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NATIVE CULTURE

Why Does the Government Care about Race?

PBS Origins | January 12, 2025



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Why does the government care about race? If we’re all more than our race, why is the federal government keeping track of it? Today we dive into the history of the US census – from its dark history of voter disenfrachisement to the present day where that same information is used to fight gerrymandering.


Written and Hosted by: Danielle Bainbridge
Produced by: Complexly for PBS Digital Studios

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Origin of Everything is a show about the undertold histories and cultural dialogues that make up our collective story. From the food we eat, to the trivia and fun facts we can’t seem to get out of our heads, to the social issues we can’t stop debating, everything around us has a history. Origin of Everything is here to explore it all. We like to think that no topic is too small or too challenging to get started!

Works Cited Compiled:

https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/about/history.html
https://www.census.gov/dmd/www/pdf/d-61b.pdf
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/2020-census/about.html
https://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2014/jan/09/us-census-bureau/americans-must-answer-us-census-bureau-survey-law-/
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/30/what-to-know-about-the-citizenship-question-the-census-bureau-is-planning-to-ask-in-2020/
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2007-title13/pdf/USCODE-2007-title13.pdf
https://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/index_of_questions/1790_1.html
https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/why-census-is-right-to-ask-for-racial-and-ethnic-data/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/02/06/theres-a-big-problem-with-how-the-census-measures-race/?utm_term=.8ca51a47b2b9
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/yes-the-census-should-be-tracking-race-and-ethnicity/2018/01/23/569bfa88-fc8b-11e7-ad8c-ecbb62019393_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.0d04827af8ec
https://www.census.gov/about/our-research/race-ethnicity.html
https://www.census.gov/topics/population/race/about.html
https://www.census.gov/acs/www/about/why-we-ask-each-question/race/
https://oversight.house.gov/hearing/the-pros-and-cons-of-making-the-census-bureaus-american-community-survey-voluntary/
https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/operations_admin/Groves_Testmony_ACS_Voluntary_March2012.pdf
https://psmag.com/social-justice/pros-and-cons-of-a-technologically-dependent-census
http://www.aei.org/publication/the-pros-and-cons-of-making-the-census-bureaus-american-community-survey-voluntary/
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/07/researchers-think-they-ve-found-much-better-way-conduct-2030-us-census
https://www.history.com/news/census-changes-controversy-citizenship
https://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/overview/1790.html
https://www.npr.org/2017/12/13/568317026/negro-not-allowed-on-federal-forms-white-house-to-decide
http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/spring07/elections.cfm

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