Luke B asked:


I would appreicate a percentage and/or fraction
I am not afican american myself so I don’t care about semantics. Please leave out answers that deal with “humans originating from africa”, “unless you were born in Africa your just an American” or “it depends on how you were raised”. I want to know what percentage of clack you have to be to truthfully aswer african American on any type of offical form

14 Responses to “How much of your heritage has to be african american to be considered african american?”

1. animewarlord5000 on October 16th, 2008 11:46 pm

   43% or 3 or 4 generations

2. Unique on October 18th, 2008 6:35 pm

   a fraction or 1 percentage and over.

3. robertminidriver on October 20th, 2008 12:31 pm

   I’d say one percent.

   All sources that I have ever read say that if one has any African heritage, he is considered African American.

4. Ivy on October 23rd, 2008 5:57 am

   My ancestry includes Hawaiian, Irish, European, Portuguese, and who knows what else. I do not consider myself anything other than American. Not Hawaiian American, not European American, etc… My parents and their parents were all born in America, therefore I am American. If you were not born of African parents (That means your parents were born in Africa…) then you cannot truly call yourself African-American. You are American. That is all. Do you speak Swahili? I doubt it. If you can’t speak the native language, then you are not a native of that country.

5. Marketia on October 24th, 2008 2:01 am

   To be a certain heritage, it has to have been found in previous generations that link you directly to that heritage and you practice their beliefs, religion, customs, OR traditions, there isn’t a certain percent to claim it, it could be from 1% to 99.9%

6. Kayleigh on October 27th, 2008 10:33 am

   Hm. Good question. I guess I would consider myself at least part no matter what the fraction was. My b/f is about 25% Native American and that’s all he classifies himself as because he doesn’t know the fractions of his other heritage!! I consider myself Italian, though I am many other things.

7. WEAJR. on October 27th, 2008 10:51 pm

   Just any trace in your DNA 1/16 = (0.0625) =(6.25%) or grater.
   Check out this hyper link,
   ( )

   I hope this helps.

8. Ted Pack on October 28th, 2008 1:09 pm

   Back in the bad old days, it varied by state. If a state had a law that said AA’s could not marry whites, or could not vote, or could not become an officer in the State Militia, etc. etc., then they would follow it with a fraction to define “Negro”, anywhere from 1/8th to 1/64th. Some laws would say “so much as a drop of Negro blood . . .”, which would be incredibly difficult to prove.

   Assuming 30 years per generation, on average, if you were this fraction, the AA in your family would be born:

   1/2 = 30 years before you (ie, one of your parents)
   1/4 = 60 years before you (one grandparent)
   1/8 = 90 years
   1/16th = 120
   1/32 = 150
   1/64 = 180
   1/128 = 210

   (If you had 3 AA gg-grandparents and 15 European ones, you’d be 3/16th AA.)

   Today, for affirmitive action, they go with what you consider yourself to be unless there is an objection. If a blonde-blue eyed man named Olaf Olafsen claimed to be Black and applied for an NAACP scholarship, there would be objections.

   From looking at children of friends who are in mixed marriages I’d say that anyone with 1/16th or less who considers himself AA (or Chinese or Norwegian, for that matter) is fooling themselves, and if someone who is 1/8th AA and 7/8th European wants to be considered AA he should probably introduce himslef as one.

9. TMAC on October 28th, 2008 2:30 pm

   White is the absence of color. If there was one in your ancestory you are black. Pure and simple. Get it? White is the “absence” of color.

10. correrafan on October 31st, 2008 2:20 am

    Ever hear of “the one-drop rule”? One drop of African blood and you’re considered black, but you must be one quarter Native American in ONE tribe to be considered a Native American Indian. Go figure…

    Have you found an African American ancestor yet? Just curious…

11. truly on November 1st, 2008 10:42 am

    -one drop.

    All you needed was one black ancestor to be considered African American.

12. Emma on November 2nd, 2008 3:39 am

    Most blacks in America who were not born in Africa dont pratice African culture, becouse they are Americans and only know American culture. Now “African American” is just a name adopted for blacks by the whites when it became a crime to call them nigro. An african american must be born of black perents who are from africa or are decendants of slaves brought to America from Africa.

13. docscholl on November 5th, 2008 12:20 pm

    Good question.
    I do not know.
    Here in Oklahoma, we’ve been wrangling with that question as it relates to Native Americans.

    Some native tribes are a bit P.O.’ed that people who might have 1/500th Cherokee blood (or Creek, or Fox, or any of the Native tribes) claim that they are entitled to FULL benefits.

    But back to your question (a good one, I might add)…I found a link that might address your question.
    Yet, the focus is on DNA.
    Which, I take to mean, if we could all be tested, we’d probably all find our family roots linked to one race in one place.

14. katlvr125 on November 7th, 2008 8:26 pm

    I don’t know but to me it does not matter one way or the other