Definitions of whiteness in the United States

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The cultural boundaries separating White Americans from other racial or ethnic categories are contested and always changing. Most persons considered White today would not have been considered White at a point in U.S. history. Among those not considered white at some time in American history are the Irish, Germans, Ashkenazi Jews, Italians, Spaniards, Slavs, Greeks and other Mediterranean peoples.^[2]

David R. Roediger argues that the construction of the white race in the United States was an effort to mentally distance slaveowners from slaves.^[3] By the 18th century, white had become well established as a racial term.

The process of officially being defined as white by law often came about in court disputes over pursuit of citizenship. The Immigration Act of 1790 offered naturalization only to "any alien, being a free white person". In at least 52 cases, people denied the status of white by immigration officials sued in court for status as white people. By 1923, courts had vindicated a "common-knowledge" standard, concluding that "scientific evidence" was incoherent. Legal scholar John Tehranian argues that in reality this was a "performance-based" standard, relating to religious practices, education, intermarriage and a community's role in the United States.^[4]

The 2000 U.S. census states that racial categories "generally reflect a social definition of race recognized in this country. They do not conform to any biological, anthropological or genetic criteria."^[5] It defines "white people" as "people having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.^[6] In U.S. census documents, the designation white or Caucasian overlaps with the term Hispanic, which was introduced in the 1980 census as a category of ethnicity, separate and independent of race.^[7] In cases where individuals do not self-identify, the U.S. census parameters for race give each national origin a racial value.

The U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation also categorizes "white people" as "people having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa through racial categories used in the UCR Program adopted from the Statistical Policy Handbook (1978) and published by the Office of Federal Statistical Policy and Standards, U.S. Department of Commerce. ^[8]

The official definition of race used in the Census and other data collection gives national origin a racial value. This can be problematic for groups such as Middle Eastern Americans, some of whom may not consider themselves white, but are encompassed in the official definition.

Throughout history there have been many definitions of white and these definitions are rarely explicitly defined. Due to lack of scientific consensus, races are commonly self-defined based on personal subjective criteria.

Contents 1 European Americans 1.1 German Americans 1.2 Irish Americans 1.3 Eastern European and Slavic Americans 1.4 Italian Americans 2 Hispanic Americans 2.1 Mexican Americans 2.2 Hispanic Caribbean 3 Native Americans 4 North African and Middle Eastern Americans 4.1 Jewish and Israeli Americans 5 Asian Americans 6 African Americans 7 Muslim Americans and Zoroastrians 8 References 9 See also

[edit] European Americans

[edit] German Americans

Large numbers of Germans migrated to the United States between the 1680s and 1760s. Many settled in the English colony of Pennsylvania. In the 18th century, many persons of English descent harbored resentment towards the increasing number of German settlers. Benjamin Franklin in "Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, etc.", complained about the increasing influx of German Americans, stating that they had a negative influence on the early United States. The only exception were Germans of Saxon descent "who with the English, make the principal Body of White People on the Face of the Earth. I could wish their Numbers were increased". Benjamin Franklin most likely thought favorably of the Saxons because Anglo-Saxons like him were thought to be the descendants of Saxon invaders to Britain.

Unlike most European immigrant groups whose acceptance as white came gradually over the course of the late 19th century (that is, in U.S. colloquial definitions, since all Europeans had been white by legal U.S. definition), German immigrants quickly came to be accepted as white.^[9] By the late 19th century, despite some lingering nativist resentment towards new arrivals, Germans, along with Scandinavians and the Dutch, were included with the British as America's old stock, and thought of as racially superior to later immigrants from southern and eastern Europe.

[edit] Irish Americans

In the 19th century, Irish Americans, often immigrants, were often discriminated against because of their heritage majority Catholic religion.

According to historian George Potter, the media often stereotyped the Irish in America as being boss-controlled, violent (both among themselves and with those of other ethnic groups), voting illegally, prone to alcoholism, and dependent on gangs that were often violent or criminal. Potter quotes contemporary newspaper images:^[10]

Irish Americans were not considered truly white until the idea of white shifted to an identity that contrasted themselves with black slaves ^[3] and newer, less Americanized immigrant groups began to arrive.

[edit] Eastern European and Slavic Americans

Slavic Americans were classified as legally white upon their arrival at Ellis Island. Due to large numbers, legislation was also passed, such as the Immigration Act of 1924 to restrict and reduce their further entry. But they were allowed citizenship and full participation in American society.

