African-American, with or without a hyphen, is the most recently adopted and now the most widely accepted—in Edited English, at least—of a long succession of group names, although people of color, persons of color, and other phrases using of color as modifier are also in regular Standard use today. Most of these names began as descriptive terms but then pejorated, sometimes to the extent of being almost as offensive as the hated slang and dialectal nigger. From the 1960s until the late 1980s, Black was the preferred Standard term, replacing the earlier Negro and Colored (capitalization of all three varied from time to time and with grammatical function) as acceptable both to members of the group and to those outside it. Afro-American developed during the same period. Be alert to the fact that as long as racial matters continue to be sensitive, terminology may suddenly change as events give sanction or take it away.
