Occasionally American Indian: Joining, Leaving, and Staying in the AIAN Race Category, 2000-2010

• In Event: 381 - Regular Session. Indigenous Peoples 2

Abstract

The number of American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) responses in successive censuses has increased for decades. We decompose the newest decennial increase –2000 to 2010 – using uniquely-suited linked data which allows us to know a person’s race and Hispanic response(s) in both years. For example, we describe the characteristics of those who self-reported single-race non-Hispanic AIAN in both censuses (727,000), and compare them to those who joined that population (308,000) and those who left that population by 2010 (299,000). Few multiracial or Hispanic American Indians kept the same race/ethnic response over the decade. We test prior ideas about who joins, stays, or leaves the populations of single-race and multiple-race Hispanic and non-Hispanic AIANs.

Authors

• Carolyn A. Liebler, University of Minnesota

• Renuka Bhaskar, U.S. Census Bureau

• Leticia E. Fernandez