White people

This article is about racial classification of people. For White (disambiguation), see White people (disambiguation).

White (also White people, White race or Whites) is one of various color metaphors for race used as a form of classification of people. Though literally implying light-skinned, "White" has been used in different ways at different times and places. Like other color metaphors commonly employed to categorise human ethnic or racial groups, its precise definition is unclear with no common standard. Many scientists have pointed out the problem of an arbitrary number of categories being chosen and the gradations between categories.

Although different definitions of "White" vary, the most common feature is that the term refers to people with origins in the original peoples of Europe . By this definition, the areas of the world that are considered to have a predominantly population "White" include all of the countries of Europe, as well as Argentina, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States of America, and Uruguay . This makes the term "White" very general with a vague and imprecise meaning. There are a very wide range of nationalities, languages, traditions, and religions that can be found in all of the above nations.

Across the globe, and especially throughout the Western Hemisphere, a person's consideration as "White" has been affected by past or present colloquial, scientific and legal understandings , including definitions based for such purposes as censuses, anti-miscegenation laws, affirmative action, and racial quotas . These factors and the groups they involve are explored throughout the article.

Genetic History of Europe

This section describes demographic and genetic flow into Europe. For a broader, more detailed view of Human migrations, see that article.

Paleolithic

The prehistory of the European peoples can be traced by the examination of archaeological sites, linguistic studies, and by the examination of the sequence of bases of DNA of the people who live in Europe now, or from recovered ancient DNA . Much of this research is ongoing, with discoveries still being continually made, and theories rise and fall. Even the broad consensus, based initially upon the analysis of mitochondrial DNA, but confirmed by Y-chromosome lineages and most recently by autosomal polymorphisms (indels, Alu sequences, SNPs, etc.), that early man migrated out of Africa 65-85,000 years ago has its critics ,

The human species (homo sapiens) began to colonize Europe from Africa about 35 millennia ago, arriving along two major channels on either side of the Black Sea . Very quickly—by about 25 millenia ago—the prior inhabitants (our cousin species H. neanderthalensis) became extinct . About 22 millennia ago, glaciers began to cover Europe, rendering much of the region uninhabitable . The inhabitants fled to areas along the northern Mediterranean coastline. When the glaciers receded about 16 millennia ago, the populations that had taken refuge were joined by many other waves of peoples from Asia and Africa to re-colonize the newly inhabitable region , . Their descendants became the hunter-gatherers who occupied Europe until the advent of agriculture . Then, about eight millennia ago, farming spread from Asia throughout Europe, bringing the Indo-European family of languages along with themthe new technology .

Indo-Europeans

Theories about the origins of the Indo-European language center around a hypothetical Proto-Indo-European people, who are traced, in the Kurgan hypothesis, to somewhere north of the Black Sea, or possibly Anatolia around 6000–4000 BCE. They domesticated the horse, and spread their culture and genes across Europe. To what extent they replaced the indigenous Mesolithic peoples is debated, but a consensus has been reached that technology and language transfer played a more important role in this process than actual gene-flow.

The Basques of the Pyrenees and the Saami of Finland both have distinctive pre-Indo-European genetic markers and speak non-Indo-European languages , though it is possible their languages may derive from post-Paleolithic but pre-Indo-European migration. (Dene-Caucasian and Uralic hypotheses) Some neighboring non-Basque areas of Northern Spain, as well as the Welsh, have also been found to share high levels of these genetic markers with the Basques .

Asiatic tribes

Over the next six millennia, Europe was repeatedly swept by successive waves of settlers and invaders from central and eastern Asia. Asian autosomal DNA makes an important contribution to the gene pools of Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, present at frequencies ranging from almost 50% in Lapland to between 7 and 13% in Finland, Russia and Hungary. No country or population is "free" of these markers, which steadily decline from the Urals towards the western Europe. West of the Urals these markers increase in frequency sharply. Contrary to some older racial theories, Finnish speakers are not especially Asiatic people, but are genetically closer to their Scandinavian and Baltic neighbours, who, like all the European populations also have some proportion of the same DNA markers. The closest relatives of Finns (and probably other Finnic peoples) are Germanic speakers. (L. Cavalli-Sforza, Menozzi, Piazza The history of geography of human genes (1994)) Huns, Mongols and Tatars are possible sources of this admixture, as the non-negligible frequency of Haplogroup N in the population implies. Haplogroup N is a Haplogroup of Siberian origins, but which is also common from Eastern Europe to Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

An interesting case is the genetic marker known as Haplogroup R1a. Although it is believed to be of European Paleolithic origins and is very frequent in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe, it is also one of the most important genetic markers to be found in numerous Asian populations and in India and Pakistan.

