Multiracial Americans
Americans with mixed ancestry of two or more races / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Multiracial Americans or mixed-race Americans are Americans who have mixed ancestry of two or more races. The term may also include Americans of mixed-race ancestry who self-identify with just one group culturally and socially (cf. the one-drop rule). In the 2010 United States census, roughly 9 million individuals or 3.2% of the population, self-identified as multiracial.[3][4] There is evidence that an accounting by genetic ancestry would produce a higher number.
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Self-identified multiracial Americans: 10,435,797[1] 3.2% of total U.S. population (2018) According to 2020 census: 33,848,943[2] 10.2% of total U.S. population (2020) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| West: 2.4 million (3.4%) South: 1.8 million (1.6%) Midwest: 1.1 million (1.6%) Northeast: 0.8 million (1.6%) (2006 American Community Survey) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Métis Americans, Louisiana Creoles, Hapas, Melungeons |
The impact of historical racial caste systems, such as that created by admixture between white European colonists and Native Americans, has often led people to identify or be classified by only one ethnicity, generally that of the culture in which they were raised.[5] Prior to the mid-20th century, many people hid their multiracial heritage because of racial discrimination against minorities.[5] While many Americans may be considered multiracial, they often do not know it or do not identify so culturally, any more than they maintain all the differing traditions of a variety of national ancestries.[5]
After a lengthy period of formal racial segregation in the former Confederacy following the Reconstruction Era and bans on interracial marriage in various parts of the country, more people are openly forming interracial unions. In addition, social conditions have changed and many multiracial people do not believe it is socially advantageous to try to "pass" as white. Diverse immigration has brought more mixed race people into the United States, such as a significant population of Hispanics. Since the 1980s, the United States has had a growing multiracial identity movement (cf. Loving Day).[6] Because more Americans have insisted on being allowed to acknowledge their mixed racial origins, the 2000 census for the first time allowed residents to check more than one ethno-racial identity and thereby identify as multiracial. In 2008, Barack Obama was elected as the first biracial President of the United States; he acknowledges both sides of his family and identifies as African-American.[7]
Today, multiracial individuals are found in every corner of the country. Multiracial groups in the United States include many African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Métis Americans, Louisiana Creoles, Hapas, Melungeons and several other communities found primarily in the Eastern US. Many Native Americans are multiracial in ancestry while identifying fully as members of federally recognized tribes.