DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Title

Check All that Apply: The Census and the Multiracial Population

Authors

Nina Grant, Director of Minority Programs, College of Agriculture, Iowa State University
Cecilia Olivares, Graduate Assistant, Minority Student Affairs, Iowa State University

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

October 2001

In this presentation, we introduce the idea that different definitions of being multiracial and attitudes toward acknowledging mixed-raced origins might have affected the 2000 census enumeration of the multiracial population. How multiracial people self-identify and how society identifies multiracial people has become an escalating debate among many people. Because more Americans than ever are claiming their multiracial heritages, how they deal with the "other" category, or other restrictions to answering race and ethnicity questions ("Please check only one") is one of the most compelling issues in society today.