North and Northeast African influences

There are a number of genetic markers which are characteristic of Horn African and North African populations which are to be found in European populations signifying ancient and modern population movements across the Mediterranean. These markers are to be found particularly in Mediterranean Europe but some are also prevalent, at low levels, throughout the continent. Y-chromosome haplogroup E-M81, a derivative of Haplotype E3b which arrived in North Africa from the Horn of Africa in the Neolithic, is specific to North African populations and absent in Europe except for Iberia (Spain and Portugal) and Sicily. The general parent Y-chromosome Haplogroup E3b, which originated in modern day Somalia, is by far the most common in North and Northeast Africa, and is present throughout the majority of Europe, particularly in Mediterranean and South Eastern Europe, reaching its highest concentration in Sicily (27.3%), Albania (25.0%) and Greece (23.8%), but also with an important presence in countries like Germany, Austria or England[1]. The spread of E3b can be traced to migrations in the Neolithic from the Horn of Africa throughout North Africa and the Middle East as well as to more recent exchanges across the Mediterranean. mtDNA Haplotype 5 (p49/TaqI), common in Morocco, is also found in the Iberian peninsula, and a decreasing North-South cline of frequency clearly establishes a gene flow from North Africa towards Iberia which is consistent with eight centuries of Moorish presence in the peninsula.[2] Genetic studies on Iberian populations also show that North African sequences (haplogroup U6) and sub-Saharan sequences (Haplogroup L), present values which are much higher than those generally observed in Europe, although very low levels of Haplotype U6 have also been detected in Sicily. It happens also to be a characteristic genetic marker of the Saami populations of Northern Scandinavia.[3] It is difficult to ascertain that U6's presence is the consequence of Islam's expansion in Europe during the Middle Ages, particularly because it is more frequent in the north of the peninsula rather than in the south. It may also be the result of neolithic expansion from North Africa. On the other hand, the distribution of mtDNA Haplogroup L is consistent with modern historical data, being more frequent in southern Iberia than in the north. Islamic domination, as well as the slave trade in the 15th century, is likely to have been a factor leading to its presence in modern-day Southern Portuguese populations.

Sub-Saharan African slaves

Finally, aside from E3b, sub-Saharan African DNA is scattered throughout the European continent. Not every population has been studied yet, but enough have so that a picture is starting to emerge. The amount of black admixture in Europe today ranges from a few percent in Iberia to almost nil around the Baltic. It seems to show a decreasing cline from the southwest to the northeast, which corresponds with the areas most affected by the African slave trade.

According to a summary study by Pereira et al. 2005, sub-Saharan mtDNA L haplogroups were found at rates of 0.62% in a German-Danish sample, 1% in the British, 3.83% in Iberians (Portuguese and Spanish), 2.38% in Albanians, 2.86% in Sardinians and 0.94% in Sicilians.

Sub-Saharan African Y-chromosomes are much less common in Europe, for the reasons discussed above. However, Haplogroups E(xE3b) and Haplogroup A spread to Europe due to migrations from Northeast Africa, rather than the slave trade. The haplotypes have been detected in Portugal (3%), Spain (0.42%), Germany (2%), Austria (0.78%), France (2.5% in a very small sample), Italy (0.45%), Sardinia (1.6%) and Greece (0.27%). By contrast, North Africans have about 5% paternal black admixture. For more details, see Sub-Saharan DNA admixture in Europe.

For a global perspective on this topic, see Atlas of the Human Journey, World Haplogroups Maps, Origins of Europeans and Genetic Structure of Human Populations.

Terminology

Pre-modern usage of White may not correspond to current concepts. Europeans who traveled to Northeast Asia in the 17^th century applied White to the people they encountered (see suggested readings below) — the term having no other connotations at that time — and indeed, even today the name of the Bai people of Yunnan, China translates as "white".

As European colonization of the Americas and eventually other parts of the world brought Europeans into close contact with other peoples, the term White and other contrasting racial colour terms, such as black, brown, yellow, and red, etc, came into wide use as a quick shorthand to refer to race.

By the 18^th century, "White" had begun shifting in meaning and started showing signs of becoming an exclusive label. European people, including European colonists in the New World, defined the other people with reference to "White." "Black" or "brown" people came to be defined by having darker skin than a "White" person, and the same "color" came to be applied to all non-white people.

Historical use of the term in the United States

Race in the US Federal Census
The 7th federal census, in 1850, asked for Color:[4] white black mulatto
The 10th federal census, in 1880, asked for Color:[5] white black mulatto Chinese Indian
The 22nd federal census, in 2000, had a "short form"[6] that asked two race/ancestry questions: 1.Is the person Spanish/Hispanic/Latino? 2.What is the person's race? White Black, African American American Indian or Alaska Native 10 choices for Asian and Pacific Islander Other This census acknowledged that "the race categories include both racial and national-origin groups." See also Race (U.S. Census)
Race in the UK Census
Census 2001 asked for a person's ethnic group:[7] White British Any other White background Mixed White and Black Caribbean White and Black African White and Asian Any other Mixed background Asian or Asian British Indian Pakistani Bangladeshi Any other Asian background Black or Black British Caribbean African Any other Black background Chinese or other ethnic group Chinese Any other

The most recent United States Census (2000) defined the 'White' race as follows: "The term White refers to people having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa." It includes people who indicated their race or races as "White" or wrote in entries such as Irish, German, Italian, Israeli, Syrian, Lebanese, Portuguese, Polish and Scottish.

A flaw in current official US government parameters for race is that it gives national origin a racial value. Given the differences between common US understandings of white versus the official parameters, it can be somewhat problematic for peoples of Middle Eastern and North African heritage who for one reason or another are not commonly seen in social circles as white but are encompassed in the official definition. Reasons for this may include the heterogeneity of their populations, religious, linguistic or ancestral differences (please see below).

