Page "Black people" Paragraph 0

The term black people is used in some socially-based systems of racial classification for humans of a dark-skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups represented in a particular social context.

Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as " black ", and often social variables such as class and socio-economic status also play a role, so that relatively dark-skinned people can be classified as white if they fulfill other social criteria of " whiteness " and relatively light-skinned people can be classified as black if they fulfill the social criteria for " blackness " in a particular setting.