The OED marks "colored" as a way to refer to people with non-white skin as "now usually considered offensive."

Person of color, people of color or variations date back to 1786, but it seems to me that the connotation of this phrase has shifted into one of the most preferred terms to use when discussing racial or ethnic minorities in the United States.

That it is "more preferred" is an inference I've made purely based on observation of its use in progressive publications. In the social media age, the term is sometimes even abbreviated POC for "people of color" or WOC for "women of color," etc. Because I see these terms used frequently on social media or progressive blogs, my first assumption was that the use of the term had become preferred quite recently.

As a simple example, the feminist blog Jezebel has a tag called "people of color." https://jezebel.com/tag/people-of-color

The most thorough research I could find discussing the term was on Wikipedia.

Although American activist Martin Luther King Jr. used the term "citizens of color" in 1963, the phrase in its current meaning did not catch on until the late 1970s. In the late 20th century, the term "person of color" was introduced in the United States in order to counter the condescension implied by the terms "non-white" and "minority", and racial justice activists in the U.S., influenced by radical theorists such as Frantz Fanon, popularized it at this time. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was in wide circulation. Both anti-racist activists and academics sought to move the understanding of race beyond the black-white dichotomy then prevalent.

Taking into consideration this timeline laid out by Wikipedia, I have a multi-part question, but really all the parts are related:

1. Is the term Person of color or generally [Sb] of color preferred in a broad mainstream sense, or is the preference mostly confined to discussion among academics and activists?

2. Is its preference confined to the United States?

3. Has the term's use and connotation shifted over the last decade as writers have taken to online platforms and discussion of "political correctness" has provoked such deep feelings across the ideological spectrum?

4. Has [Sb] of color always had a more positive connotation than colored, or is that a modern distinction? How has the connotation of the term shifted over time?

In its remarks on of color, the OED online includes a link reading "compare earlier coloured, adj. 3b." It marks "colored / coloured" as a way to refer to people with non-white skin as "now usually considered offensive."

Person of color, people of color or variations date back to 1786, but it seems to me that the connotation of this phrase has shifted into one of the most preferred terms to use when discussing racial or ethnic minorities in the United States.

That it is "more preferred" is an inference I've made purely based on observation of its use in progressive publications. In the social media age, the term is sometimes even abbreviated POC for "people of color" or WOC for "women of color," etc. Because I see these terms used frequently on social media or progressive blogs, my first assumption was that the use of the term had become preferred quite recently.

As a simple example, the feminist blog Jezebel has a tag called "people of color." https://jezebel.com/tag/people-of-color

The most thorough research I could find discussing the term was on Wikipedia.

Although American activist Martin Luther King Jr. used the term "citizens of color" in 1963, the phrase in its current meaning did not catch on until the late 1970s. In the late 20th century, the term "person of color" was introduced in the United States in order to counter the condescension implied by the terms "non-white" and "minority", and racial justice activists in the U.S., influenced by radical theorists such as Frantz Fanon, popularized it at this time. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was in wide circulation. Both anti-racist activists and academics sought to move the understanding of race beyond the black-white dichotomy then prevalent.

Taking into consideration this timeline laid out by Wikipedia, I have a multi-part question, but really all the parts are related:

1. Is the term Person of color or generally [Sb] of color preferred in a broad mainstream sense, or is the preference mostly confined to discussion among academics and activists?

2. Is its preference confined to the United States?

3. Has the term's use and connotation shifted over the last decade as writers have taken to online platforms and discussion of "political correctness" has provoked such deep feelings across the ideological spectrum?

4. Has [Sb] of color always had a more positive connotation than colored, or is that a modern distinction? How has the connotation of the term shifted over time?