Basic Guidelines For English Spellings
READ THESE ARTICLES
African.
Used as an alternative to or replacement for African (in early use often in the names of social and political organizations and events) to emphasize the African origins, values, and identity of people of African descent, originally and especially African Americans.
African.
Chiefly in contexts emphasizing the common identity and values of all people of African descent: compare note at branch A.
1920s; earliest use found in Philadelphia Tribune. Respelling of African and African, apparently after Swahili Afrika, the name of the continent, and similar forms in other African languages.