---
"title": "Census Bureau Pursues New Questions on Race and Hispanic Origin"
"description": "This posting includes links to newly released Census Bureau research on how Americans should be asked about their race and ethnicity. It links to a previous posting that explains the background behind this ground-breaking research."
"date": "2012-08-09"
"authors":
  -
    "name": "D’Vera Cohn"
    "job_title": "Former Senior Writer/Editor"
    "link": "https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/staff/dvera-cohn/"
"url": "https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/social-trends/2012/08/09/census-bureau-pursues-new-questions-on-race-and-hispanic-origin/"
"categories":
  - "Hispanic/Latino Identity"
  - "Race & Ethnicity"
---

# Census Bureau Pursues New Questions on Race and Hispanic Origin

The Census Bureau has released a [lengthy research report](http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/2010_census/cb12-146.html) that endorses dropping the word “Negro” from Census forms, and takes a step down the road toward rewriting the way it asks Americans about their race and ethnic identity. The work is an effort to match categories on the census form with [how Americans see themselves](https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/social-trends/2012/08/07/census-bureau-considers-changing-its-racehispanic-questions/). The [Census Bureau news release](http://www.census.gov/2010census/news/releases/operations/cb12-146.html) said the research represents “the largest quantitative effort ever on how people identify their race and ethnicity to start off the planning cycle for the once-a-decade census.” Links to the report, presentation slides, video and audio from the Census Bureau news conference releasing the report, and a technical session that included provocative commentary from former Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt and New York University scholar Ann Morning, [can be found here.](http://www.census.gov/2010census/news/press-kits/aqe/aqe.html)