Do Not Call Me ‘African American’: Why Self-Identification Matters

Descendants of American Freedmen are increasingly asking whether they should be afforded the same right granted to other ethnic communities: the right to define themselves according to their own history and experience.

Mustafaa S. Muhamed | November 3, 2026

Americans are increasingly encouraged to embrace diversity, identity, and inclusion. Yet when it comes to Black Americans, an uncomfortable contradiction often remains. Distinct ethnic populations with different histories, cultures, and ancestral experiences are frequently grouped together under a single label: "African American."

In my scholarship, I refer to this tendency as ethnomelanism: the reduction of ethnically distinct peoples into a single racial category based primarily on perceived Blackness. Ethnomelanism assumes that skin color alone is sufficient to establish common identity, common historical experiences, and common political interests. In doing so, it obscures meaningful ethnic distinctions and flattens the diversity that exists within America's Black population.

Under this framework, descendants of American Freedmen, African immigrants, Afro-Caribbeans, Afro-Latinos, and other Black-identified populations become analytically interchangeable despite possessing distinct histories, cultures, ancestral origins, migration patterns, and relationships to the United States. Race becomes privileged over ethnicity, and appearance becomes more important than historical specificity.

This is not merely an academic debate. Questions of identity increasingly shape public policy, demographic reporting, education, employment, and civic life. As institutions place greater emphasis on self-identification, descendants of American Freedmen are increasingly asking........

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