https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-06.pdf (page 2) includes the US census definition of “Black or African American”.
Most people who have origins south of the Sahara are “black” in this definition, while those who have origins north of the Sahara (e.g. Arab people) are considered to be “white”.
http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf describes the US census definitions of various racial categories and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity.
Thank you all for your replies!! You’ve definitely given me new perspectives as to the interpretation of racial categories in America.
To answer some of the issues that came up my father obtained American citizenship due to having worked there, receiving a Green Card, and then applying and being granted his US citizenship (he later returned home and met my mom). I have never lived in the US. I’ve left our homeland when I was just a few months old, and I consider China to be my homeland. I am African by ethnicity, my skin is brown and I have African facial features, but culturally, I am more Chinese/Internationalized. I definitely do not think of myself as an American, because my only connection to that country is my second citizenship.
I think that if the college with define that racial category as “Black”, it might be okay, because I AM Black. But I am not an American, so I really don’t think I’d mark “African-American”. I don’t really have anything in common with them except for some genetic aspects, I guess.
Again, thank you all!
Make sure you mark “African-American” because this is what you are. Any other answer would be a lie. This does not mean that you will have to hang out in college with other black American students if you do not want to.
Make sure that you run Financial Aid Calculator on Princeton and Harvard web sites to see if you can get financial aid. If you apply you will have very good chances to be admitted there. The rest of your applications should be private colleges that give good merit aid and/or have large scholarships for African-Americans.
Please disregard all these “ethical/unethical” posts above. You will give a honest answer and hopefully will be able to take advantage of the educational opportunities in the US available to black people with super high academic stats. You did not invent this system and you will not be doing anything wrong.
@Alani17 Yes, in the USA African American and black are synonyms, so make sure to mark that on your app.
Doesn’t mean you have to identify in a way you don’t want to, but just know what when they say “AA” they mean to say “anyone black.” So for college and legal document purposes, you’ll have to use it. You may not agree with the terminology, but it is what it is…Outside of official/document matters, you can identify as you’d like.
Actually, I think that you can refuse to categorize yourself as anything.
^ True, but the OP could use the advantage. It’s not a matter of not identifying as black (which the OP does), it’s a matter of not agreeing with certain cultural labels, which is perfectly understandable. His/her racial background doesn’t change just because it’s called a different name here in the USA, though.