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 recorded 6,337,980 blacks, 956,989 mulattoes, 105,135 quadroons, and 69,936 octoroons.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by Census Bureau historical documentation, IPUMS instructions, Pew Research analysis, and National Academies review; multiple independent authoritative sources corroborate the categories and figures. [tier=gold indep_score=0.87 clusters=5 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.nationalacademies.org/read/9599/chapter/4 (corroboration)
- https://www.npr.org/2017/12/13/568317026/negro-not-allowed-on-federal-forms-white-house-to-decide (corroboration)
- https://usa.ipums.org/usa/voliii/inst1890.shtml (corroboration)