Wants 1930 US census index changed.

hbemis1

Guest wants FS to change the way the 1930 US census in North Carolina has been indexed.  She states that in FS the various color/race entries were designated as White or Colored. Guest is saying that the census did differentiate the correct race (negro, Indian, mulatto, etc).  But in FS the different races were indexed together instead of separately; so either white or negro.  She wants the index fixed to indicate the race listed on the census rather than together. She has been working on Caswell County, North Carolina. I searched for an example of what was described to me, but didn't see anything. I did notice at the bottom of the 1930 Census pages that the available race options were White, Negro, Indian, Mexican, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Hindu, Korean, and "Other races, spell out if full." After talking to the guest for an extended period of time, she was upset that mulatto was not listed. She believes that FS can just create a button to indicate Mulatto.

Áine.ní.Donnghaile

The specific instructions to enumerators for the 1930 US Census:

https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/programs-surveys/decennial/technical-documentation/questionnaires/1930instructions.pdf

sc woz

@hbemis1 The answer as provided by Áine.ní.Donnghaile shows how you can answer this to the original person requesting information.

SerraNola

@hbemis1 If the guest didn't provide an example of "mulatto" written on the census it could be that there are none, particularly in light of the enumerator instructions provided by Áine.

Áine.ní.Donnghaile

@SerraNola According to the Instructions to Enumerators, the word "mulatto" should not appear in the 1930.

SerraNola

Exactly.

Doniece Watkins

The INCLUSION and/or EXCLUSION oF individual races is very specific based on census years. Once mixed blood individuals are recognized their ethnicity does not dissappear from one census year to the next BUT that was how narrow individuals kept control of race back then. When documenting various races I only have the options to identify "Mulatto" family members via census records when their TRUE race is identified. I do take advantg of this and enter ALL family members in the RACE field by EACH SPECIFIC YEAR. It i time consuming to start this process, however, now that I have a system plus I keep a log by "Surnames" which allows me to check and update the surame list with additional names and census years when necessary.

There are ony a few census years that identify or accept Mulatto as a race. Possibly only 1 or 2 in the 1900's.