Existing comment:
Why is race a question on the US Census?
Once used to support discriminatory practices, race data gathered by the Census now help enforce civil rights laws.
Counting those who counted for less:
A question asking the race of each resident has been included on every US Census since the first national survey was conducted, in 1790.
1790:
In accord with the Constitution, and in keeping with slaveholding, which was then legal, the first US Census counted each slave as three-fifths of a person when determining state population.
1860s:
Scientists of the day used Census data to assert the inferiority of people seen as being of mixed race. Their claimed were used to justify laws preventing interracial marriage.
1920s:
Census data were used to establish quotas that blocked immigration from Africa and Asia and favored immigration from Northern European countries.
1940s:
By identifying areas where large numbers of Japanese Americans lived, data from the 1940s US Census were used to help justify the forced internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. |