{"id":45904,"date":"2012-12-29T13:02:54","date_gmt":"2012-12-29T18:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/?p=45904"},"modified":"2015-09-19T22:50:48","modified_gmt":"2015-09-20T03:50:48","slug":"from-appearance-to-identity-how-census-data-collection-changed-race-in-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/2012\/12\/29\/from-appearance-to-identity-how-census-data-collection-changed-race-in-america\/","title":{"rendered":"From Appearance to Identity: How Census Data Collection Changed Race in America"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the last week of December, we\u2019re re-posting some of our favorite posts from 2012. C<\/em>ross-posted at Global Policy TV<\/a>\u00a0and Pacific Standard<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Publicizing the release of the 1940 U.S. Census data, LIFE<\/em> magazine released photographs of Census enumerators<\/a> collecting data from household members. \u00a0Yep, Census enumerators. For almost 200 years, the U.S. counted people and recorded information about them in person<\/em>, by sending out a representative of the U.S. government to evaluate them directly (source<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

By 1970, the government was collecting Census data by mail-in survey. The shift to a survey had dramatic effects on at least one Census category: race.<\/p>\n

Before the shift, Census enumerators categorized people into racial groups based on their appearance. \u00a0They did not ask respondents how they characterized themselves. \u00a0Instead, they made a judgment call, drawing on explicit instructions given to the Census takers.<\/p>\n

On a mail-in survey, however, the individual self<\/em>-identified. \u00a0They got to tell the government what race they were instead of letting the government decide. \u00a0There were at least two striking shifts as a result of this change:<\/p>\n