Opinion : Census questions show changes in American society and attitudes

There’s a really easy way to evaluate what is happening in the culture – and minds – of Americans throughout history. Just read the questions their government asks them every 10 years. I have to tell you here, in what journalists call the interests of “full disclosure,” that I have been at times this year, a part-time enumerator working for the U.S.census. The Census is a great part-time job opportunity. It’s also a lesson in government bureaucracy. For example, in our initial training, we were advised to look out for both moose and pick-pockets. We live in a place where neither is an actual threat. I would hate to imagine a city where both present a danger. My first 2010 census gig was part of the operation called UL, or Update/Leave. We updated our census data base for addresses in neighborhoods or areas that pose possible difficulties for identifying addresses, such as a home with no street address posted on it. My current job is part of something that is pronounced “Narfu.” Actually, the operation is called Non-Response Follow-Up. We contact people who have not sent back their census forms, and then ask them the questions. The first few people I spoke to while doing NRFU were my neighbors, who like me, did not get a census form in the mail. Nobody that I have asked at the Census knows why. Other people filled out their form, but forgot to mail it, or lost it. Many of the houses I visited are now vacant because of the flood, or for other reasons. A few people believe that who they are or who lives in their house is none of the government’s business. The government is aware of this, and every document with PII(personally identifiable information) is required by federal law to be kept confidential. That even includes address lists with no names. You could get that information in lots of places, including the Internet, but when it’s part of the Census, we Census people are required to keep it confidential. But back to the issue I raised at the beginning of the this column: There’s really only one question on the 2010 census form that deals at all with any politically-charged issue. That question is: Are you Hispanic? There is also another race question, but every one, even those who say they are white, is asked “are you Hispanic.” The number of immigrants, legal and otherwise, in the U.S., and the political and social issues surrounding Hispanic communities, is the reason for the question. Every 10 years, it seems, the government has asked questions that indicate what was happening in American society at that time. Here are a few examples: From 1790:

1. Name of the head of each household.
2. How many free white males age 16 and older.
3. How many free white males under age 16.
4. How many free white females.
5. How many slaves.

 

From 1800:

• Name of Head of Household (First / Last)
• Number of Free White Males: under 10 years old
• Number of Free White Males: over 10 and under 16
• Number of Free White Males: over 16 and under 26
• Number of Free White Males: over 26 and under 45
• Number of Free White Males: over 45
• Number of Free White Females: under 10 years old
• Number of Free White Females: over 10 and under 16
• Number of Free White Females: over 16 and under 26
• Number of Free White Females: over 26 and under 45
• Number of Free White Females: over 45
• All Free Persons of Color
• Slaves of All Ages

Eighty years later, race was still an issue.

The Census of 1880 asked a question about “color,” specifically asking if people (called “respondents” in Census lingo) were white, Chinese, Mulatto or Indian (native American).

The Census of 1880 also asked about disabilities. One of the choices, along with blind, and deaf and dumb, was “Idiotic.”

The Census also asked, 130 years ago, how many members of the household could not read, or write.

Eighty years later, in 1960, the Census wanted to know how many rural residents had running water, hot and cold. (I’ve been told that some of my relatives, at that time, did not.)

It also asked how many babies each woman had given birth to, and whether males age 14 or older were employed.

Yes, the times have changed.

And you can see in the questions our Census takers ask every 10 years, just how much.