Culture

A Complete History of Census Race Boxes

A new data viz shows all the racial and ethnic labels from 1790 to 2010.

The race question from the 2010 Census form. Census Bureau

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November 3, 2015 at 11:22 AM EST

Over the last 200 years, as the Americans became more and more diverse, the little boxes on the U.S. Census Bureau forms that attempted to classify people by race multiplied. A new interactive visualization released by the bureau shows all the racial and ethnic labels from the first census in 1790 to the 2010 census. Here’s why the bureau created this viz, via the press release:

Below is a screenshot of the entire graphic. You’ll have to click through for the interactive parts:

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