color is any ethnicity that's not "white". In the U.S. it's mostly used to refer to black people, but Asians, Hispanics, etc are also considered "colored"
> It's widely known that the historical usage is pejorative.
Whoever told you this grossly misinformed you; it's just flat wrong. The term is offensive now, but the historical usage was decidedly not pejorative. The NAACP wasn't being ironic or trying to reclaim the term when they named themselves The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
> In 2008 Carla Sims, [the NAACP's] communications director, said "the term 'colored' is not derogatory, [they] chose the word 'colored' because it was the most positive description commonly used [in 1909, when the association was founded]. It's outdated and antiquated but not offensive."
It's tough to tease out antiquated from offensive in the modern day, when the average antiquated attitude towards black people _was_ pejorative per se. But it's just unambiguously incorrect to say that its historical usage was pejorative, much less that this is "widely known".
First the term was neutral. Then the word became a widely used pejorative. Nowadays the word is hardly used at all. Why did people stop using "colored"? Because it had turned into a pejorative. When did that happen? Decades ago.
That's why I said its historical usage is pejorative. This isn't controversial. The word wasn't conceived as a pejorative, but that's utterly irrelevant in this context, so there's no point in even bringing it up.
You could also point to a time in history where the N-word wasn't technically a pejorative. It originally (and etymologically) simply meant "black". Would you also argue against the claim that "it's widely known that the historical usage of the N-word is pejorative"? I sure hope not.
The United Negro College Fund and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People as prominent black civil rights groups are grandfathered in. Also its usually left NAACP and not expanded partially because of that word.
People of Color is a term to describe non-white minorities, popular among left wing, especially left wing minority activists.