How Race Counts for Hispanic Americans.

Abstract

This report assesses racial differences among Hispanic Americans. Since 1970, the U.S. Census has asked all Americans to identify their race and, separately, whether they are Hispanic. This means Hispanics can be of any race. Data come from the 1980, 1990, and 2000 Censuses and from pre-tabulated summary files from Census 2000. This report classifies Hispanics into three categories: Hispanic Hispanics, black Hispanics, and white Hispanics. Results find substantial differences among these Hispanic racial groups. Hispanic Hispanics are the fastest growing segment, and very likely they will soon be an absolute majority of Hispanic Americans. There are nearly 1 million black Hispanics. These people have a socioeconomic profile much more similar to non-Hispanic blacks than to other Hispanic groups, and their neighborhoods have nearly as many black as Hispanic residents. Many black Hispanic children have a non-Hispanic black mothers or fathers. A very small share of Mexican Americans identify as black. Still, there are nearly a quarter million black Mexicans in the United States. Dominicans and Puerto Ricans are most likely to identify as black, while Cubans mostly identify as white. A table showing the racial composition of the Hispanic population in the United States is appended.(Contains 8 tables.) (SM) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the ori inal document. How Race Counts for Hispanic Americans John R. Logan Lewis Mumford Center University at Albany