A wide variety of ethnic groups from Eastern, South-Eastern and Central Europe: Armenian, Polish, Albanian, Hungarian, Czech, Croat, Bosniak, Serb, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Ukrainian and Bulgarian, established communities in American major cities in the early 20th century, especially in New York City and Chicago.

[edit] Italian Americans

Mass immigration to the United States from Italy occurred during the late 19th and early 20th century. Italians often fell victim to stereotypes of criminal involvement, anti-Catholicism, ethnic and cultural prejudices, and violence. Anti-Italian violence caused lynching in Tampa;^[11] and eleven Italian immigrants in New Orleans, one of the largest mass lynchings in United States history. The Immigration Act of 1924 reduced the entry of Italians into the United States. Southern Italians were classified as a different nationality primarily at the request of their northern Italian counterparts who were considered "superior peoples" of Italy.^[12].

Today, some 17 million[2] to 25 million[3] Americans claim Italian descent. Most Italian Americans live within urban areas in northeastern states like New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, but there are also numerous Italian Americans in states like Illinois, Florida, Ohio, and California.

[edit] Hispanic Americans

Hispanic Americans are those whose ancestry can be traced to Spain or its former colonies (as opposed to Latinos who also include descendants of Portugal, France,Italy and their respective colonies).^{[citation needed]} While Latin Americans have a broad array of ethnic, racial and cultural backgrounds, they all tend to be erroneously labeled as Hispanic as well as erroneously given a "racial" value.^[13]

On the 2000 U.S. Census form, race and ethnicity are distinct questions. A respondent who checks the "Hispanic or Latino" ethnicity box must also check one or more of the 5 official race categories. Of the over 35 million Hispanics or Latinos in the United States Census, 2000, a plurality of 48.6% identified as "White-Hispanic," 48.2% identified as "Hispanic-Hispanic" (most of whom are presumed to be mestizos), and the remaining 3.2% identified as "black-Hispanic."

Judging by census intermarriage statistics, even non-white "Hispanics" — that is, mestizos and mulattos — may be in the process of integrating into the majority community. Mestizos and mulattos are often considered or consider themselves non-white.

The media and Hispanic community leaders in the United States refer to Hispanics as a separate group from "whites" and the "white majority". This may be because "white" is often used as shorthand for "non-Hispanic white." Federal agencies' standards have been confused in this regard. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission once explicitly defined Hispanics as a separate and distinct "ethnicity,"^[14] but now their forms follow the Census Bureau in separating "ethnic" and "racial" identity.^[15]

Recently many Americans are beginning to oppose the separation of Hispanic from non-Hispanic, especially White Hispanic from non-Hispanic White, seeing it as a form of ethnic discrimination. This can be considered true given that all Hispanics, regardless of race, are included in Affirmative Action programs.^[16][17]

[edit] Mexican Americans

The official racial status of Mexican Americans has varied throughout American history. From 1850 to 1920, the U.S. Census form did not distinguish between whites and Mexican Americans.^[18] In 1930, the U.S. Census form asked for "color or race," and census enumerators were instructed to write W for White and Mex for Mexican.^[19] In 1940 and 1950, the instructions were to "Report white (W) for Mexicans unless they are definitely of Indian or other nonwhite race."^[18]

When Mexicans were uniformly allotted white status, they were permitted to intermarry with what today are termed non-Hispanic whites (unlike blacks and Asians).^{[citation needed]} They were allowed to acquire U.S. citizenship upon arrival; served in all-white units during World War II; could vote and hold elected office in places such as Texas, especially San Antonio; ran the state politics and constituted most of the elite of New Mexico since colonial times; and went to integrated schools in Central Texas and Los Angeles.^{[citation needed]} Additionally, Asians were barred from marrying Mexican Americans because Mexicans were legally white, while Asians were not.^{[citation needed]}

U.S. nativists in the late 1920s and 1930s tried to put a halt to Mexican immigration by having Mexicans (and Mexican Americans) declared non-white, by virtue of their Indian heritage. They based their strategy on a 1924 law that barred entry to immigrants who were ineligible for citizenship, and at that point, only blacks and whites, and not Asians or Native Americans, could naturalize. The test case came in December 1935, when a Buffalo, N.Y., judge rejected Jalisco-native Timoteo Andrade's application for citizenship on the grounds that he was a "Mexican Indian." Had it not been for the intervention of the Mexican and American governments, who forced a second hearing, this precedent could very well have made most Mexicans, the majority of whom are mestizo, ineligible for citizenship.^[20]

