When did official documentation stop referring to black people as Negros in the States?

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It seems that the term was used on a number of pieces of legislation as late as the 1970's. In 2016, President Obama signed legislation into law which struck outdated racial terms such as “Oriental” and “Negro” from federal laws. As this article observes:

Two sections in the U.S. Code written in the 1970s governing public health and civil rights attempted to define minority groups by using the outdated terms.

For those who are interested, the two sections of the U.S. code mentioned above are:

  • Section 211(f)(1) of the Department of Energy Organization Act (42 U.S.C. 7141(f)(1))

and

  • Section 106(f)(2) of the Local Public Works Capital Development and Investment Act of 1976 (42 U.S.C. 6705(f)(2))

Even more recently, the term "Negro" was included in the 2010 U.S census:

2010 Census

However, in 2013 the U.S. Census Bureau announced that the term will not appear in future censuses.

Upvote:32

The US Army stopped using the term "Negro" in November of 2014.

See U.S. Army apologizes, will drop term 'Negro' from policy document

However, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) still has a document, originally published 12 April 2015, Racial and Ethnic Categories and Definitions for NIH Diversity Programs and for Other Reporting Purposes, appearing as current policy, which states:

"Negro" can be used in addition to "Black or African American."

Additionally, since the question is specifically referring to 1971, I would point out that the 1971 NASA report Contextual planning for NASA - A second handbook of alternative future environments for mission analysis discusses the fact that "Negro" was the term preferred by blacks at this time. Specifically:

Percent of Blacks preferring to be called the following terms (April 1970):

"Negro" 51%

"Colored" 11%

"Black" 8%

"Afro-American" 8%

Other 4%

No difference 16%

No opinion 3%

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