How many black ancestors do you need to be black in the United States?

Question

With the American election coming everyone turns to Obama and his origins. I live in Canada, here Obama would be called a Métis meaning that he's of mixed origins. From what i hear in the States, he's a black guy.

So basically my question is are you black as soon as one of your 2 parents is black?

If yes what if one is of Asian decent let's say an the other is black, are you considered black still?

What if you grandfather was black and the rest of your family is white, are you black?

Do you guys have a term to qualify an individual of mixed origins?

How do you guys trace the racial line? Is everything black and white in the states or do you have shades of gray?

Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer this.

Answer 1

Im from America and I dont get it either. Im mixed half asian and half white. I dont call my self any thing but mixed. To me Obama is mixed not just black or white.

PS: I hate when people mistake me for being latino or hispanic. Or when they just assume im all asian.

Answer 2

Under the old Jim Crow laws, only 1 of 9 ancestors had to be black for you to be considered "colored". That changed in the 1960s and now it's up to each person to determine how they want to be classified. Your Metis is our mulatto and "mixed-racial" (the new politically correct term). His father was African and his mother caucasian. Personally, I just think of him as the tall skinny guy from the south side of Chicago.

Answer 3

Lots of good answers here.  But the simple answer is:  if you look black, people consider you black.  =]

Answer 4

With me my mom is black and my dad is half black and mexican, my grandmother on dad side was a  full mexican woman, so i guess i have about 25% mexican in me but people think i'm from brazil or puerto rico etc.. I consider myself afican american.. Everybody from my mom side roots were traced back to africa because my grand-dad, his great-great- grandmother was a slave brought to the new world.. I learned all this at my family re-union..  

Answer 5

In this area, the focus is normally genealogy, or.. identity of ancestors. Coming from THAT purpose, we tend to have much more knowledge of a grandparent (or gr gr gr grandparent) being of a certain origin or race. It affects the research, for example.. one needs to know that this ancestor was from Germany, so you can know where to look for records. Knowledge of Black ancestry in the US clearly means that the research process prior to 1865, is going to be different since most were slaves.

In PRESENT terms, or outside of genealogy... what is true for many (and becoming more and more true) is that many Americans no longer are strictly White or Black, so it is near impossible to have boundaries on what a person considers himself to be (or herself). My personal thinking is that each person of mixed background has to determine that for themselves. Ideally... it becomes unnecessary.