diversity traces
an interactive lens on multi-racial families in the United States · 1860-2020
When looking at diversity from a racial perspective, homogenous communities are still the norm, as they remain siloed not only locally, but in their very own households as well. This visualization project comes as a celebration of the fringe couples and families who have a multi-racial identity, effectively embodying the intermingling of races, and dissolving the systemic barriers put on their very own existence.
According to the census, there are only vestiges of these multi-racial families until 1960. Prior to that, the census enumerator was responsible for categorizing persons, while after 1970 race was reported by someone in the household. In 1967, Loving v. Virginia ended restrictions on multi-racial marriage. Only after 2000 people can identify as being of multiple races. More recently, there has been a surge of multi-racial families in the data, but they are still a rarity, still mere traces of diversity in America.
In this visualization you can see every registered multi-racial couple in America, for recent periods in 1-5% samples of the population, and for older periods in 100% samples of the population. Each couple is represented as a colorful chromosome, enabling you to see the races within each family, their ages, sexes, and children. For each year, these couples are organized by rarest multi-racial group first, by ascending average age of the couple, and by number of children. This means that in each group you will first see couples with no children, but as you navigate towards the end a group, you will see couples with more children. In 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ended restrictions on same-sex marriages. Only in recent years you will be able to see same-sex couples. In addition to race, individuals who identify themselves as latino/as are also marked with an L.
percentage of couples in
the United States
are multi-racial
visualizing xxxx multi-racial couples
out of a total of XXXXXXX couples
in a XX sample of the U.S. population
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