Black Lives Matter protests have opened up conversations about the history of privilege, racism, and the lived experiences and identities of black people in America.

"There are black people in every continent who are all over the world," explained Professor Celeste Watkins-Hayes, an African American studies professor at Northwestern University.

Watkins-Hayes described the adoption of the term African American as a "very deliberate move on the part of black communities to signify our American-ness, but also signify this African heritage."

People who are coming from Africa, from the Caribbean, from Europe, who identify as black but don't identify as African American."

Some people originally from other countries who live in the U.S. accept African American because of its cultural and historical roots in the black experience that is specific to this country.