Named Groups

Black or African American

A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/1997/10/30/97-28653/revisions-to-the-standards-for-the classification-of-federal-data-on-race-and-ethnicity). In the United States it is used for classification of federal government data on race and ethnicity. Race and ethnicity terms are self-identified social construct and may include terms outdated and offensive in MeSH to assist users who are interested in retrieving comprehensive search results for studies such as in longitudinal studies.

National Library of MedicineMedical Subject Headings2026

Structured Summary

Abstract

A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/1997/10/30/97-28653/revisions-to-the-standards-for-the classification-of-federal-data-on-race-and-ethnicity). In the United States it is used for classification of federal government data on race and ethnicity. Race and ethnicity terms are self-identified social construct and may include terms outdated and offensive in MeSH to assist users who are interested in retrieving comprehensive search results for studies such as in longitudinal studies.

MeSH Record

Classification

Broader headings

Related Concepts

Knowledge Graph

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MeSH Record

Synonyms

15 entry terms
  • African American
  • African Americans
  • African-American
  • African-Americans
  • Afro-American
  • Afro-Americans
  • Black Americans
  • Blacks
  • Negro
  • Negroes
  • Afro American
  • Afro Americans
  • American, African
  • American, Black
  • Black American

MeSH Record

Aspects Covered

8 allowable subheadings

Indexed with the subheadings classification, education, ethnology, genetics, history, legislation & jurisprudence, psychology, statistics & numerical data.

MeSH Record

Indexing Annotation

use only for the United States population groups. BLACK PEOPLE is also available

MeSH Record

History Note

2023(2004); for BLACKS use BLACK PEOPLE 2004-2022

MeSH Hierarchy

Tree Numbers

  1. M01w.270.500w
  2. M01w.686.372.500w
  3. M01w.686.477w.625.594.594w

AMA Style

References

  1. National Library of Medicine. Black or African American. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). 2026. Unique ID D001741. http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/2026/D001741
  2. Black or African American. In: Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Americans
  3. Black or African American. In: Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q49085