View source for African American History and the Atlantic Slave Trade

{| class="wikitable"
|Term 
|Contextual note
|MSH-Review/Replace summary
|Time period/ Region note
|References
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|abolitionist 
|Reductive when used as a label  for Black activists who continued to campaign for Civil Rights in the USA  long after the Civil War. Their work extended beyond slavery both in the  antebellum period and beyond. 
Should be applied with caution to white individuals who supported the  parliamentary procedure to abolish the slave trade. Many of these so-called  “abolitionists” did not favour the immediate cessation of slavery, with some  promoting its gradual abolition to protect their own financial interests for  example.
|Review
|1700-, USA, UK
|[[Writing about "Slavery"? This might help|Dr  Gabrielle Foreman et al. Writing about “Slavery”? This might help]]Dr Stephen Mullen (University of Glasgow)
Matthew Lee (University of Aberdeen)
Eric Williams, Capitalism and Slavery
Seymour Dresher, Econocide
|-
|African 
|Discriminatory when incorrectly  applied and homogenising when used in lieu of a person’s  (ethnic/national/religious/linguistic) preferred identity. Respect the  self-identification of second- and third- (and so forth) generation African  diasporic communities. Terms such as “Black”, “African American”,  “African-Barbadian”, “African-Brazilian” may be preferred. 
|Confirm
|1800-, USA, Caribbean, Latin  America
|Dr.  Gabrielle Foreman (Pennstate University)
Dr Stephen Mullen (University of Glasgow)

PCUSA Terminology Crosswalk
|-
|African American 
|Popularised by Jesse Jackson in  the 1980s, although its usage dates back to 1782. Generally speaking, it is  the preferred term for the Black diaspora living in the USA today. It tends  to refer to those Black Americans whose families were brought to the United  States via the Atlantic Slave Trade. The term “Black Americans” is inclusive  of later immigrants from Africa to the USA.
In the context of the Atlantic Slave Trade, the term “African American” can  be reductive when used to simplify the identity of, for example, an enslaved  Black person who was born in West Africa and subsequently captured and moved  to North and/or South America. When applicable, be specific about a person’s  multiple identities (these may be transnational, multiracial, migratory,  multilingual, etc.) 
|Review
|1782-, USA
|[[Writing about "Slavery"? This might help|Dr Gabrielle Foreman et al.  Writing about “Slavery”? This might help]]
Fred Shapiro, The Origin of “African American”
|-
|African-American 
|Popularised by Jesse Jackson in  the 1980s, although its usage dates back to 1782. Generally speaking, it is  the preferred term for the Black diaspora living in the USA today. It tends  to refer to those Black Americans whose families were brought to the United  States via the Atlantic Slave Trade. The term “Black Americans” is inclusive  of later immigrants from Africa to the USA.
In the context of the Atlantic Slave Trade, the term “African American” can  be reductive when used to simplify the identity of, for example, an enslaved  Black person who was born in West Africa and subsequently captured and moved  to North and/or South America. When applicable, be specific about a person’s  multiple identities (these may be transnational, multiracial, migratory,  multilingual, etc.) 
|Review
|
|
|-
|Black American 
|Popularised by Jesse Jackson in  the 1980s, although its usage dates back to 1782. Generally speaking, it is  the preferred term for the Black diaspora living in the USA today. It tends  to refer to those Black Americans whose families were brought to the United  States via the Atlantic Slave Trade. The term “Black Americans” is inclusive  of later immigrants from Africa to the USA.
In the context of the Atlantic Slave Trade, the term “African American” can  be reductive when used to simplify the identity of, for example, an enslaved  Black person who was born in West Africa and subsequently captured and moved  to North and/or South America. When applicable, be specific about a person’s  multiple identities (these may be transnational, multiracial, migratory,  multilingual, etc.) 
|Review
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|Afro- 
|Afro- (prefix), with specific  terms including Afro-Caribbean/s, Afro-Barbadian/s, Afro-Indian/s,  Afro-American/s, Afro-Cuban/s, Afro-Bolivian/s, Afro-Colombian/s, Afro-Latin  American/s
Prefix coined by Americans in the late 1960s. It has now fallen out of  favour on the grounds that the term “Afro” is associated with a hairstyle  rather than a continent. Generally, the prefix “African-” is now preferred,  although there are exceptions i.e. many people self-identify as  “Afro-Caribbean”.
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|1965-, USA, Caribbean, Latin  America
|The Guardian UK, Style guide
Chris Elliott,  We wouldn’t write  ‘Afro-Caribbean’ today

Police Service of Northern Ireland, The Appropriate Language Guide

Show Racism the Red Card – Terminology
|}