Another predicament is that by simply responding Israeli in the US census can lead to a person being categorised as "White". This disregards whether or not that Israeli (if Jewish) is actually of European descent (Ashkenazi), or for example, of Ethiopian descent (Falasha), Yemenite descent (Teimani), Indian descent (Indian Jews), etc.

German Americans

Main article: German Americans

Germans from the war-ravaged Palatinate immigrated in large numbers in the 1700s. Benjamin Franklin in Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, etc. complained about them in terms of both culture and color: why should the Palatine Boors be suffered to swarm into our Settlements, and by herding together establish their Language and Manners to the Exclusion of ours? Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a Colony of Aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us instead of our Anglifying them, and will never adopt our Language or Customs, any more than they can acquire our Complexion... the Spaniards, Italians, French, Russians and Swedes, are generally of what we call a swarthy Complexion; as are the Germans also, the Saxons only excepted, who with the English, make the principal Body of White People on the Face of the Earth. I could wish their Numbers were increased. However, by the late 1800s, though nativists continued to be suspicious of their culture and language, Germans along with Scandinavians and Dutch were included with the British and considered America's "old stock" (or in scientific racist terms, Teutonic or Nordic) and racially superior to the Irish and to the later immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe.

In the early United States, the term became more exclusive, coming to refer only to those of English heritage or persons to whom the term WASP applies. However, unlike most European immigrant groups whose acceptace as white (that is, in U.S. colloqual definitions, since all Europeans had been white by legal U.S. definition), German immigrants quickly came to be accepted as White. German-Americans were also the largest group of immigrants during the 19th century, outnumbering both English and Irish immigrants, making German-Americans the largest ethnic group in the United States to this very day.

Irish Americans

Main article: Irish Americans

In the 19th Century, Irish immigrants were often discriminated against due to their majority Catholic religion. Irish fear of Protestant indoctrination in public schools is what led to the drive to open U.S. Catholic parochial schools, and eventually to the founding of the University of Notre Dame.

Noel Ignatiev's startlingly titled book How the Irish Became White (ISBN 0415918251) documents how the dominant American majority society originally excluded the Catholic Irish immigrants as a stigmatized group and often compared them to the Negroes who were in a similar position, but capitalized on conflict between the two groups and eventually recruited Irish-Americans as co-participants in white supremacism; however, this is not necessarily the same as showing the Irish were literally called 'not white'.

Eastern European and Slavic Americans

Eastern Europeans and Slavic Americans were classified as White upon their arrival at Ellis Island in the United States. The new arrivals from eastern Europe, however, were considered "'ethnics'...seen as 'not quite white'" [8] by the colloquial understanding of the time. Legislation was also passed, such as the Immigration Act of 1924 to restrict and reduce their further entry.

Italian Americans

Main article: Italian Americans

Mass immigration to the United States from Italy occurred during the late 19^th and 20^th century. The new arrivals from southern Europe were also considered "'ethnics'...seen as 'not quite white'" [9] by the colloquial understanding of the time. Legally, however, Italians had always been "white" in U.S. law. Nevertheless, the same piece of legislation, the Immigration Act of 1924, was also aimed at restricting and reducing their entry.

Additionally, Southern Italians were classified as a different "nationality" primarily at the request of their Northern Italian counterparts, and due to their populations containing a greater proportion of darker-skined people..

Italians often fell victim to anti-Catholicism, cultural prejudices, and even racial violence, such as lynching. Like the Irish Catholics who had preceded them, they were vulnerable to discrimination and prejudice from America's predominantly Protestant majority.

European Jewish Americans

Main article: Jewish Americans

According to one source — although not supported by census records of the period which recorded all Jews as White — European Jews in America did not become accepted as 'White' until the 1940s.

Jewish people desired assimilation. As early as 1911, German/American-Jewish anthropologist Franz Boas (1858-1952) purported in The Mind of Primitive Man, that "no real biological chasm separated recent immigrants from Mayflower descendants."

Hispanic Americans

Main article: Hispanic

Despite differences in ancestry from one Latin American to another, Americans and Canadians tend to label as Hispanic all such people — from the Southwestern United States and Mexico to Central America, South America and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean — as well as Spaniards, a white, European people, often erroneously giving it a "racial" value. The term "non-Hispanic White" is used for clarity to designate members of the dominant cultures of the US. A question, however, is whether some, all, or no Hispanics are seen as White by non-Hispanic Whites.

Of the over 40 million "Hispanic or Latinos" for the United States Census, 2000, a plurality of 48.6% identified as "White-Hispanic", 48.2% identified as "Hispanic-Hispanic" (most of whom are presumed to be mestizos), and the remaining 3.2% identified as "Black-Hispanic". Of those who identified as "White-Hispanic", many would also possess at least some Amerindian and/or black ancestry.

Judging by census intermarriage statistics, even non-White 'Hispanics' — that is, mestizos and mulattos — may be in the process of integrating into the majority community and often labeled as White. Mestizos and mulattos, however, are most often considered non-White.

The media and Hispanic community leaders themselves in the U.S. nearly always refer to Hispanics as if a separate group from 'Whites' and the 'White majority', especially those who are discernably of mixed racial descent. This may be because 'white' is often used as shorthand for 'non-Hispanic white'. Federal agencies' standards have become more precise in this regard. The EEOC explicitly defines Hispanics as a separate and distinct "ethnicity." Newer versions of this form [10] follow the Census Bureau in separating Hispanic self-identity from "racial" self-identity. On the decennial census form, a respondent who checks the "Hispanic or Latino" "ethnicity" box can, in a following question, also check one or more of the 5 official race categories. Supporters of this policy claim that statistics on Hispanics as a group must be collected in order to track discrimination, for affirmative action purposes, etc., in the same way that they are for non-White racial groups, and for women. The Bureau, in contrast, simply says that they are mandated to ask such questions by the U.S. Congress.

