The 1890 U.S. census classified people of African descent as black, mulatto, quadroon, or octoroon, defining "octoroon" as anyone with one-eighth or any trace of black blood, and counted 6,337,980 blacks, 956,989 mulattoes, 105,135 quadroons, and 69,936 octoroons.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by U.S. Census Bureau historical documents and multiple academic/research sources including Pew Research and National Academies references. [tier=gold indep_score=0.867 clusters=3 claim_tier=notable]
Sources
- Racial Reorganization and the United States Census 1850-1930 (seed:relationships_and_lifestyle)
- https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1890/bulletins/demographics/199-colored-population-african-chinese-japanese-indians.pdf (corroboration)
- https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2015/06/11/chapter-1-race-and-multiracial-americans-in-the-u-s-census/ (corroboration)
- https://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/index_of_questions/1890_1.html (corroboration)
- https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/9599/chapter/4 (corroboration)