Karen Lea
Robin Sorrow
2008
Shortly after the attack on September 11, 2001, the Washington Post reported that more than 50 countries had lost citizens in the terrorist attack on the twin towers. The attack not only demonstrated, but also emphasized the diversity of the United States. We are a diverse nation; we are a nation of many cultures. It is this diversity that enriches our country and our communities. Although some people would say this diversity was reported only in a large city, this diversity can be seen throughout the United States. Even in the small communities, there is diversity of cultures, and our challenge is to accept individuals no matter what their cultural differences.
Our cultural backgrounds affect our choices and range from how recreational time is spent to how much education is valued. Religion, food, language, and festivals are the signs of cultural identity. Churches, synagogues, and mosques are part of the urban and suburban landscape in cities and suburbs. Multilingual worship services are now common in many communities. Immigrants have enriched the United States through restaurants, stores, and the arts. Cities have been revitalized, in part, due to the creation and management of small businesses by immigrants.
We have all heard the stories of immigrants coming to the United States and the excitement of seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time. Those stories are part of our heritage in the United States and contribute to the overall culture of our country. As we are exposed to people of different cultures, our culture has the potential to be influenced as we have the potential to influence other cultures. In this article we will step backwards through history, looking first to the changing face of ethnicity in the United States and exploring the key events that affected the culture of the United States. As we travel through time, consider how the history of the United States has affected the values, beliefs, and actions of individuals and influenced our culture today. The percentages are taken from the U.S. Census records available online.
In the late 1700s to the mid 1800s the country was divided into states, some permitting slavery and other states prohibiting slavery. Although most slaves were brought from Africa, by 1750 the majority of slaves had been born in America. This affected the ethnic makeup of each of the states, and therefore the culture of the states. The Southern states were influenced greatly by the songs, dances, and values of slaves, but this was somewhat limited in the Northern states. Research shows that approximately 25% of the population owned slaves in the early stages of our history. Economic conditions contributed to the growth of slavery in the South; slavery offered cheap labor, and the North profited from the slave trade.
According to the U.S. Census records, the first census began on August 2, 1790, approximately a year after the inauguration of the first president of the United States. This census required that every household in 12 states be visited and that census schedules be posted in public places. The results of the census were to be reported to the President.
In 1790, the first census reported a population of 3,929,214 from 12 states including Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia. This census reported the number of:
These census designations are indicative of the society at this time. As we continue to explore our changing United States, you will see how the census designations continue to be indicative of society.
During this period, referred to as “The Colonial Period,” there was growth of a public school system, with credit going to New England. The settlers combined the labor and money resources of the community, and by the 1700s many areas of the United States had compulsory elementary education. However, in the South, farms and plantations were so widely spread that this kind of education was almost impossible. Many planters hired tutors; often a few plantations would put their money together to hire these tutors. In poorer families, the parents taught their children.
In the early 1800s, President Thomas Jefferson negotiated the Louisiana Purchase, and six new states were created. Expeditions were launched to explore new territories. What were the effects of the expeditions? To the Native Americans, they meant contact with new people such as fur traders, soldiers, and missionaries. For European Americans, there was new information that changed biological sciences, ecology, and topography.
With the exposure to a French, Native American, and Spanish culture, the culture of the Americans was influenced. Americans were exposed to new languages, French and Spanish foods, and celebrations such as jazz music. During this time, 80% of Americans lived on farms, money from many countries was circulating throughout America, and the most numerous immigrants were Scotch Irish, British Islanders, and Germans. If you were living in the 1800s, think about how your life would have been affected when:
In the mid 1800s, Western expansion led to increasing conflicts with the American Indians. America also purchased Alaska from Russia. As the United States expanded, cultures were affected again with the exposure to the new customs, beliefs, and values of the American Indians, the Russians, and the Irish immigrants who arrived after the potato famine. The waves of immigrants also included individuals from China. At the end of this era, the 1860 census categorized individuals as White, Free Colored, Slave, and Indian. These categories are slightly different from those of the 1790 census, but still not indicative of the actual ethnic diversity of the United States. If you were living in this era, think about how your life would have changed when:
If you were living in the late 1800s, your life would have been changed with the first public telephones, cities growing with the development of factories, the first public library, women participating in sports, and a law stating that excluding Blacks from jury duty was unconstitutional. Your culture would be influenced by the railroads crisscrossing the West allowing for greater interaction among cultures, and by the Social Gospel movement. However, racism and prejudices were still an obvious part of the culture of the United States, as seen in the anti-Catholicism movements and the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. Immigrants were still arriving in the United States and New York City was seen as the “melting pot” because Ellis Island became the receiving station for immigrants. This multi-ethnic wave of immigrants can be seen in the 1900 census.
