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BLOODW
Percentage of white blood, Indian schedules
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Description

The modified schedule used to enumerate American Indians in 1910 contained a section labeled "Proportion of Indian and other blood," with individual fields labeled "Indian," "White," and "Negro." In 1900, the form contained only the "White" field.

Enumerator instructions in 1910 stated "If the Indian is full-blood, write 'full' in column 36, and leave columns 37 and 38 blank. If the Indian is of mixed blood, write in columns 36, 37, and 38 the fractions which show the proportions of Indian and other blood, as (column 36, Indian) 1/2, (column 37, white) 1/2, and (column 38, negro) 0. For Indians of mixed blood all three columns should be filled, and the sum, in each case, should equal 1, as 1/2, 0, 1/4, 3/4, 0, 1/8, etc."

Enumerators entered a wide variety of fractions in response to this question. We converted the fractions to a percentage, with the last digit being an implied decimal. Thus 3/8 = 375 (i.e., 37.5). Values of BLOODW range from 0 (no white blood) to 1000 (presumably meaning all white blood).

Users should note that these entries were not always consistent with the individual's recorded race, and as such this information is not used when constructing RACE codes.

In 1910, see also BLOODI and BLOODB for the percentage of “Indian” and “Negro” blood.