Black American v. Black is a question of semantics. "Black" most people don't know was a choice by African Americans politically, though the racial caste system sought to impose that status upon them for centuries by calling themselves "white." That is why it is "Black" as opposed to 'black." The latter is the racial connotation. The only reason "Black" is not still more widely used is because Jesse Jackson made his famous "African American" statement. Black and African American and Black American are the same. But the latter two are just a more generous and unifying way of expressing the truth of who we are in this country.