I was born in ‘67 and my birth certificate says black. My husband was born in ‘64 and his says negro. My mother was born in ‘42 and hers says colored. Nobody was African American until the late 80s or 90s.
I was born in ‘67 and my birth certificate says black. My husband was born in ‘64 and his says negro. My mother was born in ‘42 and hers says colored. Nobody was African American until the late 80s or 90s.”
Sounds about right for legal documents, but the term Afro-American was used commonly (as was Black) in the late 60’s and early ‘70’s, of that I am certain. It changed at some point after that. I thought the change to African-American happened right afterward. Could be wrong about that...but I don’t know what could have been there in between...do you?
Were you born in the same state as your husband? Different areas of the country used different terminology. I have been doing genealogy and location can determine what words were used to describe race on census forms and other government documents.