identifier any longer.

If you are a college student, may I suggest calling a Black Studies department and asking or checking The Associated Press Stylebook for what terminology they recommend?

Just for the record, this is for a 9th grade English class.

Hi Soccergurl. Welcome.

First, I moved this to the Casual Conversation forum since there was no clear question to debate.

It's a good issue to discuss, though. In my experience (which is coming from a white woman's perspective), most of the black folks I know just call themselves black. In more formal settings such as public speaking, African-American is more often used. But I do live in the south and we are less "PC" than up north, so I honestly don't know if that makes any difference or not.

Also, I think nighttimer has some great suggestions, it never hurts to go straight to the source(s).

I think it may help us if we knew what book you are reading.

Don't refer to them as African-Americans if they do not reside in America. African-American cannot replace the word black; black is all-inclusive, African-American is not. If you write a paper referring to Nigerian blacks as African-Americans, you will look like an idiot.

Thanks to all who commented so far. Also, the book I'm reading is Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck. (It's not a very well known book.) The people being referenced are from America though.

Isn't this a funny conversation to be having?

I believe the term "black" is currently in fad.

"Those of African descent" might also be acceptable.

Keep in mind that if you are using it in a historical context, Negro is not an incorrect term (politically or not). Negro simply means black; however it received a bad connotation over the years.

Steinbeck, my favorite author. I believe the book you mention was written in the early sixties. I think I would stick with blacks. It is the fail-safe option. African-Americans was not a term prevalent in that era. I am almost certain Steinbeck never referred to anyone as African American.

Since you are writing about a book, use the same terminology as the book uses, unless it is blatantly and patently offensive. If Steinbeck use "blacks", then use it, if he uses "people of color" (highly unlikely), then use that. The only terms I would avoid are "nigger" and the host of lesser known perjoratives.

With that in mind, the following are all acceptable: "black", "African-American", "Afro-American", "Negro".

One more thing: when you quote directly from the text, quote it exactly. Mark Twain's "Nigger Jim" should never be replaced with "Afro-American Jim", much less the more formal "African-American James"
If your author says "blah blah blah nigger blah blah", then quote "blah blah blah nigger blah blah", don't quote it as "blah blah blah person of color blah blah."

Now, to throw one more wrench into the mix: the term "black" doesn't even necessarily mean a person of African descent. It would be very rare for a North American to use it in any other fashion, but Australians have used it for Aborigines, and many Brits used the term for dark skinned denizens of the Indian subcontinent up until the post-Colonial period.