its always been a negative word negro was used more formally until we decided it was too close to nigger and had too many negative associations colored is also not very common anymore afroamerican isnt common either its much more common to say africanamerican theres a hairstyle called the afro i dont know if that has anything to do with it black seems to be an acceptable and short easilyspoken word negro might be okay in countries where the word actually means black unlike in english