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Archiver > SLAVE-OWNERS > 2001-03 > 0985404853


From: "plynne" <>
Subject: [SLAVE-OWNERS] Re: Census instructions -- oops
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 22:34:13 -0500


Well I see I misread the "not"s. And the instruction actually makes sense.

That reminds me that when I was a newspaper reporter, one of the rules was
that we were always to write: so-and-so was found "innocent" rather than
found "not guilty" because it's easy to lose a "not " or simply miss it in
reading.

Anyway, my apologies for not reading more carefully.

Lynne
-----Original Message-----
From: plynne <>
To: <>
Date: Friday, March 23, 2001 8:06 PM
Subject: [SLAVE-OWNERS] Census instructions


I870 census instructions:
"Color.—It must not be assumed that, where nothing is written in this
column, "White" is to be understood. The column is always to be filled. Be
particularly careful in reporting the class Mulatto. The word is here
generic, and includes quadroons, octoroons, and all persons having any
perceptible trace of African blood. Important scientific results depend upon
the correct determination of this class in schedules 1 and 2."

Fascinating instructions: The color is *always* to be filled in, but if it
isn't, it's white.

What kind of scientific results do you suppose were anticipated in the issue
of mulatto?

There's also an interesting section on "qualified to vote" question which
says that color is not a bar to voting -- and if it is, that is violence,
not law and should not be reported in the census as unqualified to vote.

All the census instructions are interesting and useful in understanding the
census entries. I wish the census enumerators had read and followed them.

The web site address for the census instructions are available in our
archives.

Lynne Hundley


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