Mexican Americans

Main articles: Mexicans and Mexican Americans

Throughout the history of the United States, Mexicans and Mexican Americans have held different racial statuses, including White. Past misconceptions that Mexicans and/or Mexican Americans somehow constitute a single racial type have been responsible for these across-the-board labellings. Today, however, according to U.S. Census criteria and other governmental legal constructions, Mexicans, Mexican Americans, and any other persons of a Hispanic national origin are considered independent of any single race. Instead, a person may identify their Hispanic nationality, or identify generically as "Hispanic or Latino" and then separately indicate any one or more of the five officially recognised racial groups (or alternatively check "other race"). In the last U.S census, however, around half of all persons of Mexican or Mexican American origin in the U.S. checked "White" to register their race (in addition to stating their Mexican national origin).

At the times when Mexicans where treated as a monolithic group, and allotted white status, they were permitted to intermarry with what today are termed "non-Hispanic whites" (unlike blacks and Asians); were allowed to acquire U.S. citizenship upon arrival (unlike Asian immigrants); served in all-white units during the World War II (unlike blacks and Japanese); could vote and hold elected office in places such as Texas, especially San Antonio (unlike blacks); ran the state politics and constituted most of the elite of New Mexico since colonial times; and went to integrated schools in Central Texas and Los Angeles (unlike Blacks in the south and Asians in Southern California). Additionally, Asians were barred from marrying Mexican Americans because of their legal White status.

Despite their legal status as white, and even their claim to European heritage (see criollo, mestizo, mulatto), some Mexican Americans are seen as socially and racially non-White. Given that many Mexican-Americans with complete or predominant European features are not seen or even realized to Mexicans since they do not fit the "Mexican type" (i.e. mestizo; which most, but not all, Mexicans indeed are), and can be looked over as being simply non-Mexican White Americans. This tends to lower the perception of the true number of white Mexican Americans there may actually be. This is also the case with other White Hispanics. Nevertheless, some Mexicans view themselves (sometimes even in cases when it is clearly not the case) as distinctly non-white. These proudly claim direct descent from Amerindians, most commonly the Aztecs and Mayans.

The 1930 U.S. census form asked for "color or race." The 1930 census enumerators were given these instructions: "write 'W' for White; 'Mex for Mexican [11], but from 1940 to the latter part of the century the instructions were: Mexicans.-Report "white" (W) for Mexicans unless they are definitely of Indian or other nonwhite race. [12]

During the Great Depression, Mexicans were mostly considered non-White. Anywhere from one to two million people were deported in a decade-long effort by the government to free up jobs for those who were considered “real Americans” and rid the county governments of “the problem.” The campaign, called the "Mexican Repatriation", was authorized by President Herbert Hoover and it targeted areas with large Hispanic populations, mostly in California, Texas and Michigan. Although President Franklin Roosevelt ended federal support when he took office, many state and local governments continued with their efforts. It left festering emotional wounds that for many have not healed. Estimates now indicate that approximately 60 percent of the people deported were children who were born in America and others who, while of Mexican descent, were legal citizens. Many of these people returned to the United States during the labor shortages of World War II.

In Mexico herself, mestizos are said to account for some 60% of the population, and together with the White population of Mexico (estimated at 9%) they constitute close to 70% of the country. Most of the rest of the population (estimated at 30%) is classified as Amerindian or predominantly Amerindian, and 1% other. Time will tell as it has for other nationalities that were once considered non-white, but are now White Americans.

North African and Middle Eastern Americans

Main article: Arab American

According to the U.S. Census definition, North Africans and Middle Easterners are classified as White, and U.S. federal agencies group all Middle Easterners and North Africans as White. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regulations also explicitly define White as "peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East," and the Census Bureau's decennial form offers no check-box for such a self-identity under the "race" question.

North African and Middle Easterners, however, are usually not included within the general structural concepts of White American society. The U.S. Census classification of North African and Middle Eastern Americans as White is largely in an American legal context. Various other countries account for them in non-White categories. In the USA, common non-governmental, colloquial and social understandings of "White" differ from that country's official government definition.

Self-identification should also be taken into account, as for example, most Egyptian Americans would not consider themselves "White". A person who would have written Egyptian in entries relating to ethnic origin is automatically considered White. People who check "Other race" and wrote Egyptian or another North African or Middle Eastern country are still counted as White. Many forms specifically ask people of North African or Middle Eastern descent to check White for "race". An Egyptian man once sued the US government to have "White" removed from his immigration documents. [13] Similarly, the US Census considers Egyptian and Berber Americans as "Arabs", even though most Berbers and many Egyptians would object to this classification quite as much.

In the American context, the common contention of excluding these largely Caucasoid groups of North Africa and the Middle East from the popular definition of "White" (as opposed to the official government definition) has been based on the argument of their disparate cultural, religious, linguistic heritage and ancestral origins. It has also been based on the argument that there is a significant sub-Saharan component in their populations [14] — a long-spanning presence throughout the history of that largely contiguous region.

