Quote:
Originally Posted by PR_Glen
what's a negro?
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Well Glen...
Negro is a term referring to people of Black African ancestry. Prior to the shift in the lexicon of American and worldwide classification of race and ethnicity in the late 1960s, the appellation was accepted as a normal neutral formal term both by those of Black African descent as well as non-African blacks.
Now it is often considered an ethnic slur although the term is considered archaic and is not even common as a racist slur. The term is still used in some contexts for historical reasons such as in the name of the United Negro College Fund. "Negro" means "black" in Spanish and Portuguese, and the French "noir" as well as the Italian "nero"- all of which derive from the (Latin: niger = "black"). In Italy the word "negro" is still used neutrally by many people.