Changing Race

Latinos, the Census and the History of Ethnicity

Clara E. Rodríguez

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Year: 2000
• Print ISBN: 9780814775479
• eBook ISBN: 9780814745083
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Hispanic American Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

An introduction to the dynamic complexity of American ethnic life and Latino identity Latinos are the fastest growing population group in the United States.Through their language and popular music Latinos are making their mark on American culture as never before. As the United States becomes Latinized, how will Latinos fit into America's divided racial landscape and how will they define their own racial and ethnic identity? Through strikingly original historical analysis, extensive personal interviews and a careful examination of census data, Clara E. Rodriguez shows that Latino identity is surprisingly fluid, situation-dependent, and constantly changing. She illustrates how the way Latinos are defining themselves, and refusing to define themselves, represents a powerful challenge to America's system of racial classification and American racism.

Index

Ability, skin color as determinant, 30

Abolitionist movement, 99

Aboriginal origin, 36

Accents, 3–4, 36, 62

Acuña, Rodolfo, 103

Adams, John Quincy, 188–89

Adoption, 60–62

Aethiops (Africans), 32–33, 34, 203n. 6

Affirmation, of race, 25, 82

Affirmative action, 157

Afghans, 87, 156

Africa/Africans, 28, 30, 35, 55, 112

ancient societies in, 32–33

African Americans, x, xii, 22, 23, 179, 201n. 17, 212–13nn. 1, 2

census categories for, 91–92, 129, 189, 193, 197, 206–7nn. 2–5

citizenship issues, 92, 95–99

proportion of free persons (1790–1860), 194 Fig. D.1

racial constructs, 4, 16, 40, 109–10, 202n. 1

self-classification, 55, 56, 134. See also “Blacks” (racial group); “Negro” (racial group)

African American studies, 53

African descent, 40, 45, 74, 85, 91, 208n. 19

“Free People of Color” census category, 191, 195, 196, 227n. 4

in Latin America, 113, 122, 213n. 8

Afrocentrism, 19, 123

Afro-Latino, 6, 19

Age, 7, 226n. 4

Akaka, Daniel, 158, 201n. 15

Alabama, 84, 99

Alaska, 210n. 2

Aleuts, 88

Aliens, 70–71, 78–80, 92, 99–101

Allocation rates, 167–69, 223nn. 21, 22

Almaguer, Tomás, 87, 211n. 14

Almey, Marcia, 37, 121–22, 204n. 15

Alvar, Manuel, 109, 116

American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, 156

“American Indian,” 6, 35, 88

American Indian movement, 25

American Revolution, 95

American Samoa, 81

Americas, comparison of census modalities in, 37–38, 111–25

Amerindian, 213n. 3

Ancestry: in early census data, 191–92

and identity, 25, 137, 139, 150

Latinos in U.S. racial structure, 7, 9, 10, 19, 25

and race, 17, 44, 81–82, 1...

Table of contents

• Cover page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• Acknowledgments
• I The Fluidity of Race
• II Historical Constructions
• III Race and the Census
• Appendix A: Data Limitations and the Undercount
• Appendix B: The Biological Concept of Race in the United States
• Appendix C: A Technical Oversight or Racial Flux?
• Appendix D: Free People of Color
• Notes
• References
• Index
• About the Author