actually in 1961 he would have been classified as "Negro" on his vital statistics. Hopefully they have changed this to "African" on COLBs by now.
Why wouldn't his COLB say "white"? Did he get a choice?
p. 231
“Births in the United States in 1961 are classified for vital statistics into white, Negro, American Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Aleut, Eskimo, Hawaiian and Part-Hawaiian (combined), and “other nonwhite.”
http://www.nber.org/vital-statistics/historical/nat61_1.CV.pdf