For the first time, the United States census became more indicative of the ethnic diversity of the United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau,
“The enumeration of military and naval personnel (within the country and abroad) was conducted through the Departments of War and the Navy. Similarly, the enumeration of the ‘Indian Territory’ was carried out in cooperation with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Large institutions (prisons, hospitals, etc.) were enumerated through the appointment of special ‘institution’ enumerators.
Enumerators were much more closely supervised during the 1900 Census. In large cities, special agents were appointed to assist the census supervisor. Enumerators used ‘street books,’ in which a record of each enumerator’s work was made on a daily basis. Enumerators used individual census slips for obtaining a correct return for any person (particularly lodgers and boarders) absent at the time of the enumerator’s visit. Additionally, ‘absent family’ schedules were used for securing a complete record for any person residing within the enumeration district, but temporarily absent.”
The 1900 census reported a population of 76,212,168 and categorized individuals as Native White with sub-categories of foreign parents or native parents; foreign white; and colored with sub-categories of Negro, Chinese, Japanese, Indians taxed, and Indians not taxed.
The early 1900s contained different cultural influences from previous decades. Although World War I, Black Thursday, and prohibition influenced our culture, so did the approximately 19 million immigrants from Italy, Russia, Poland, Greece, and the Balkans, and the influence of progressive education. What seems different in the 1900s from other decades is the increase of entertainment-type cultural influences, some of which are still part of our culture today. Think about how your life would have changed with the influence of the following:
The mid 1900s contained expansionist activities of Germany, Italy, and Japan. When the United States became part of World War II, Americans were again exposed to different cultures. This exposure could not help but influence the existing cultures, as individuals were influenced by different cultural values, beliefs, actions, and technology. Within this time frame, the United Nations was formed. The United States was no longer acting in a culture of isolation, but in a culture of cooperation and dissention with individuals and nations with cultures different from our own. The mid 1900s include the debut of television, the space race, and college campuses becoming centers of debate and scenes of protest.
In the mid 1900s to the late 1900s, the cultural norms of the United States indicated that conformity was common. The Civil Rights movement began and the desegregation of schools again contributed to the changing culture of the United States. The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Vietnam War influenced the culture of the United States. How would your life have changed with the introduction of floppy discs, the neutron bomb, Earth Day, the Jim Jones cult, and Apollo 17?
If you compare the 1900 census with the 1970 census, you will notice new categories indicating the changing ethnic diversity of the United States. According to the U.S. Census:
Throughout the 1960s, researchers reported that the population was increasingly resistant to the census. Studies had shown more alienation and distrust of government, and there appeared to be more organized attempts to protest the census. Furthermore, undercounts following the 1950 and 1960 censuses were blamed on the enumerators’ failure to follow instructions. Hence, stress was placed on simplified procedures, training, and quality control. Analysis of the results of the 1960 evaluation program and studies performed in the 1950s and 1960s indicated the reasons for the undercounts were more complex. In particular, a substantial part of the undercount appeared to be due to either deliberate attempts by some segments of the population to be omitted from the census, or the fact that they did not fit into any households by the “conventional rules” of residence. Even where the undercount was due to complete households being missed, the causes were frequently such that additional enumerator training produced only marginal gains.
This analysis led to a two-phase approach to coverage for the 1970 census. The first phase was the use of a basic census methodology that permitted knowledgeable outside sources to have input into the list of housing units established by the census, and provided for automatic checks that enumerators had actually completed a questionnaire for all known housing units. This was done in areas containing about 60% of the population through the creation of an address register independent of the enumeration phase, correction, and updating of the register by U.S. Post Office employees familiar with their routes, and checks by Census Bureau employees to ensure that all housing units on the address register were accounted for when enumerators had completed their assignments.