While it is undeniable that many people in North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, etc) and the Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, etc.) have enough black African ancestry or are dark enough — at times being as dark-complexioned as some African Americans — to be considered black by popular U.S. standards, some may also be lighter-complexioned by comparison, comparable to Southern Europeans. And although some people of the Levant (Syria, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, Jordan, etc.) may also be as dark as those found in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, some are lighter-complexioned. Finally, a tiny percentage throughout the Middle Eastern and North African region as a whole may even resemble Northern Europeans.

See Haney-Lopez (1996) for a comprehensive list of U.S. Supreme Court decisions that repeatedly reversed prior U.S. Supreme Court decisions (back and forth many times) regarding whether or not Afghanis, Syrians, Asian Indians, and Arabians are White.

Asian Americans

Main article: Asian American

Throughout much of America's population hisotry, there has always been a slow but constant immigration from the countries of the Asian continent. With this, there has also been mounting legislation which was passed trying to restrict these peoples from immigrating, most forcefully against the Chinese. The Naturalization Act of 1790 also restricted naturalized American citizenship to whites only.[15] As a result, in the early 20^th century many new arrivals with with origins in the Asian continent petitioned the courts to be legally classified as "white", and hence there exist many United States Supreme Court rulings on their "Whiteness".

In succesful cases, such as the case for Armenians — who were then known as "Asiatic Turks" — their legal aquisition of whiteness was achieved with the help of anthropologist Franz Boas who had testified as an expert scientific witness [16]. In other cases, the courts seemed to contradict themselves on the parameters for whiteness, with the cases of Takao Ozawa v. United States (1922) and United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923) being a prime example. In the first case, the court ruled that Takao Ozawa, of Japanese descent, was not White, despite the fact that he was of a pale "white" complexion. The court stated that in U.S. law, the anthropology at the time which classified the Japanese as belonging to the Mongoloid race, overruled his pale pigmentation. In the latter case, the court ruled that Bhagat Singh Thind, of Indian descent, was not white despite the fact that Indians were deemed Causasian by physical anthropologists. The court in this instance stated that in U.S. law, "the common understanding of the white man" overruled physical anthropology.

East and Southeast Asian Americans

Main articles: East Asian American and Southeast Asian American

Nineteenth-century Asian American people of East and Southeast Asian origin were not considered White.[17] These Asian Americans have therefore always been classified as Asian or as belonging to the "Mongoloid race".[18]

In Jim Crow era Mississippi, however, Chinese American children were allowed to attend Whites-only schools and universities, rather than attend segregated Black-only schools, and some of their parents became members of the infamous Mississippi "White Citizens' Council" who enforced anti-Black racism and Black segregation.

Asian Indian and South Asian Americans

Main article: Racial classification of Indian Americans

In the early 20^th century, people of Asian Indian or other Indian Sub-Continent origin were classified as racially "Hindu"[19] although they had been classified as belonging to the Caucasian race by anthropologists. The anthropological findings had been accepted by the United States courts, but they were overruled. Nevertheless, there are instances of courts granting white status to petioners. Additionally, between 1950 to 1970, they were classified as White, until an Indian-American group protested to the Office of Management and Budget to remove Indians from the White category.

This regional group includes Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Indian Christians, Indian Jews, and various others.

African Americans

Main article: African Americans

Due to the one-drop theory in the United States, for the past century or so, English-speaking Americans with any known African ancestry, no matter how slight or invisible, have often been categorized as Black. As detailed above, however, those of Hispanic, Middle Eastern or North African heritage are an exception, in that those who look European, or occasionally even those appearing mixed, are not labeled "Black" though they may have some sub-Saharan African ancestry, perhaps even acknowledging it.

The one-drop rule is historically recent. As mentioned above, before the 18th century, the terms "Black" and "White" did not designate groups. Before the Civil War, someone's "racial identity" depended on the combination of their appearance, African blood fraction, and social circle.

Nevertheless, that the endogamous isolation of the African-American community has lasted for centuries is confirmed by DNA admixture studies. {[fact}}Many recent studies in genetics and molecular anthropology have shown that there is a surprisingly small degree of genetic overlap between members of the U.S. Black endogamous group and the U.S. White endogamous group. About one-third of all White Americans are found to have traces of African ancestry; they average about 23% African admixture. Black Americans as a whole also have some European admixture, averaging about 17 percent.

Eventually, in the United States, "black" came to denote African ancestry and "brown" became attributed to mixed-race Hispanics, Southeast Asian Americans and South Asian Americans (people of the Indian subcontinent), though not much used. In Australia, on the other hand, "Black" denotes Aborigines and "Brown" came to denote South Asians and Middle Easterners/North Africans. See also Wog.