During the Great Depression, Mexicans were largely considered non-white.^{[citation needed]} As many as 400,000 Mexicans and Mexican Americans were deported in a decade-long effort by the government called the Mexican Repatriation.^[21]

In the early 1970s, Chicano activists switched from the "other white race" to "the other minority" strategy as a way to fight discrimination. Just as whiteness once offered the best prospect of protected civil rights, the emergence of race-based policies such as affirmative action and the Voting Rights Act created incentives for them to highlight the nonwhite side of their mixed heritage.^[20]

In the 2000 U.S census, around half of all persons of Mexican or Mexican American origin in the U.S. checked white to register their race (in addition to stating their Mexican national origin).^[22] Mexican Americans are the largest White Hispanic group in the United States.

[edit] Hispanic Caribbean

Caribbean countries such as Cuba,^[23][24][25] Puerto Rico and especially the Dominican Republic have a complex ethnic heritage since they include an indigenous and African legacies. Africans were imported to the islands in throughout the colonial period (and indeed Blacks accompanied the first Spanish explorers, with more arriving to harvest sugar in the 20th century prior to the Revolution^[26]).

Cuban Americans exemplify this complex ethnic status. The Cuban exiles that entered the United States before 1959 tended to appear white, due to connectedness of social class and race in Cuba.^[27] Their appearance allowed them to pass as white. (This passing was consistent with Cuban preferences for whiteness that stemmed from racism in Cuba itself.^[27]) Their passing "allowed them to feel superior over other racial and ethnic groups and to make claims to rights and privileges, as well as to justify their discriminatory practices and hostilities by attributing immorality and evil intent to these other groups."^[27] This shift to whiteness upon arrival has been challenged by Cuban-Americans and others, but it continues among new arrivals, even as post-Mariel Cuban immigrants are darker-skinned.^[27]

[edit] Native Americans

In Oklahoma, state laws identified Native Americans as white people during Jim Crow-era segregation.^[28]

In the late 19th and 20th century, Native Americans were seen as people without a future to be assimilated into a larger American culture. Tribal membership was frequently defined according to so-called blood quantum standards, so that "mixed race" children were eventually excluded. This led to the classification of increasing numbers of people with Native ancestry as white, a trend that has been reversed in the census figures of recent decades which show increasing self-identification as Native American.^[28]

[edit] North African and Middle Eastern Americans

Under the U.S. Census definition and U.S. federal agency groupings, North African Americans and Middle Eastern Americans (including Arab Americans, Armenian Americans, Iranian Americans, and Turkish Americans) are classified as white as they have the same anthropological ancestry.^{[citation needed]} The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regulations also explicitly define white as "original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East."^{[citation needed]}

In the United States, common social understandings of "white" exclude Muslims even if they appear white, in contrast to the country's official government definition.^[29]

It is to be noted that many North African and Middle Easterner Americans would not consider themselves "white." An Egyptian man once sued the U.S. government to have "white" removed from his immigration documents.^[30]

[edit] Jewish and Israeli Americans

According to one source — although not supported by census records of the period which recorded all Jews as white — European Jews in America did not become accepted as 'white' until the 1940s.^[31] As early as 1911, German/American-Jewish anthropologist Franz Boas (1858-1952) purported in The Mind of Primitive Man, that "no real biological chasm separated recent immigrants from Mayflower descendants."^[32] Therefore claims of difference were based on prejudice, whether religious or ethno-cultural, and had no biological basis.

Anti-Semitism was prevalent in the world, including the United States, in the early part of the 20th century, but after World War II, public attitudes toward Jewish Americans changed to more positive depictions, and American Jews enjoy a relative acceptance. Nonetheless, Neo-Nazis and white supremacists continue to deny them recognition as whites.

A person who responds Israeli to the Ancestry question in the United States Census but refuses to respond to the Race question will be categorized as white, even though not all Israelis are of European (Ashkenazi or Sephardi) or Middle Eastern (Mizrahi, or Israeli Arabs, Druze) descent. They may be Jews of Ethiopian (Beta Israel), Yemenite (considered by some a Mizrahi subgroup) or Indian descent.

