I'll write back more about it all, but this is one that I thought about quite a bit. In fact even apart from the common and accepted usage of the term in 40's-60's, the term "Negro" is still used in some titles and acronyms. This is a linguistic and cultural shift issue, so I'd best refer back to Anastigmat for that. Something that I do know about because we deal with it in my workplace is that even 10 years ago "color" in reference to race was not and still is not permissible. What has become common is the term "people of color" a term that I, for one, happen to like and it is the term our workplace consultants use. It's very accurate to describe the polyglot of races now much more common. Yet, it would be incredibly rude to use the term "colored people" of course.