In building common ground, writers must watch for any words that ignore differences not only among individual members of a race or ethnic group but also among subgroups. Writers must be aware, for instance, of the many nations to which American Indians belong and of the diverse places from which Americans of Spanish-speaking ancestry have emigrated.

Preferred terms

Identifying preferred terms is sometimes not an easy task, for they can change often and vary widely.

The word colored, for example, was once widely used in the United States to refer to Americans of African ancestry. By the 1950s, the preferred term had become Negro. This changed in the 1960s, however, as black came to be preferred by most, though certainly not all, members of that community. Then, in the late 1980s, some leaders of the American black community urged that black be replaced by African American.

The word Oriental, once used to refer to people of East Asian descent, is now often considered offensive. At the University of California at Berkeley, the Oriental Languages Department is now known as the East Asian Languages Department. One advocate of the change explained that Oriental is appropriate for objects –– like rugs –– but not for people.

Once widely preferred, the term Native American is being challenged by those who argue that the most appropriate way to refer to indigenous people is by the specific name of the tribe or pueblo, such as Chippewa or Tesuque. In Alaska and parts of Canada, many indigenous peoples once referred to as Eskimos now prefer Inuit or a specific term such as Tlingit. It has also become fairly common for tribal groups to refer to themselves as Indians or Indian tribes.

Among Americans of Spanish-speaking descent, the preferred terms of reference are many: Chicano/Chicana, Hispanic, Latin American, Latino/Latina, Mexican American, Dominican, and Puerto Rican, to name but a few.

Clearly, then, ethnic terminology changes often enough to challenge even the most careful writers—including writers who belong to the groups they are writing about. The best advice may be to consider your words carefully, to listen for the way members of groups refer to themselves (or ask about preferences), and to check any term you’re unsure of in a current dictionary.