Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-24.247.91.107-20140511154823/@comment-4010415-20150216063436

Generally, even African American people call themselves black, considering they descend from the people whose skin looks black.

We tend to refer to people as "brown people" if they're from certain countries like India. Even Indian American people (not Native American) refer to themselves as brown.

So, just going by what the people call themselves, African Americans are black people.

Calling Emerald African American would feel kinda weird, considering there is no America in Remnant. Although her skin is kind of light, there are black people (African Americans, that is) with lighter skin tones. She could even be mixed race of black and white.

I guess we could all just agree to disagree by saying Emerald is the first person of color in RWBY.