diff --git a/DEVELOPMENT_GUIDE.md b/DEVELOPMENT_GUIDE.md
index 1d11af4cb..131250c5a 100644
--- a/DEVELOPMENT_GUIDE.md
+++ b/DEVELOPMENT_GUIDE.md
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ eval "$(pyenv virtualenv-init -)"
 We format our code using [Black](https://github.com/python/black) and verify the source code is black compliant
 during PR checks. Black will be installed automatically with `make init`.
 
-After installing, you can run our formatting through our Makefile by `make black` or integrating Black directly in your favorite IDE (instructions
+After installing, you can run our formatting through our Makefile by `make format` or integrating Black directly in your favorite IDE (instructions
 can be found [here](https://black.readthedocs.io/en/stable/editor_integration.html))
  
 ##### (Workaround) Integrating Black directly in your favorite IDE
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 1cfe80916..559976d8a 100755
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -17,14 +17,20 @@ test-cov-report:
 integ-test:
 	pytest --no-cov integration/
 
-black:
+format:
 	black setup.py samtranslator tests integration bin schema_source
 	bin/transform-test-error-json-format.py --write tests/translator/output/error_*.json
 	bin/json-format.py --write tests integration samtranslator/policy_templates_data
 	bin/yaml-format.py --write tests
 	bin/yaml-format.py --write integration --add-test-metadata
 
-black-check:
+black:
+	$(warning `make black` is deprecated, please use `make format`)
+	# sleep for 5 seconds so the message can be seen.
+	sleep 5
+	make format
+
+format-check:
 	# Checking latest schema was generated (run `make schema` if this fails)
 	mkdir -p .tmp
 	python -m samtranslator.internal.schema_source.schema --sam-schema .tmp/sam.schema.json --cfn-schema schema_source/cloudformation.schema.json --unified-schema .tmp/schema.json
@@ -36,6 +42,12 @@ black-check:
 	bin/yaml-format.py --check tests
 	bin/yaml-format.py --check integration --add-test-metadata
 
+black-check:
+	$(warning `make black-check` is deprecated, please use `make format-check`)
+	# sleep for 5 seconds so the message can be seen.
+	sleep 5
+	make format-check
+
 lint:
 	ruff samtranslator bin schema_source integration tests
 	# mypy performs type check
@@ -78,7 +90,7 @@ schema-all: fetch-schema-data update-schema-data schema
 dev: test
 
 # Verifications to run before sending a pull request
-pr: black-check lint init dev
+pr: format-check lint init dev
 
 clean:
 	rm -rf .tmp