Living with History / Making Social Change

Note on Style

Note on Style The terms of reference by which African Americans have referred to themselves have changed over the course of history. I have followed the practice of using the designation chosen by the author or by the group in question during a particular historical period (thus: “Negro women’s club movement,” but “Black Liberation”). According to the same principle I refer to the nineteenth-century “woman’s rights movement” and to the twentieth-century “women’s rights movement.” African Americans have struggled for over a hundred years to have the term used to designate them capitalized, as are the designations for other ethnic or racial groups (Italian, Spanish, Caucasian). Thus, whenever the noun “Black” is used as a substitute for “African American” or “Negro,” it should be spelled with a capital “B.” There is some confusion about the spelling of the adjective “black.” One can reason both ways—“Black women and Italian women,” both designating group adherence, or “black and white women,” both designating skin color. I capitalize the noun and lowercase the adjective, but I recognize this is a term in transition. I also capitalize “Women’s History” when it is an academic field, just as I would capitalize English, Physics, Math. When it refers to a specific case (“women’s history differs from that of men,” or, “we study the history of women”), it is lowercased. In English, capitalization has always been used to indicate high or honorific status.When dealing with long-neglected subject groups, the choice of spelling cannot be arbitrary or accidental. It must reflect the historical context, even if it questions traditional usage. This page intentionally left blank \/ Living with History / Making Social Change \/ This page intentionally left blank ...