The Constitution requires a census every 10 years. How the government counts people by race has changed substantially over the decades. Racial categories emerged, disappeared, and came back again. Ethnicity became a category distinct from race in the 1980 census because Hispanic people can be of any race. Today, the Census Bureau notes that all race data is based on self-identification. It also states the racial and ethnic categories in census questionnaires “generally reflect a social definition of race recognized in this country and [are] not an attempt to define race biologically, anthropologically, or genetically.”
Reviewing how the Census handled questions of race and ethnicity over the decades sheds light on how the government viewed its people. Changes in how the government collects and counts race and ethnicity data since the first census have affected everything from congressional representation to the enforcement of civil rights laws to the funding of federal programs.
