The people in America who are classified as African American are said to be on it’s face, Americans of African descent. It’s assume because of past American history, that these people were also called negro or colored.
It is also valid that slavery was a legal institution, meaning there was specific language used to operate slavery in courts of law. For instance, I generally read the accepted claim how black people in America were & are the descendants of slaves who had no rights by law.
Now if the rule of law says black people or negroes in America are descendants of slaves, then what exactly does this mean from a legal standpoint? The idea is whatever lack of rights, duties & etc. slaves had at the time, were passed on to their descendants & was never properly corrected.