• Tony Blair, of English descent, is White by all countries' current government, colloquial and other definitions.
  Tony Blair, of English descent, is White by all countries' current government, colloquial and other definitions.
• Lindsay Lohan, of Irish descent, is White by all countries' current government, colloquial and other definitions.
  Lindsay Lohan, of Irish descent, is White by all countries' current government, colloquial and other definitions.
• 
  Viggo Mortensen, of Danish descent, is White by all countries' current government, colloquial and other definitions.
• Janette Howard, of Anglo-Celtic descent, is White by all countries' current government, colloquial and other definitions.
  Janette Howard, of Anglo-Celtic descent, is White by all countries' current government, colloquial and other definitions.
• 
  Joe Lieberman, Jewish of Polish and Austrian descent, is White by all current countries' government and colloquial definitions. White Nationalists would exclude him due to his Jewish ethnicity
• Moshe Katsav, Jewish of Iranian descent, would be White by official U.S. government definition due to his Jewish ethnic origin. Other governments', most colloquial, and other stricter definitions would exclude him due to his Jewish ethnicity and/or Iranian national origin.
  Moshe Katsav, Jewish of Iranian descent, would be White by official U.S. government definition due to his Jewish ethnic origin. Other governments', most colloquial, and other stricter definitions would exclude him due to his Jewish ethnicity and/or Iranian national origin.
• Karla Jiménez, Hispanic of Mexican descent, would be White by most countries' government, including official U.S., definition, as well as most colloquial definitions. Some colloquial and stricter definitions would exclude her due to her national origin
  Karla Jiménez, Hispanic of Mexican descent, would be White by most countries' government, including official U.S., definition, as well as most colloquial definitions. Some colloquial and stricter definitions would exclude her due to her national origin
• Oscar de la Hoya, Hispanic of Mexican descent, is most likely White at least by official U.S. government definition. Colloquial and other stricter definitions exclude him based on his discernable mestizo descent and/or national origin.
  Oscar de la Hoya, Hispanic of Mexican descent, is most likely White at least by official U.S. government definition. Colloquial and other stricter definitions exclude him based on his discernable mestizo descent and/or national origin.
• Princess Lalla Zineb, Arab of Moroccan descent, would be White by U.S. government (due to her national origin) and most colloquial definitions. Other governments', few colloquial, and all stricter definitions would exclude her due to her Arab ethnicity and/or national origin.
  Princess Lalla Zineb, Arab of Moroccan descent, would be White by U.S. government (due to her national origin) and most colloquial definitions. Other governments', few colloquial, and all stricter definitions would exclude her due to her Arab ethnicity and/or national origin.
• Jamel Debbouze, Arab of Moroccan descent, would be White by U.S. government (due to his national origin) and some colloquial definitions. Other governments', some colloquial, and all stricter definitions would exclude him due to his Arab ethnicity, and/or national origin, and/or possible degree of Sub-Saharan African admixture.
  Jamel Debbouze, Arab of Moroccan descent, would be White by U.S. government (due to his national origin) and some colloquial definitions. Other governments', some colloquial, and all stricter definitions would exclude him due to his Arab ethnicity, and/or national origin, and/or possible degree of Sub-Saharan African admixture.
• 
  Driss Jettou, Arab of Moroccan descent, would be White by official U.S. government definition (due to his national origin). Other governments', most colloquial and stricter definitions would exclude him due to his Arab ethnicity, and/or national origin, and/or discernable degree of Sub-Saharan African admixture.
• Zacarias Moussaoui, Arab of Moroccan descent, is White by official U.S. government definition (due to his national origin). Other governments', all colloquial and all stricter definitions would exclude him based on either his Arab ethnicity, and/or national origin, and/or discernable degree of Sub-Saharan African admixture.
  Zacarias Moussaoui, Arab of Moroccan descent, is White by official U.S. government definition (due to his national origin). Other governments', all colloquial and all stricter definitions would exclude him based on either his Arab ethnicity, and/or national origin, and/or discernable degree of Sub-Saharan African admixture.

In Europe

A common 19^th century European view categorized most White people as either Semitic or Aryan. The latter term was used as a synonym for Indo-Europeans, who were conceived of as racially separate from Semitic peoples on the grounds that the two groups had distinct linguistic histories. This was thought to imply separate ancestry, which was supposed to be visible in different cultural and physical traits. The term Aryan derived from Indo-European speaking peoples who occupied ancient Iran and the Indus valley, a fact that problematised its equation with the term "White". However, from c. 1880 some writers theorised that the earliest Aryans came from northern Europe. This led to the Nazi claim that Aryans were identical with Nordic peoples. Later 20^th century scholars were much more reluctant to assume coincidence between linguistic and genetic descent, since language can be easily passed to genetically unrelated populations.

In Europe, the usage of the term "White" as a "racial indicator" had fallen out of use, considered obsolete if any. The terms of ethnicity and linguistics are widely employed for autochthonous peoples and immigrant communities alike. Unlike other European nations, the United Kingdom still uses the term White as a racial indicator. The United Kingdom Census 2001 counts White British among the population.

In Latin America

While outside of the United States people of undiscernable African admixture are considered 'White' and those of slight African appearance are often called "coloured" or mixed race — a blanket term for people of multiple racial heritage — in Latin American countries even those of clearly visible partial African or Amerindian ancestry may be considered white. The individual, however, has to decide what, if any, race he/she is to be acknowledged by. Yet, while in all these countries there is a certain proportion of people that would at least appear to be of "unmixed" European ancestry, in places like the US they may be considered non-White.

