I want to know the answer to the following question:
What caused lower classification status for African Americans?
All the background I'm provided with is that "Americans with Sub-Saharan African ancestry for historical reasons: slavery, partus sequitur ventrem, one-eighth law, the one-drop rule of 20th-century legislation, have frequently been classified as black (historically) or African American, even if they have significant European American or Native American ancestry.". Is that enough to answer the question?
Answer: no