Who was the first African American to run a sub-4 minute mile?

I say Reggie McAfee, though there are those who apply different criteria to determine "African American."

Byron Dyce.

16 May 71 Byron Dyce USA/Jam 3:59.6 3:57.34 1 Jul 74

21 Apr 73 Reggie McAfee USA 3:59.3 3:57.8 m 12 May 73

25 May 73 Tommy Fulton USA 3:57.8

27 Apr 74 Denis Fikes USA 3:55.0

18 May 80 Mike Wyatt USA 3:58.0

15 Jan 83 Kevin Johnson USA 3:59.1 i 3:54.06 17 Aug 84

12 Jun 83 Gawain Guy USA/Jam 3:58.21 3:57.18 6 Jun 87

17 May 86 Earl Jones USA 3:58.76

30 Jun 86 Maurice Smith USA 3:59.70 3:55.53 29 Jul 90

31 Jan 88 Steve Ave USA 3:59.09 i 3:58.93 i 28 Jan 90

5 Feb 88 Roosevelt Jackson USA 3:59.41 I

1 Jul 91 Terrance Herrington USA 3:55.61 3:53.64 4 Jun 95

4 Jul 92 Steve Holman USA 3:53.31 3:50.40 4 Jul 97

5 Jun 93 Ronnie Harris USA 3:58.03

4 Jun 94 Shannon Lemora USA 3:57.47

7 Feb 98 David Krummenacker USA 3:58.62 i 3:54.23 25 Jul 98

13 Feb 98 Seneca Lassiter USA 3:59.60 i 3:54.21 i 10 Feb 01

9 Apr 05 Jon Rankin USA 3:57.89 3:54.24 11 Aug 07

This has been a trick trivia question done many times before -- including here at Letsrun.

The conundrum has always taken many semantic twists and turns. Ostensibly, we all know the answer to be Reggie McAfee. On two levels, both going through Byron Dyce, that is the wrong answer.

The first being Dyce's birthplace, Jamaica, which millions of Jamaicans would disagree vehemently if you said it was not in America. Is Jamaica in Europe? It's closer to Columbus' landing site off of what is now the Bahamas than the homes of 95 percent of the people who now call themselves "Americans" They might even say that the US is actually "Vespucciland" and the rest of the Americas is "America."

The second level is citizenship. As Bryon Dyce himself has stated many times that he had dual citizenship all his life. He competed for Jamaica. He was American and could've competed for the USA had he wanted to.

Byron Dyce said, “I have been a US citizen since age 5 when my parents became naturalized citizens, but hold dual citizenship because of the way that I acquired my US citizenship. It is a peculiar position to be in, but that is the way it is. I first competed for Jamaica in the 1967 Pan Am Games and thereafter. However, I always travelled on my US passport, which was the only valid passport that I ever had. There has always been this question as to what my citizenship was, but the fact of the matter is that I am and have been a dual national since 1953. Who I competed for is another story. I did however compete at the 1980 US Olympic trials, albeit unsuccessfully, in Eugene.”

If the question is parsed exactly as follows: "Who is the first black US Citizen born in the US?" the answer is Reggie McAfee, who was Tony Waldrop's teammate in college.

The answer to the OP question is Byron Dyce. Its not too hard to define African American, its a USA-centric term describing individuals of African descent who are US citizens. No other country in the "Americas" utilizes the term African American to describe their own people of African descent. So, since Dyson was of African descent and a US citizen, he is the first African American to run Sub4 in the mile.

Now to the statement "If the question is parsed exactly as follows: "Who is the first black US Citizen born in the US?" the answer is Reggie McAfee" WRONG ! IF the statement is parsed EXACTLY as written, the first black US citizen born in the US was born on July 9, 1868 - the day the 14th Amendment was signed.

If memory serves along with being on the fastest 4 brother 4x440i team 3:22ish Byron ran the 800/1500 double in two Olympic Games and has a Bronze from one of his two Pan Am Games.

Pretty good for a PSAL runner out of Brooklyn

Honouring Black History Month.

Probably some escaped slave running for his life as he was chased by rifle-bearing plantation owners and hounds.

Is Elon Musk considered to be an African American? Or those born in North Africa?

lmb wrote:

Is Elon Musk considered to be an African American? Or those born in North Africa?

Or those born in South Africa like Zola Budd who became a British citizen. Of course she lived in the US for quite a few years. Did she ever acquire US citizenship? If so, that would make her an African-American. She did return to South Africa last year.

African-American can have many different looks wrote:

lmb wrote:

Is Elon Musk considered to be an African American? Or those born in North Africa?

Or those born in South Africa like Zola Budd who became a British citizen. Of course she lived in the US for quite a few years. Did she ever acquire US citizenship? If so, that would make her an African-American. She did return to South Africa last year.

The full term is African-American Descendant of Slaves or often written as African-American D.o.S.

Now that you know the full identifier, do you still want to include Zola B?

African ... wrote:

African-American can have many different looks wrote:

Or those born in South Africa like Zola Budd who became a British citizen. Of course she lived in the US for quite a few years. Did she ever acquire US citizenship? If so, that would make her an African-American. She did return to South Africa last year.

The full term is African-American Descendant of Slaves or often written as African-American D.o.S.

Now that you know the full identifier, do you still want to include Zola B?

That is incorrect.AADOS is a fringe group of the reparation movement.

lmb wrote:

African ... wrote:

The full term is African-American Descendant of Slaves or often written as African-American D.o.S.

Now that you know the full identifier, do you still want to include Zola B?

That is incorrect.AADOS is a fringe group of the reparation movement.

Unless you can prove you have a PhD in African-American Studies, who cares who you say.

African ... wrote:

Unless you can prove you have a PhD in African-American Studies, who cares who you say.

I think I'm just going to say this to everyone from now on. That's a hilarious sentence.