[edit] Asian Americans

See also: Racial classification of Indian Americans

Starting the mid-19th century, the United States experienced significant immigration from the countries of Asia, followed by reactions, such as the Workingman's Party, against Chinese and later other Asian immigrants as competitors with white labor, and fears (Yellow Peril) that Asians could outnumber the white population in some areas and become dominant.

The Naturalization Act of 1790 restricted naturalized American citizenship to whites.^[33] (However, United States v. Wong Kim Ark in 1898 confirmed citizenship by birth in the US regardless of race.) As a result, in the early 20th century many new arrivals with origins in the Asian continent petitioned the courts to be legally classified as white, and hence there exist many United States Supreme Court rulings on their "Whiteness". Armenians were classified by the courts as white with help from the testimony of anthropologist Franz Boas.^[33] In 1922, the court case Takao Ozawa v. United States deemed Japanese to be not legally white, even though they had light skin, since it considered them to be part of the Mongoloid race. Less than a year later, the court contradicted itself by concluding that Asian Indians are not legally white, even though a proportion of anthropologists classified some Indians as at least partially Caucasians, instead declaring that whiteness should be based on "the common understanding of the white man."

Associate Justice George Sutherland found that, while Thind, an Asian Indian, may have had "purity of Aryan blood'" due to having "high caste" status and being "born in Punjab" he was not Caucasian in the "common understanding", so he could not be included in the "statutory category as white persons".^[34] Associate Justice George Sutherland wrote in his summary:

^[34]

“

The eligibility of this applicant for citizenship is based on the sole fact that he is of high caste Hindu stock, born in Punjab, one of the extreme northwestern districts of India, and classified by certain scientific authorities as of the Caucasian or Aryan race...In the Punjab and Rajputana, while the invaders seem to have met with more success in the effort to preserve their racial purity, intermarriages did occur producing an intermingling of the two and destroying to a greater or less degree the purity of the “Aryan” blood. The rules of caste, while calculated to prevent this intermixture, seem not to have been entirely successful... the given group [Asian Indian] cannot be properly assigned to any of the enumerated grand racial divisions. The type may have been so changed by intermixture of blood as to justify an intermediate classification. Something very like this has actually taken place in India. Thus, in Hindustan [India] and Berar [town in India] there was such an intermixture of the “Aryan” invader with the dark-skinned Dravidian. [34]

”

In Jim Crow era Mississippi, however, Chinese American children were allowed to attend white-only schools and universities, rather than attend black-only schools, and some of their parents became members of the infamous Mississippi "White Citizens' Council" who enforced policies of racial segregation.^{[35] [36] [37]}

[edit] African Americans

Main Who is African American and Admixture in the US

Owing to the one-drop theory in the United States, Americans with any known African ancestry, no matter how slight, have often been categorized as black. Those of Hispanic, Middle Eastern or North African heritage have been an exception, in that those who look European, or occasionally even those appearing mixed, are not labeled "black" though they may have some sub-Saharan African ancestry, perhaps even acknowledging it.

Laws dating from 17th century colonial America that defined children excluded children of at least one black parent from the status of being white. Early legal standards did so by defining the race of a child based on a mother's race while banning interracial marriage, while later laws defined all people of some African ancestry as black, under the principle of hypodescent. These laws ensured that the children of slaves were available as labor to their parent's master and furthered racist standards of white women's "purity" under threat from black sexual "contamination." Some 19th century categorization schemes defined people with one black parent (the other white) as mulatto, with one black grandparent as quadroon and with one black great grandparent as octoroon. The latter categories remained within an overall black or African-American category. Some members of these categories passed temporarily or permanently as white.^[38] Until the Civil War, racial identity depended on the combination of their appearance, African blood fraction, and social circle.^[39]

However, since several thousand blacks have been crossing the color line each year, the phenomenon known as "passing for white", millions of White Americans have recent African ancestors. A statistical analysis done in 1958 estimated that 21 percent of the white population had African ancestors. The study concluded that the majority of Americans of African descent were actually White and not Black^[40].

[edit] Muslim Americans and Zoroastrians

People who reported their race as the following religions Muslim, Shi'ite, Sunni or Zoroastrianism in the "Some other race" section are automatically categorized as whites in the 2000 US Census.^[41]

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• White American
• Racial demographics of the United States
• Race and ethnicity in the United States Census