Africans and Native Americans: The Language of Race and the Evolution of Red-Black Peoples

Jack D. Forbes's monumental Africans and Native Americans has become a canonical text in the study of relations between the two groups. Forbes explores key issues relating to the evolution of racial terminology and European colonialists' perceptions of color, analyzing the development of color classification systems and the specific evolution of key terms such as black, mulatto, and mestizo--terms that no longer carry their original meanings. Forbes also presents strong evidence that Native American and African contacts began in Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean.

Jack D. Forbes (d. 2011) was a professor emeritus and the director of Native American studies at the University of California-Davis. He was the author of Columbus and Other Cannibals: The Wetiko Disease of Exploitation, Imperialism and Terrorism.