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I let Black History Month slide by this year without writing anything about it. I am so over celebrating firsts or reprising triumphal narratives.

But news from last month did suggest that we may need a black history lesson one that goes beyond Rosa Parks on the bus or George Washington Carver's magic with peanuts.

The Census Bureau announced last month that the word "Negro" is being dropped from its lexicon. Next year, when the government conducts its Annual American Survey, folks like me will have two options on census forms: black or African American.

That's choice enough for me. I'm black, and have been since I was a teenager.

Before that, I was either Negro or colored depending on whether I was at home in Cleveland or visiting my grandparents in Alabama.

But census officials said they are eliminating "Negro" after 100 years because some black Americans consider the term outdated and offensive.

"It's a bad vibe word," one black New York City resident told a radio reporter.

This, in an era when rap music and popular movies are bursting with the other n-word, and our vibes don't seem particularly bothered.

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Controversy over what we call ourselves is nothing new for black Americans. It reflects the angst of a group hauled here in slave ships as property, and bought and sold for centuries.

Read more here:
Long live 'Negro'