The 2020 Census Controversy: What’s the Buzz?

1820 Census with one of my early kin listed, Madison Co. Kentucky.

About 30 years ago I took an interest in tracking my genealogical roots back to Daniel Boone, from whom we were descended according to family lore. The process involved obtaining birth and death records and marriage certificates via county courthouses in Kentucky, To do this required, I discovered, learning the history of Kentucky so you knew which counties were in existence as you went back in time.

Another tool that I found exceedingly useful for carrying out the research was census data, available through our public library on microfilm, which could be rented and viewed on library machines designed for this purpose. And so it was that I viewed every single census from 1790 to 1900, looking for Newmans and kin, but also noting how the questions were updated every ten years to obtain more data on the citizens and other residents here in our country.

It wasn’t until 1820 that a question regarding citizenship was asked. It was worded in this manner, to the head of the household: “Number of foreigners not naturalized.” Over time, the questions began addressing more and more issues including ages of the residents and included breakdown of ages for the family members and ages of the slaves.

The Newman’s lived in the same homestead but by 1900 they were
in Lee County, Kentucky.

In 1830 the naturalization question was asked in this manner: “The number of White persons who were foreigners not naturalized.”

By 1870, after the Civil War, there were no more slavery questions. But there were citizenship questions, and questions about education, and whether household members could read or write. (My Eastern Kentucky kin at that time were illiterate.)

The last year that citizenship questions were asked was in 1950, and I don’t really understand why. Wouldn’t it be good to know how many citizens we have in our country and how many are living here who are not? It’s unfortunate that even basic information like this has become completely politicized.

Then again it was only eight years earlier that the 1940 census data was handed over to the Secret Service by FDR so that 100,000 Japanese Americans could be rounded up and placed in interment camps. (See my blogpost on Executive Order 9066.)

I'm curious what the process is for when people refuse to talk with census takers. Do the census takers report the number of non-participants? How accurate is all this census data anyways?

As you can see, these matters aren’t as easy to unravel as they at first appear. Both Dems and GOP have skin in the game, something to win or lose depending on how the questions are asked.

If citizenship questions are asked, districts with high numbers of immigrants—such as major cities—could lose congressional representation, since census data is used to determine the distribution of federal funding and the number of congressional seats. Right now Congressional districts are drawn based on total populations rather than the number of legal citizens.

If the American Experiment were compared to an automobile, I’d say we’ve missed a turn, left the road and gotten stuck in a swamp. Anybody want to volunteer to hitch a ride back into town to find a tow truck with a winch?