Dictuionary.com
noun, plural Negroes.
1.
Anthropology. (no longer in technical use) a member of the peoples
traditionally classified as the Negro race, especially those who originate
in sub-Saharan Africa.
 2.
Older Use: Often Offensive. a black person
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Word Origin
 C16: from Spanish or Portuguese: black, from Latin niger black
 ---
Usage notes

In the United States of America, the word *negro* is considered acceptable
only in a historical context or in proper names such as the United Negro
College Fund <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Negro_College_Fund>. *Black
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Black>*, which replaced *negro* from 1966
onward, or the more recent *African-American
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/African-American>* (from the 1980s), are the
preferred alternatives, with neither being categorically preferred as an
endonym <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/endonym> (self-designation) or by
publications.

Before 1966, *negro* was accepted and in fact the usual endonym – consider *The
Negro <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Negro>,* 1915, by W. E. B. Du Bois
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._E._B._Du_Bois> – which itself replaced the
older *colored <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/colored>* in the 1920s,
particularly under the advocacy of Du Bois (who advocated
capitalization as *Negro
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Negro>*). Following the coinage and
rise of Black
Power <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Power> and Black pride
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_pride> in the 1960s, particularly
post-1966, the term *black* became preferred, and *negro* became offensive;
in 1968 *negro* was still preferred by most as a self-designation, while by
1974 *black* was preferred; usage by publications followed.[1]
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/negro#cite_note-1>

----


When Did the Word Negro Become Taboo?By Brian Palmer

It started its decline in 1966 and was totally uncouth by the mid-1980s.
The turning point came when Stokely Carmichael coined the phrase *black
power* <http://www.interchange.org/Kwameture/nytimes111698.html> at a 1966
rally in Mississippi. Until then, *Negro* was how most black Americans
described themselves. But in Carmichael's speeches and in his landmark 1967
book, *Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America*
<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679743138?ie=UTF8&tag=slatmaga-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0679743138>,
he persuasively argued that the term implied black inferiority. Among black
activists, *Negro* soon became shorthand for a member of the establishment.
Prominent black publications like *Ebony* switched from *Negro* to *black*
at the end of the decade, and the masses soon followed. According to a
1968 *Newsweek
*poll, more than two-thirds of black Americans still preferred
*Negro*, but *black
*had become the majority preference by 1974. Both the Associated Press and
the *New York Times *abandoned *Negro *in the 1970s, and by the mid-1980s,
even the most hidebound institutions, like the U.S. Supreme Court, had
largely stopped using *Negro*.

Read more at

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2010/01/when_did_the_word_negro_become_taboo.html

-==

Negro (n.)
<http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Negro&allowed_in_frame=0> [image:
Look up Negro at Dictionary.com]
<http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=Negro>"member of a black-skinned
race of Africa," 1550s, from Spanish or Portuguese negro "black," from
Latin nigrum (nominative niger) "black, dark, sable, dusky," figuratively
"gloomy, unlucky, bad, wicked," of unknown origin (perhaps from PIE *nekw-t-
"night;" see Watkins). As an adjective from 1590s. Use with a capital N-
became general early 20c. (e.g. 1930 in "New York Times" stylebook) in
reference to U.S. citizens of African descent, but because of its perceived
association with white-imposed attitudes and roles the word was ousted late
1960s in this sense by Black
<http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Black&allowed_in_frame=0> (q.v.).

Professor Booker T. Washington, being politely interrogated ... as to
whether negroes ought to be called 'negroes' or 'members of the colored
race' has replied that it has long been his own practice to write and speak
of members of his race as negroes, and when using the term 'negro' as a
race designation to employ the capital 'N' ["Harper's Weekly," June 2, 1906]

Meaning "English language as spoken by U.S. blacks" is from 1704. French
nègre is a 16c. borrowing from Spanish negro.
 http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=negro
--
I think Stephen is out of step with the times.. It was okay perhaps during
his Portuguese time. The world has changed. I challenge him to go and say
that word to a "black" person in Bronx, Los Aneles and in a community or
group of "blacks." I then wanted to hear him  or read him, if he's alive to
return to Goa. Best of luck, Stephen. Take the CM if you will.

Eugene Correia

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