Full Citation

Title: US Imperialist Censuses

Citation Type: Book, Section

Publication Year: 2021

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ISSN:

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-82518-8_5

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Abstract: Starting in 1899, the United States fielded interventionist censuses in Puerto Rico, following its annexation in 1898. US officials intended to revamp the island’s institutions and Americanize Puerto Ricans. Censuses factored into these efforts. The 1899 US census included White, Black, and mixed-race categories. The 1930 census merged the Black and Mulatto categories into “Colored,” a scheme used through the 1950 census. In addition to reducing the number of categories, the US census officials tried to introduce a narrower definition of whiteness that would have excluded most Puerto Ricans. Although the US definitions should have produced a “blackening” of the census, Puerto Ricans subverted the official classifications. This “whitening” trend, most pronounced from 1899–1920, continued through the 1950 census. Notably, everyday understandings of race coexisted with the more restrictive official ones, and the official ones never replaced the fluid, multiple ones used in everyday life. Ultimately, the United States census dropped the race categories from the 1960 through 1990. Therefore, the strong US state could not successfully deploy transformative census categories.

Url: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-82518-8_5

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Authors: Emigh, Rebecca Jean; Ahmed, Patricia; Riley, Dylan

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Pages: 49-58

Volume Title: How Everyday Forms of Racial Categorization Survived Imperialist Censuses in Puerto Rico

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

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Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Population Data Science, Race and Ethnicity

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