Re: Mulatto is a "catch-all" as far as the census goes
-
In reply to:
Mulatto is a "catch-all" as far as the census goes
Shirley Wilson 12/10/10
CORRECTION:
The 1920 census was the last census to use the "mulatto" classification, according to census.gov web site.
The biggest change to the 1930 census was in racial classification.The term "mulatto" was no longer used.
FROM:www.census.gov/history/www/1930/011673.html
A person with both White and Black lineage was to be recorded as Black, no matter fraction of the lineage.A person of mixed Black and American Indian lineage was also to be recorded as Black, unless he was considered to be "predominantly" American Indian and accepted as such within the community.
A person with both White and American Indian lineage was to be recorded as an Indian, unless his American Indian lineage was very small and he was accepted as white within the community.In fact, in all situations in which a person had White and some other racial ineage, he was to be reported as that other race.Persons who had minority interracial lineages were to be reported as the race of their father.
For the first and only time "Mexican" was listed as a race.Enumerators were to record all persons who had been born in Mexico or whose parents had been born in Mexico and who did not fall into another racial category as "Mexican."
{Of course, I believe the enumerators/census takers did not hold strictly by these rules.}