Date of Submission
Spring 2016
Academic Programs and Concentrations
Film and Electronic Arts
Project Advisor 1
Jacqueline Goss
Abstract/Artist's Statement
In the first census of 1790, the Census formally counted Free White Males, Free White Females, All
Other Free Persons, and Slaves (as three-fifths of a person). The census racial categories have changed multiple times over the centuries, and still has yet to add many more to accommodate the growing culture in America. It wasn’t until the year 2000 where individuals were able to mark off more than one box for their racial identity. Today, the census gives us statistics on neighborhoods, race crime rates, population count, college demographics, and more. However, if the majority of American individuals cannot place themselves in the correct categories, how accurate are the racial statistics in our country?
Access Agreement
On-Campus only
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Quince, Ashley Sheppard, "“What Are You?”: The Debate of the Changing Racial Categories In the United States Census" (2016). Senior Projects Spring 2016. 114.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2016/114
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