Race / Ethnicity / Ancestry
in South Dakota

There have always been different groups of people in South Dakota.  Different bands from different American Indian tribes came, traveled on, or stayed depending on the resources.  French fur traders followed the rivers but left their mark.  The Chinese were part of early Deadwood.  Early European settlers came from Germany, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Russia, and other countries bringing their cultures with them.  In recent decades Hispanic people have found employment here and introduced us to their culture.  People from Ethiopia, Vietnam, and  elsewhere have fled war, terror and famine and found refuge.  The people of South Dakota have resisted the melting pot theory that says each new group would gradually intermarry, and the population would become uniform looking similar, behaving in similar ways, and eating similar foods.  Instead we have maintained different characteristics and customs.  The groups of people might be better described as a stew.  We all make up the soup called South Dakota, but we have distinct identities.  We are the carrots, the onions, the potatoes, the corn, the sausage and the beef.  We add to the flavor of our state while enhancing its variety. 

The Census Bureau categorizes our differences with the terms: race, ethnicity, and ancestry.  These terms are not easily defined.  One cannot draw clear boundaries between where one race leaves off and another begins.  It is difficult to find an ethnic group whose group behaviors are not used by other ethnic groups.  People tend to define differing groups in terms of generalities that we come to associate with them.

Race:

The word race is usually used to refer to physical characteristics that can be associated with a group of people.  It might be skin color, hair texture, or particular shapes of parts of the body.  These characteristics can be passed from one generation to the next--the Census Bureau's definition.

Ethnicity:

Ethnicity most commonly refers to behaviors that are common to a group.  One if the easiest to identify is language such as Spanish which crosses many countries boundaries.  Or behaviors associated with one country such as Poland, Italy or China which all have distinctive foods, dances, language and holidays--the Census Bureau's definition.  The Census Bureau classifies  the term, Hispanic, as an ethnic group.  Spanish speaking and Spanish cultural origin are its dominant characteristics.  One can be of any race an be Hispanic--the Census Bureau's definition.

Ancestry:

Ancestry can include some of the behaviors identified with a group such as eating certain foods such as bison, bratwurst, kielbasa, or even lutefisk.  This is similar to ethnicity.  However, it usually refers to where one's ancestors came from before coming to America or where one's ancestors came from before white people came to America--the Census Bureau's definition.

The Census Bureau's Approach:

The Census Bureau lets respondents to the Census questionnaires make their own decision about race, ethnicity, and ancestry.  They are whatever the respondent says that they are. 

|  CENSUS BUREAU  |  DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE  |
|  ECONOMIC RESEARCH SERVICE  |  SOUTH DAKOTA VITAL STATISTICS  |
|  SOUTH DAKOTA AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS  |

Phone: 605-688-4899
e-mail: sdsu_censusdata@sdstate.edu