European American

European American is a term for Americans of European descent, who are usually referred to as White or Caucasian.

Specificity

The term is more specific than White or Caucasian in that these terms in their official usage include European, Latin American, Southwest Asian, and Middle Eastern. "Non-hispanic White" is an official term that is more specific, but is still not as specific as European American.

Origin

The term was coined in response to the increasing racial diversity of the US, as well as to this diversity moving more into the mainstream of the society in the latter half of the 20th century. As a linguistic concern, the term is meant to discourage a dichotomous view of the racial landscape, in which "Whites" are conceived as separate from the rest of the racial groups, which have hyphenated terms denoting ancestry, such as African Americans or Asian Americans.

External links

http://www.EAIF.org – European American Issues Forum