The 1970 census designates the following categories:
In subsequent census reports, racial groups would change until the 2000 census, which made multiple-race an option in self-reporting an individual’s ethnicity. The United States acknowledged the racial and ethnic changes in the country through a discussion about the U.S. Census. According to the U.S. Census,
“The racial and ethnic makeup of the country has changed since 1977, giving rise to the question of whether those standards still reflect the diversity of the country's present population. In response to this criticism, the OMB (Office of Management and Budget) initiated a review of the Directive. This review included (1) organizing a workshop to address the issues by the National Academy of Science, (2) convening four public hearings, and (3) appointing an Interagency Committee for the Review of Racial and Ethnic Standards, which later developed a research agenda and conducted several research studies. The result of the Committee's efforts was a report describing recommended changes to the Directive. The members of the Committee included representatives of more than 30 agencies that covered the many diverse federal requirements for data on race and ethnicity. In 1997, the OMB accepted almost all of the recommendations of the Interagency Committee, resulting in changes to the standards.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 2.4% of the United States population checked “multiple races,” yet 42% of these were less than 18 years of age. We should ask ourselves whether this is due to increasing birthrates of biracial individuals, or an increased awareness of or pride in biracial roots in the younger generation.
The most profound change to the question on race for Census 2000 is that respondents are allowed to identify one or more races to indicate their racial identity. There are 15 check-box response categories and 3 write-in areas on the Census 2000 questionnaire, compared with 16 check-box response categories and 2 write-in areas in 1990. The three separate identifiers for the American Indian and Alaska Native populations (American Indian, Eskimo, or Aleut) used earlier have been combined into one category -- American Indian or Alaskan Native -- with instructions for respondents who check the box to print the name of their enrolled or principal tribe. The Asian and Pacific Islander category has been split into two categories: Asian, and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. There are six specified Asian and three detailed Pacific Islander categories shown on the Census 2000 questionnaires, as well as Other Asian and Other Pacific Islander, which have write-in areas for respondents to provide other race responses. Finally, the category Some Other Race, which is intended to capture responses such as Mulatto, Creole, and Mestizo, also has a write-in area. All of the responses collected in Census 2000 can be collapsed into the minimum race categories identified in the 1997 revisions to the standards on race and ethnicity issued by the Office of Management and Budget, plus the category “Some Other Race.”
Other changes include terminology and formatting changes, such as spelling out "American" instead of "Amer." for the American Indian or Alaska Native category; and adding "Native" to the Hawaiian response category. In the layout of the Census 2000 questionnaire, the Asian response categories were alphabetized and grouped together, as were the Pacific Islander categories after the Native Hawaiian category. American Indians and Alaska Natives can report one or more tribes. In addition, the question on Hispanic origin is sequenced immediately before the question on race.
According to the United States 2000 census:
In 2001, it was reported that more than one million legal immigrants entered the United States. Relatives already living here sponsored the vast majority, and others were admitted because they possessed special job skills. The largest group of other immigrants was the group granted asylum or designated as refugees. During the same time, about 220,000 foreigners left the United States.
In 2010, respondents were again given the opportunity to self-identify more than one race as required in the OMB. There are 57 possible multiple races combinations involving the five OMB race categories and Some Other Race.
The question on race included 15 separate response categories and three areas where respondents could write-in detailed information about their race. There were three changes to the Hispanic origin question and two changes to the question on race. In addition to White, Black or African American, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Some Other Race, 7 of the 15 response categories are Asian groups and 4 are native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander groups.
According to the United States 2010 Census:
The census bureau is expecting the Hispanic population to be approximately 24% in 2050, the Black population to be 15%, and the Asian population is expected to grow at an even faster rate. The population is expected to be older and, by the year 2050, it is estimated 88.5 million people will be over the age of 65.
We are a diverse nation; we are a nation of many cultures. With this information, we can choose how we respond to our changing world, our changing country. Our diversity enriches our country and our communities. Do we embrace our differences, or do we reject them in favor of the prejudice that would blind us to the opportunities our diversity offers?
References
Banks, J.A. (2006). Cultural diversity and education: Foundations, curriculum, and teaching. Boston:
Pearson, Allyn and Bacon.
D’Souza, D. (1995). The end of racism. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Dwivedi, O.P. (2001). The challenge of cultural diversity for good governance. United Nations Expert
Group Meeting on Managing Diversity in the Civil Service.
Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. New York: Basic Books.
Rauch, J. (2002). Diversity in a new America. Brookings Review, 20(1), 4-48.
Roberts, S. (2004). Who we are now: The changing face of America in the twenty-first century.
New York: Henry Holt and Company.
Sowell, T. (1994). Race and culture: A world view. New York: Basic Books.
Kauchak, D., & Eggen, P. (2008). Introduction to teaching: Becoming a professional. Columbus: Pearson,
Merrill Prentice Hall.