Black American

The descriptive term black American is out of favoured in the USA due to its peculiar race politics, in particular Political correctness.

Americans do not recognize any races between 'black' and 'white'. If a person has a grand-parent or great-grand parent who was black, and do not look visibly white then most Americans will consider that person black.

In contrast, Brazilians recognize many different races between 'black' and 'white' and only people with the darkest shade of skin will be considered 'black'. A Brazilian may easily consider themselves white where Americans would consider them black. A trip to the USA can come as a rude surprise.