Unlike in the United States, race in Latin America "refers mostly to skin color or physical appearance rather than to ancestry." "American orthodoxy is that a single drop of African blood inevitably darkens its host," in Latin America "the problem is approached from the other end of the scale: A single drop of European blood is seen to inevitably whiten... A person with discernible African heritage is not necessarily immutably black." Upward mobility, physical appearance and lighter skin colour allow for choice of an array of intermediate "categories". According to census takers' instructions in Brazil, "color" is explicitly defined as recording the subject's observed skin tone and has nothing to do with "race." Nevertheless, it has been shown that the same individual's perceived skin tone lightens and darkens on the Brazilian census depending on the rise and fall of his or her socioeconomic success.

Whiteness and White nationalism

Main article: White nationalism

The strictest definition held by most White nationalist groups around the world, whether White separatists or White supremacists, is that only those of total ancient ethnic indigenous European ancestry are 'White.'

White nationalists in the United States often have a definition of "Whiteness" that is much more limited than the official government definition of "Whiteness", in this case, requires not only an ancestry that is solely or overwhelmingly European, but also a psychological identification with the European ethnicity and a commitment to advance its interests. Under this definition, many peoples are excluded, such as Jews and Muslims, or more specifically, European Jews and European Muslims . Despite this "Whiteness" method used by White nationalists, as with many other racially-minded groups, the definitions still vary considerably.

Among some more exclusionist White nationalist groups, a serious ideological point is the bestowing of the "non-White" label upon ethnic European peoples of Southern European and Eastern European (Slavic) descent. Growing numbers of White nationalist groups in the United States, however, have now accepted Southern Europeans and Eastern European peoples as White. This is demonstrated in the description for membership in White nationalist organizations such as the National Alliance. The requirement for membership is that an individual be of "wholly European, non-Jewish ancestry."

There are also those who push the idea of a White Proto-European race, and use the Y-chromosome haplogroup R1b as a guide to their ancestry. This genetic marker is associated with the earliest settlers of Europe who took refuge in Iberia during the Ice Age. Today, it's predominant in Western European populations, particularly in Celtic areas of Britain and in the Iberian peninsula, especially in the Basque country.

Social vs. physical perceptions of White

See also: Social interpretations of race

Ultimately, whether any individual considers any other individual as White (or not) often comes down to whether the person "looks White," however, whether someone "looks White" can become a very subjective judgement. Physical appearance is often cited as the reason for categorizing entire nations as non-White.

It is difficult to disentangle "social" from "physical" perceptions because the former depends upon the latter. How American attitudes changed over the centuries exemplifies this fact. As mentioned above, today Americans see German-Americans and Irish-Americans as physically White; otherwise they would be listed as "races" on the federal census. Jews as an ethno-religious group are an in-between category, though leaning more towards a generalised "White" classification. A complicating factor is that most Ashkenazi Jews (European Jews) more closely physically resemble other Europeans than they do peoples of the Middle East, while the reverse tends to be true regarding Mizrahi Jews (Middle Eastern and North African Jews), however, over 90% of the US Jewish population is Ashkenazi. Even this binary analysis of Jews is overly simplistic, and it ignores various other Jewish ethnic divisions (including Ethiopian Jews, Indian Jews, among many others).

The differences between social and physical definitions of White can be explained as identification of White with the dominant community or in-group, as opposed to the Other. In medieval Europe, Christendom was the community, and pagans, heretics, Jews, and Muslims were the outsiders, regardless of skin color. When the primacy of religion was eroded by the Protestant Reformation, the Renaissance, and secularism, separation of peoples based on religion shifted to concepts like White and civilized, although much of the earlier attitude remained, such as exclusion of peoples of different faiths. In the United States, White consciousness was first encouraged to help maintain a caste system and control of labor; then in the early 20^th century as a result of mass politics, the definition of White was widened to include Southern and Eastern Europeans.

The current social climate in the West (primarily in the United States) seeks to be nearly all-inclusive, which is an about-face from the social considerations of the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. This has prompted other groups to draw comparisons to the "one drop rule".

Social vs. official perceptions of White

The social versus official perceptions of "White" is exemplified in the disparities between any given popular definition of white and the official definition and parameters used by the government of the same locales. As discussed for the United States, non-Europeans which had been largely classified as caucasoids, such as Middle Easterners and North Africans, are not typically perceived to be White by society, despite the fact that for the purposes of statistics Middle Easterners and North Africans are always categorised as "White" by US government agencies and the U.S. census . The American government's official parameters for clasification of whiteness were formed by a team of anthropologists, though the categories themselves were not based on any "biological, anthropological, or genetic criteria." Nevertheless, there are legal rulings in which South Asians have at various times been deeemed white. [20] In the United Kingdom Census 2001 Whites include only Europeans and not Middle Easterns or North Africans.

Either way, governmental categorisation does not always lead to a sense of inclusion, as many may still be excluded from the general structural concepts of White-American society, and may even experience hostile rejection, particularly Arabs in recent years, especially if Muslim.

In Australia, Middle Easterners and North Africans — are not categorised as White, rather they are regarded as racial minorities (See: Wog). This latter understanding of the term in Australia has little to do with White supremacist exclusionism, but rather a traditional, narrower definition of White which has never encompassed Middle Easterners or North Africans; and which, unlike the definition of "White" in the United States, has not undergone continuous alterations to include an increasing number of people.

Criticisms of the term

The broad usage of social identities such as "White" has been charged by Victor Montejo in his dissertation on racial identity to de-ethnicize individual groups. In South African colonialism the White colonists played down British and Dutch identities in favor of a White identity in relation to the "constructed 'Other' to differentiate its victims from 'Us', that is, through the process of differentiation and thus identification".

