How did the word upliftment come into usage?

Answer 1

"there is no answer as this is a bogus term, created by lazy people, in the attempt to appear educated by obfuscation"

The response above is truly narrow-minded and unworthy. The exact origin of "upliftment" is unknown. However, it is widely used amongst people of color. To say that the word is lazy and/or uneducated, shows the narrow views of the response and not those who choose to use the term. After all, most words that are used are not, strictly speaking, the correct terminology. The North American-English language is full of words that are shortened or "created". For example, the word "yo" was a made up word used to address another person. Although at the beginning of its use, it could not be found in any dictionary, you can now go to dictionary.com ( /dictionary.reference.com/browse/yo ) and see the definition and its use.

The beauty of the English language is its diversity and ever-changing ways to spark dialogue and communicate ideas. Each and every one of us has the capacity and imagination to create new words although not all become mainstream. Now, the only thing "lazy" about this discussion is the lack of punctuation, and formatting of the sentence structure from the original post. It would seem to me, that if you are throwing stones at someone's "glass house" for laziness, you would not, in turn, be guilty of the same offense. The beginning of a sentence has a capital letter on the first word, and an exclamation point, period, etc. at the end to show the reader that you have made a complete thought.