The terms “women of color” and “people of color” – terms now in common use in American English to describe individuals who are not White – were first created and used by persons of color. “Women of color” was created at the 1977 National Women’s Conference in Houston. An alliance of minority women’s groups at the conference came up with the term as a way to describe their shared experience of oppression, and to express their commitment to working with all oppressed non-White women.
“People of color” is older, dating to the 1960s and 1970s. It was coined by groups like the Black Panther Party for Self Defense and the Brown Berets, who wanted to express their solidarity as people of color. These groups pioneered the idea (in the US) of people having color being a cause in how they were treated by society, and the groups needed a term that would include all oppressed non-White individuals that they could feel comfortable calling themselves. The new solidarity term deliberately started with the word “person,” putting the people first, in contrast to the previously-used term “colored people” which put their category first. In short, people of color was created so that non-White individuals in the US could express, using a dignified term, that they were a group united by shared oppression and discrimination by American society and American institutions.
In short, people of color was created so that non-White individuals in the US could express, using a dignified term, that they were a group united by shared oppression and discrimination by American society and American institutions.
