So, I’m writing a story set in 1940 for older child readers (pre-teen / early teen). They have occasion to refer to a black person. The question is, what term do I use?
Colored: According to family members (white Midwesterners), this was the “nicest” available term in the period.
Negro: According to scholarly sources, this was the most neutral term available for the period and was supplanting Colored right around then.
Black: This is anachronistic for 1940 but doesn’t stand way out like the other two to my ear. After all, the story is being written now.
African-American: The character isn’t American (though the protagonists are), so it would be both anachronistic and inaccurate.
I want as neutral a term as possible. Terms that are primarily insulting or abusive are not being considered.
As for Colored, I grew up hearing that term and it was considered polite in the ‘60s, although its use was fading. I think, though, that Negro would cover your bases – neutral and perhaps not as loaded in your readers’ minds as Colored, which somewhat has negative/patronizing connotations today.
Obviously not a reliable cite but this reminds me of a Happy Days parody I once read in Mad magazine. The parody had youthful versions of characters like Fred Sanford, George and Louise Jefferson, and Florida and James Evans show up in Happy Days’ generic fifties setting. Richie Cunningham is shocked to see people who are “black”. Fred Sanford says “No, we’re not black yet. We’re still negroes. And it’s only been a few years since we were colored.”
“Colored” was in use and considered polite right up through the fifties. That would have been in South Florida. Not sure about other areas of the country.
“Black” was mostly used such as “The blacks are having a gospel singing tonight”. “Negro” was more formal, used in writing such as newspaper and magazine articles.
At least that’s how I recall it, born in Miami, 1942.
My Grandmother (white) would have been in her 20’s in the 40’s. She uses colored or the odd nigra. I’m not sure if that is an odd way of saying negro OR nigger, or is just a happy medium in her mind. She was raised in Texas, near Oklahoma City. She has never struck me as racist in the least amount and fancies herself a libertarian.
I think the Mad Magazine story above is probably the closest to the truth, and funny to boot. It might help to know, are the characters doing the referring black? Because that could most certainly change the words used.
It’s my limited understanding that at that time “black”, when applied to an individual, might have been considered rather insulting. The time period in question is before even my parents were born so I’m basing this on things I’ve read, but I think some people would have taken “black” as being a snotty comment about their complexion (the equivalent of “What are you, an albino?” or “Here comes Casper!” for a pale complexioned white person) and not a neutral description of their race.
That is my understanding, too, and the nub of the problem. If I use “black,” a fairly neutral contemporary word, I risk the negative historical implications of the term. On the other hand, modern readers are unlikely to be aware of the history, and “Negro” would stand out. On the third hand, they might learn something. Auntbeast, the characters are white northerners, from a town that was de facto segregated at the time.
Richie Cunningham was as white a character as there was. That was the joke of the Mad parody - in the fifties the show was set in there apparently were no black people.
I vote for ‘colored,’ since I think that’s going to be the most accurate choice. And, IMO, accuracy is much to be desired in historical fiction.
I have a pair of interesting books written in the early '50s by a black woman, Hope Newell. They are young adult fiction books, A Cap for Mary Ellis and Mary Ellis, Student Nurse. The titular Mary Ellis is a young black woman going to a nursing college (again, in the early '50s), which has just been desegregated. She and one other black girl are the first black students to attend the college. The term which is used in these books is ‘colored.’ ‘Negro’ is also used very occasionally, but seems to be the more formal usage. Mary Ellis refers to herself as colored, and to other black people as colored. Her white peers also refer to her as colored, when it comes up, and Mary Ellis and the other black characters in the book do not in any way take that amiss.
Sure it’s being written now, but what’s the time frame for the narration? If it’s set in the present, referring back to 70 years ago, black might be suitable. But if it’s set in the era around 1940, no - “colored” is the commonly used term, “Negro” is the formal/academic term, “black” is rude, and “African-American” is essentially unheard of.
Another great book that might be helpful to use as a reference is “Summer Of My German Soldier” by Bette Greene. Set in Arkansas in 1943, it also features both white and black characters-----I think you would find it interesting the ways that race is used in the story…
I think that’s probably what I’ll go with: “Colored” in dialogue, and “black” in description. MPB, I love Summer of My German Soldier, though her other books are sort of a let-down. I have a copy around here somewhere, I’ll re-read it with an eye to terminology.