During the era of Jim Crow Laws in the Southern United States, facilities were commonly divided into separate sections for White and "Colored" people. These terms were defined by White people, with White people classifying themselves as White and non-White people being classified as "colored".

"White" as opposed to "Light-Skinned"

There is sometimes controversy as to the difference between "light-skinned" as opposed to "White". The term "White" is a misnomer, as almost all people (regardless of race and origin) have pigmentation that makes their skin a color other than white, such as shades of brown or pink. It has been noted that the mixed descendants of light-skinned Arabs (like Ralph Nader) and other multi-racial individuals (like Keanu Reeves and Dean Cain) have been accepted as White by most Americans. In non-western countries, the terms white and light-skinned are sometimes used interchangeably.

The uniquely pale complexion and melanin-deficient hair common to Nordic adults is often considered the hallmark of those seen as White. This phenomenon's cline is densest within a few hundred miles of the Baltic Sea and, unlike other European skin-tone distributions, is independent of latitude (the natives of lands at higher latitudes than the Baltic are invariably darker than Nordics, for instance Eskimos). See Human skin color for an overall explanation of skin-tone distribution. See The Paleo-Etiology of Human Skin Tone for an explanation of the paleness of Nordics and the lack of variation in Native Americans. Genetic research shows that important areas around the Baltic and Scandinavia indicate a high genetic flow stemming from Asia. See Haplogroup N (Y-DNA).

World distribution

Since the era of European expansion, and especially since the 19^th century, most Europeans have come to see most other Europeans as White. Hence, one could say that the indigenous habitat of White people is Europe. Nowadays, countries with a majority of ethnic Europeans include all the nations of Europe, as well as some of the countries colonized by them through the 15^th century to 19^th century, such as the United States, Canada, the Russian Far East, Siberia, Australia, and New Zealand. In those nations, the indigenous populations were overwhelmed by White colonists from European nations.

As for Latin America, the only two countries whose population is composed by an undisputed majority of unmixed — or apparently unmixed — European descendants are Argentina and Uruguay. Both countries' populations are deemed to posess a white majority. In fact, according to the CIA World Fact Book, whites make up 93% and 88% of the population respectively, a percentage that is much higher than is the US. The southern region of Brazil also has a large White majority (85%), however, in the entire country Whites are estimated to make up 53.7% of the population. Although the latter figure would also constitute a White majority (ie. >50%) in Brazil, the figure may be considered inflated due to the above discussed socially fluid concept of race and racial identity in Latin America. Prior to 1959, Cuba had a majority white population of over 70%. Today, depending on the source, whites are said to constitute 37% to 65% of the population, with the remaining population being composed largely of mulattos. The majority of Cuban exiles are or consider themselves to be white. Additionally, while Chile and Costa Rica posses mestizo (mixed European and Amerindian) majorities, both countries are also quite European in that it is not uncommon for the admixture in many of their mestizos to lean more towards the European element (see also castizo). Many of these would simply identify as White, and up to 30% of Chile is deemed to be White. Various other Latin American countries also possess sizable White minorities, ranging between 10 and 20% of their populations, typically amidst mestizo or mulatto majorities.

There is a significant European-descended minority in South Africa, and smaller ones in Namibia, Zimbabwe, and other former European colonies in Africa.

See also

• Caucasoid
• Caucasian race
• Caucasian American
• European American
• Human skin color
• Whiteness studies
• White American
• White British

External links

• Legally white Precedents of legal opinions and judgments authored by US courts in whiteness cases filed by non-Europeans
• White people are known for... - Google generated racial profile of "White People".
• Not Quite White: Race Classification and the Arab American Experience, by the Arab American Institute
• Scientists Find DNA Change That Accounts for White Skin

Further reading

• Thomas A. Guglielmo, White on Arrival: Italians, Race, Color, and Power in Chicago, 1890-1945, 2003, ISBN 0195155432
• Matthew Frye Jacobson, Whiteness of a Different Color: European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race, Harvard, 1999, ISBN 0674951913.
• Frank W. Sweet, Legal History of the Color Line: The Rise and Triumph of the One-Drop Rule, Backintyme, 2005, ISBN 0939479230.
• Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White, Routledge, 1996, ISBN 0415918251.
• Karen Brodkin, How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says About Race in America, Rutgers, 1999, ISBN 081352590X.
• Neil Foley, The White Scourge: Mexicans, Blacks, and Poor Whites in Texas Cotton Culture (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997)
• Theodore Allen, The Invention of the White Race, 2 vols. (London: Verso, 1994)
• Thomas F. Gossett, Race: The History of an Idea in America, New ed. (New York: Oxford University, 1997)
• Ivan Hannaford, Race: The History of an Idea in the West (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, 1996)
• Audrey Smedley, Race in North America: Origin and Evolution of a Worldview, 2nd ed. (Boulder: Westview, 1999).
• "The United Independent Compensatory Code/System/Concept" A textbook/workbook for thought, speech and/or action for victims of racism (White supremacy) Neely Fuller Jr. 1984
• Alfredo Tryferis, "Separated by a Common Language: The Strange Case of the White Hispanic," The Raw Story, http://www.rawstory.com/exclusives/tryferis/hispanic.htm.