Race is more of a social construct than a biological one. In fact, literature from pre-industrial times often depicts numerous "races" which are defined not just by appearance, but by culture, geography, socio-economic status, and history. During the Middle Ages, it was a widely held belief that Europe itself was full of several races. Race is really just an invention.
Sometime in the past 500 years, races have been narrowed down to physical characteristics and geographic origin. This was mainly as a way for colonialists to justify their acts... ie. people could justify harming other humans if they were a different "race". It's not always cut and dry though, for example, there are people in North Africa and the Middle East who are racially ambigous.
Personally, I have nothing against the term African-American.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
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