Native to or an inhabitant of the continent of Africa, especially of sub-Saharan Africa. The region is culturally heterogeneous with numerous distinctive ethnic and sociolinguistic groups. There are three major language families: Niger-Congo, Afro-Asiatic (Hamito-Semitic), and Chari-Nile (Sudanic).A native or inhabitant of Africa.

English term first used 1625 to describe West Africans, now used to refer to Africans south of the Sahara and to people of African descent living outside Africa. In some countries such as the UK (but not in North America) the term is sometimes also used for people originally from the Indian subcontinent, for Australian Aborigines, and peoples of Melanesia.
The term “black”, at one time considered offensive by many people, was first adopted by militants in the US in the mid-1960s to emphasize ethnic pride; they rejected the terms “colored” and “Negro” as euphemistic. “Black” has since become the preferred term in the US and largely in the UK. Currently, US blacks often prefer the term “African-American”.
history
Black Africans were first taken to the West Indies in large numbers as slaves by the Spanish in the early 16th century and to the North American mainland in the early 17th century. They were transported to South America by both the Spanish and Portuguese from the 16th century. African blacks were also taken to Europe to work as slaves and servants. Some of the indigenous coastal societies in W Africa were heavily involved in the slave trade and became wealthy on its proceeds. Sometimes, black sailors settled in European ports on the Atlantic seaboard, such as Liverpool and Bristol, England. Although blacks fought beside whites in the American Revolution, the US Constitution (ratified 1788) did not redress the slave trade, and slaves were given no civil rights.
Slavery was gradually abolished in the northern US states during the early 19th century, but as the South's economy had been based upon slavery, it was one of the issues concerning states' rights that led to the secession of the South, which provoked the American Civil War 1861–65. During the Civil War about 200,000 blacks fought in the Union (Northern) army, but in segregated units led by white officers.
The Emancipation Proclamation 1863 of President Abraham Lincoln officially freed the slaves (about 4 million), but it could not be enforced until the Union victory 1865 and the period after the war known as the Reconstruction. Freed slaves were often resented by poor whites as economic competitors, and vigilante groups in the South, such as the Ku Klux Klan were formed to intimidate them. In addition, although freed slaves had full US citizenship under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, and were thus entitled to vote, they were often disenfranchised in practice by state and local literacy tests and poll taxes.
A “separate but equal” policy was established when the US Supreme Court ruled 1896 (Plessy v. Ferguson) that segregation was legal if equal facilities were provided for blacks and whites. The ruling was overturned 1954 (Brown v. Board of Education) with the Supreme Court decision outlawing segregation in state schools. This led to a historic confrontation in Little Rock, Arkansas, 1957 when Governor Orval Faubus attempted to prevent black students from entering Central High School, and President Eisenhower sent federal troops to enforce their right to attend.
Another landmark in the blacks' struggle for civil rights was the Montgomery bus boycott in Alabama 1955, which first brought Martin Luther King Jr to national attention. In the early 1960s the civil-rights movement had gained impetus, largely under the leadership of King, who in 1957 had founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), a coalition group advocating nonviolence. Moderate groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) had been active since early in the century; for the first time they were joined in large numbers by whites, in particular students, as in the historic march converging on Washington, DC 1963 from all over the US. At about this time, impatient with the lack of results gained through moderation, the militant Black Power movements began to emerge, such as the Black Panther Party founded 1966, and black separatist groups such as the Black Muslims gained support.
Increasing pressure led to the passage of federal legislation, the Civil Rights acts of 1964 and 1968, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, under President Lyndon Johnson; they guaranteed equal rights under the law and prohibited discrimination in public facilities, schools, employment, and voting. However, in the 1980s, despite some advances, legislation, and affirmative action (positive discrimination), blacks, who comprise some 12% of the US population, continued to suffer discrimination and inequality of opportunities in practice in such areas as education, employment, and housing. Despite these obstacles, many blacks have made substanital contributions in the arts, the sciences, and politics.
A person with dark skin who comes from Africa (or whose ancestors came from Africa); Also called: black person, blackamoor, Negro, Negroid. + prikaži više