非裔美国人（African American）指美国人口中的美国黑人。以前人种学家称呼黄、白、黑三个人种为“蒙古人种”、“高加索人种”和“尼格罗人种”。尼格罗（negro）是拉丁语，词义为“黑色的”，在美国种族歧视猖獗时，逐渐演变成对黑人的诬蔑语言，等同于“黑鬼”。非裔美国人民权运动崛起后，这个单词被摒弃，黑人采用“黑色的”（black）自称。不过1960年代后，因为以肤色称呼人种被认为是不够政治正确，这个单词也被摒弃，而改为“非洲的”，因为黑人的祖先都来自非洲。

African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans or Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group of Americans (citizens or residents of the United States) with total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. The term may also be used to include only those individuals who are descended from enslaved Africans. As a compound adjective the term is usually hyphenated as African-American.