Census Data and Multicultural Research

The U.S. Census Bureau produces a wealth of valuable data on the demographics of the United States through its decennial federal census and intra-census statistical surveys like the American Community Survey. It has conducted 22 federal censuses since the first one in 1790, though comparing data across censuses often requires special care because of changes in data collection methods, terminology, and other factors. One controversial issue is the matter of who is counted in the decennial census, which serves as the official count of the population. Census data is used to provide official population figures that determine federal funding, special programs funding, and apportionment of electoral votes and congressional districts. Under current practices, the count is based on “usual residence”—a concept established in the first census, referring to the place that a given person sleeps most of the time—and counts all persons whose usual residence is a U.S. residential structure, including citizens, noncitizen legal residents and long-term visitors, and undocumented immigrants. Americans not resident in the United States are counted only if they are federal employees living overseas as part of their job or dependents of such (including the military).

Both the exclusion of other Americans living overseas, who still vote, and the inclusion of undocumented immigrants, who do not, are subject to particular criticism. Complaints have also been lodged about counting prisoners as prison residents, rather than as residents of their normal domiciles, and of imputing data (a method in statistics of substituting estimated values for missing data) when the occupation status of a housing unit is unknown, which may introduce a statistical bias. Many of the complaints in all these areas have racial dimensions—the prison population is disproportionately nonwhite, as is the undocumented immigrant population—and there has always been a racial character to the census. When the census was first taken, whites and blacks were counted separately, and white men and white women were tabulated separately, because equal rights and significance did not accrue to every kind of person under the law at the time. Today, race and sex are tabulated for exactly the opposite reason: to assure equal rights and representation for all. Federal policy is dependent on an accurate picture of the American population, and funding and policy for numerous federal programs are impacted by the ethnic, racial, and gender breakdown of the American population.

The concept of race and ethnicity has changed drastically over the history of the census, which is necessary to keep in mind when using historical census data or comparing data from multiple censuses. The first census reported only whites, slaves, and “other free people,” which usually meant free blacks but could have included numerous other possibilities, albeit not present in the country in great numbers. More racial categories were added over time, in response to political concerns. Various gradations of multiraciality were added, beginning with mulatto, with quadroon and octoroon added later, all of which were at one point replaced with the “one-drop rule” that stipulated that anyone with any black heritage was black, regardless of percentage. The changing demographics of the United States from immigration and assimilation caused the addition of categories for American Indians, Alaska Natives, [Page 29]Native Hawai'ians, and Pacific Islanders. Racial categories were also expanded over time: originally, all Asians were categorized as “Chinese” but other nationalities were added later.

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