Week 2 Who Is White Now? Sorting Activity

Aziz Ansari                   Danny Ramadan               Danny Trejo                  Diane Humetewa              Hiroyuki Sandara      

    Indian                             Syrian                              Mexican                      Native American                   Japanese

       Lebron James                       Lucy Liu                   Rachel McAdams                  Rashida Jones

     African American                    Chinese                           White                             Black and White

Your Role: Act as a Census Enumerator - Someone who interviewed individuals for the Census.

Task: Sort the nine individual (photos) per legal decisions in the United States as explained in the readings for this week. With each iteration of the activity, think about the  category of race in which you would be placed.

   You will notice that Census categories change in accordance with the legal decisions presented. First, you will classify the individuals by the 1790 Census classifications [White or Other].  You will then be asked to re-sort the individuals six times throughout this activity.  

  It was the Census' practice to have Census Enumerators classify people's race on Census forms until 1950. Since then, people have self-reported.

  Each survey item will present a new court case and the ensuing Census categories (with exception of 2010 when there was no court case).  

Journal Assignment: After the final sorting activity, please journal your understanding of the court's reasoning for Whiteness, and how this has impacted your understanding of race. Specifically,

1. What are the reasonings for deciding who is White and who is other?

2. What has this taught you about race in the United States?

    **See grading/scoring rubric for this assignment.