New York: The US Census Bureau has finally decided to drop its use of the word `Negro` to describe black Americans in surveys.
The term that came into use during the Jim Crow era of racial segregation , will be replace with more modern labels `black` or `African-American`.
According to Nicholas Jones, chief of the bureau`s racial statistics branch, the change will take effect next year when the Census Bureau distributes its annual American Community Survey to more than 3.5 million U.S. households.
He said that the move comes after months of public feedback and census research that concluded few black Americans still identify with being Negro and many view the term as "offensive and outdated," the New York Post reports.
According to the paper, first used in the census in 1900, "Negro" became the most common way of referring to black Americans through most of the early 20th century, during a time of racial inequality and segregation.
`Negro` itself had taken the place of `colored,` the paper said.
Starting with the 1960s civil rights movement, black activists began to reject the ` Negro` label and came to identify themselves as black or African-American, it added.
(ANI)
