The following was sent to me by Earl Jobe. It appeared in his paper today and I thought all of you would like to read it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CHANGING RACIAL CATEGORIES The racial and ethnic categories used in the US census have changed constantly since the first census in 1790. 1790 "Free white males", "free white females", "all other free persons" and "slaves". 1850 Separate categories for "color", "free inhabitants", and "slave inhabitants". 1860 "Civilized Indian" added for Indians living in general population. 1870 "Mulatto" added for "any person with perceptible trace of African blood"; Chinese added. 1880 "Indians on reservations" included. 1890 Blacks further categorized as "mulatto", "quadroon"; Indians now included anyone with trace of Indian blood; Japanese added. 1900 "Negro" used for the first time; "Indian tribe" added. 1910 "Other race" used for the first time. 1930 Mexican, Filipino, Hindu, Korean added; any mixture of white and another race was counted as the race of the non-white parent. 1940 Mexicans listed as white unless definitely some other race. 1950 Hindu, Korean removed; census taker filled in specific race under "other races". 1960 Hawaiian, Aleut, Eskimo added; European, Near Eastern nationalities recorded. 1970 Korean added; "Negro" replaced with "Negro or black". 1980 Racial self-identification allowed; race groups were: white, black, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian/Pacific Islander; Hispanics identified as an ethnic group. 1990 14 categories for national origin added. 2000 Respondent can report more than one race. - Source: Government Information Quarterly<br clear=all><hr>Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at <a href="http://explorer.msn.com">http://explorer.msn.com</a><br></p>