Talk:Historical racial and ethnic demographics of the United States

Native American Population
"The United States historically had few Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans, especially before the late twentieth century" The US had historically few Native Americans? What? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:C7D:69D8:5500:2DE3:6359:B7A6:547C (talk) 09:21, 15 July 2019 (UTC)

Asian Pacific Islanders
I understand that historically Pacific Islander Americans were combined with Asian Americans, but this has not always been the case, with at some point Pacific Islanders not counted as a specific designation at all, and more recently separately. Therefore, perhaps this should be reflected in the article.--RightCowLeftCoast (talk) 23:23, 8 May 2013 (UTC)
 * If you want to make some changes, go ahead, but I think that it might be better to keep these two groups together in order to better compare historical population trends. Futurist110 (talk) 08:03, 20 June 2013 (UTC)

Bold... bold everywhere
Why are the tables bolded? Ed [talk] [majestic titan] 11:30, 22 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Do you have any proposals and/or ideas on how to fix this? If so, please do whatever you need to do, since I (unfortunately) don't know how to fix this. Futurist110 (talk) 08:01, 20 June 2013 (UTC)

Visuals?
This is the sort of article that could be greatly assisted by the use of graphs showing, for example, how the proportions varied over the years. Anybody? --Piledhigheranddeeper (talk) 18:03, 22 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Let me try doing something in a couple of days. I'm not sure if I will be able to upload a graph on to Wikipedia, but I can try. Futurist110 (talk) 08:02, 20 June 2013 (UTC)

Reference Section Review
Many links are largely useless now as the Bureau of the Census has cut funding for its online resources on historical data from 1790-1990. Does anyone know how to access these materials? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Funsonian (talk • contribs) 18:21, 27 May 2015 (UTC)


 * Please use the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. Also, for what it's worth, I actually have been in contact with the U.S. Census Bureau in regards to putting these tables back online. (Apparently the U.S. Census Bureau wants to check these tables for errors.) Anyway, I was told (privately, via e-mail) that the U.S. Census Bureau is too busy to do this right now but that it's possible that things would change in regards to this after the completion of the 2020 U.S. Census. (I was told that the U.S. Census Bureau is spending a lot of resources on the 2020 U.S. Census and thus can't afford to focus too much on other priorities right now.) Futurist110 (talk) 05:59, 7 April 2019 (UTC)


 * Anyway, you are very welcome to try e-mailing the U.S. Census Bureau yourself about this, but I would advise you to wait until after the completion of the 2020 U.S. Census. Indeed, I'll personally e-mail them again in 2021 or 2022 and ask them again about putting that article with those tables (that show historical racial and ethnic data for the U.S. and for U.S. states) back online. Futurist110 (talk) 15:48, 8 April 2019 (UTC)

US grammatical standards for percentage notation
All articles pertaining to the US need to be written using US English. Accordingly, it is absolutely, positively, 100.000% incorrect -- incorrect with certainty to at least three decimal places -- to give percentage figures in the form (50,0%), as they are in this article. That is not how a percentage is written *in* the US, and it is not how a percentage will be written *about* the US. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.132.173.40 (talk) 21:38, 2 October 2015 (UTC)

To whomever keeps adding new, incorrectly-formatted statistics, thank you very much for contributing to Wikipedia! Please remember that America is an independent nation, and that cultural sensitivity must be in full force whenever graphical standards differ between nations that share a language. Please format all percentages in the future in the form (50.27%), instead of the incorrect, UK-styled notation (50,27%). Thanks again! SvenrikRoughhauser (talk) 20:32, 5 October 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive http://www.webcitation.org/5noJf4U1Q?url=http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/tab01.pdf to http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/tab01.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20071230015935/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTTable?_bm=y&-context=dt&-reg=DEC_2000_SF2_U_PCT007%3A001 to http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01-1.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110429214029/http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf to http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20141224151538/http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/twps0056.html to http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/twps0056.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20141224151538/http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/twps0056.html to http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/twps0056.html

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Profound bias
Especially since bogus statistics showed up on a racist Make American White Again flyer on the U of M Ann Arbor campus http://www.wnem.com/story/36526242/racist-flyers-found-on-university-of-michigan-campus, this page has to be fixed.

Before doing so I am appealing to those working on it already. The article needs to state at the top that historical racial and ethnic demographics as documented in the Census were and are flawed. For one thing, Native Americans were excluded for decades. And for instance in 1840 color was left to the judgment of the census taker, and as a result historians recognize this particular census as the most egregiously inaccurate. Even today ethnicity questions are flawed, mixing ethnicity, nationality, leaving most nationalities out, etc. We need the census, but it continues to reflect the history of the US as an imperial power that emerged from a settler colony.

My text could easily go at the top of the page. I'll put it there after I can read any other input from editors.

--Katewill (talk) 21:45, 5 October 2017 (UTC)


 * Didn't all U.S. Censuses up to the 1960 one (including the 1960 one) give census enumerators the power to determine people's race/color, though? If so, why exactly would 1840 be particularly inaccurate? Futurist110 (talk) 05:56, 7 April 2019 (UTC)

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External links modified
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Vital statistics
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/17/611898421/u-s-births-falls-to-30-year-low-sending-fertility-rate-to-a-record-low?t=1537884364497

If that's the source for the 2017 data then it doesn't work, because some of the racial categories are completely different! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Spatzenversteher (talk • contribs) 14:14, 25 September 2018 (UTC)

The CDC appears to be actively lying about birth data, I'm not sure why.173.66.17.167 (talk) 15:40, 5 July 2021 (UTC)

3/5 Compromise
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the census would have counted a black person as 3/5 of a person until the 1870 census, right? If that is correct, does this article account for that to give the actual number?
 * No, that was only for working out representation in Congress. Also, that applied to slaves, not to blacks. LastDodo (talk) 13:38, 24 November 2023 (UTC)

Total, not just by state
Some races have national totals for the entire country. Some don't, and are just by state. Pls fix 🥺 Isaiahdeal (talk) 10:50, 21 November 2021 (UTC)