Capitalizing for Equality
When Black and White are used as racial terms.
By Karen Yin • February 22, 2017
In The New York Times, journalism professor Lori L. Tharps writes, “Black should always be written with a capital B. We are indeed a people, a race, a tribe. It’s only correct.” Both Poynter and Columbia Journalism Review have argued for capitalizing black and white when used as racial terms, for the sake of respect, equality, and typographical integrity. Other groups are entitled to the visibility conferred by a capital letter—Hispanic, Native, Asian American—and despite the lack of consensus that any of these are one people, these overly broad and arbitrary labels endure.
Both Poynter and Columbia Journalism Review have argued for capitalizing black and white when used as racial terms . . .
Black and White, capitalized, already appear in Merriam-Webster Unabridged and American Heritage Dictionary, but we editors lean on style guides out of safety and habit: If they’re not on board, then neither are we. New York Times and Associated Press both lowercase black and white. The Chicago Manual of Style also lowercases them in lieu of an overriding preference. One standout that treats these designations as proper nouns is the American Psychological Association, which also says to avoid unparallel terms, as in African American and White people.
However, when words labeling an entire people are at the root of a language dispute, that’s reason enough to seek direction outside of our usual resources, especially if the resources are outdated. If your editorial directive is to call people what they want to be called—including names, pronouns, and labels—then look to Black media outlets like Ebony and Essence for accepted usage and avoid overriding their terminology. By capitalizing black and white, we also make necessary distinctions between color and race—black hair and Black hair—similar to distinguishing between native and Native. Don’t wait for your style guide to catch up, because it’s waiting for you to demonstrate sufficient usage.
Karen Yin is the author of the upcoming book Conscious Language (Little, Brown Spark) and founder of Conscious Style Guide, a resource for inclusive, empowering, and respectful language; Editors of Color, tools for diversifying your staff and sources; and AP vs. Chicago, an irreverent language blog for anyone who “gives a dollar sign, ampersand, exclamation point, and pound sign about style.” She received the 2017 ACES Robinson Prize for furthering the craft of professional editing.
Note: This article originally appeared in Copyediting newsletter and is reproduced with permission from the Pilcrow Group.
Has your opinion changed on this since you wrote it, do you think? Or are there good thought pieces to go read?
Hi Erin. I’ve been pointing people to this article for reasons to capitalize White: https://cssp.org/2020/03/recognizing-race-in-language-why-we-capitalize-black-and-white/. My opinion has not changed regarding capitalizing “Black” or “White,” because distinguishing between identity/culture and color has become more valuable, not less. I’ve seen “Brown” capitalized with good intentions, but as long as there is little agreement over who is culturally “Brown” and how that differs from “brown” the color, we’re better off describing what we really mean (e.g., mentioning specific ethnicities). Lowercase “brown” directly addresses colorism in our society, and this focus might be lost if we shift to talking about Brown cultures/communities instead, which doesn’t correspond with color, like how “Black” doesn’t correspond with color. In my East Asian American family, for example, we’re different colors, so lowercase “brown” might refer to a few of us, but uppercase “Brown,” all or none of us, depending on whether people of East Asian origin are included. One option, which I haven’t seen anywhere yet, is to use “Brown and brown communities”—if that’s what you really mean. Also, from what I’ve gathered over the years, light-skinned non-Black people of color are not “brown,” which means when we talk about “Black and brown communities” (a common grouping), a large number of POC are perpetually left out of race discussions. I’m continually monitoring, so this is a snapshot of my thoughts today but not tomorrow. Thanks for asking!