Multiracial American facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Multiracial Americans are people in the United States who have ancestors from more than one racial background. This means their family tree includes different groups, like people from Europe, Africa, Asia, or Native American tribes. Being multiracial is a unique part of America's story, showing how different cultures and backgrounds have come together over time.

A Look Back: History of Multiracial Americans

The idea of being "multiracial" has changed a lot throughout American history. For a long time, society often tried to put people into just one racial box, even if they had mixed backgrounds.

Early Times in the U.S.

From the very beginning of the United States, people of different backgrounds mixed. This happened between European settlers, Native Americans, and enslaved Africans. Sometimes, these relationships were forced, and other times they were by choice. Children born from these unions were often treated differently depending on their appearance and the laws of the time.

The 1800s: Big Changes

The 1800s saw major events like the American Civil War and the end of slavery. After slavery, many laws called Jim Crow laws were created. These laws tried to keep races separate and often said that if a person had "one drop" of African ancestry, they were considered Black, even if they looked white or had other backgrounds. This made it hard for multiracial people to be recognized for all their heritage.

The 1900s: More Changes

In the 20th century, especially after the Civil Rights Movement, attitudes slowly began to change. Laws against interracial marriage were finally ended in 1967. This was a huge step forward, allowing people of different races to marry freely. As a result, more multiracial families formed openly.

Who Are Multiracial Americans Today?

The number of multiracial Americans has been growing steadily. More and more people are identifying with two or more races on official forms like the U.S. Census.

In the 2010 Census, about 9 million people identified as multiracial.
By the 2020 Census, this number had jumped to over 33 million!
This growth shows that people are more comfortable recognizing their full heritage. It also means that America is becoming even more diverse.

What It Means to Be Multiracial

Being multiracial can mean different things to different people. Some feel connected to all parts of their heritage, while others might feel more connected to one.

Finding Your Identity

Many multiracial young people explore what their identity means to them. They might learn about the cultures of all their ancestors. Sometimes, they might feel like they don't quite fit into just one group, which can be a unique experience. It's about understanding and celebrating all the different parts that make them who they are.

Multiracial Families

Today, many families are multiracial. This means parents might be from different racial backgrounds, or children might have parents who are themselves multiracial. These families often celebrate a mix of traditions and cultures, creating a rich home environment.

Native American Identity and Mixed Ancestry

Many Native Americans have mixed ancestry, often with European or African roots. This is due to centuries of interaction and intermarriage.

Native American and Black Ancestry

Throughout history, Native American tribes and African Americans often lived near each other. Sometimes, enslaved people escaped and found refuge with Native American tribes. This led to intermarriage and families with both Native American and African American heritage. Groups like the Black Seminoles are examples of this rich history.

Native American and White Ancestry

Many White Americans also have some Native American ancestry. This often comes from early European settlers marrying into Native American communities. Over time, some families might have lost touch with their Native American roots, but DNA tests can sometimes reveal these connections.

Black and African-American Identity

African Americans have a very diverse heritage, often including European and Native American ancestry due to the history of slavery and migration.

Mixed Backgrounds in African Americans

Because of America's history, many African Americans have ancestors from different parts of the world. This mixing of different groups is called "admixture." For a long time, the "one-drop rule" meant that if a person had any known African ancestry, they were considered Black, even if they had other backgrounds. This rule is not used today, and people can identify with all their ancestries.

White and European-American Identity

White Americans also have diverse backgrounds, often including different European ethnicities and sometimes other ancestries.

Blending In: Racial Passing

In the past, some multiracial people, especially those with light skin and African American heritage, chose to "pass" as white. This meant they lived their lives as if they were white to avoid the harsh discrimination faced by Black people. It was a difficult choice, often meaning they had to hide their true family history.

Hispanic and Latino American Identity

Hispanic and Latino Americans come from diverse backgrounds, including Spanish, Indigenous, and African roots.

Many Hispanic and Latino people are Mestizos, meaning they have a mix of Indigenous (Native American) and European (often Spanish) ancestry.
Others may have African ancestry, especially those from Caribbean islands or coastal areas of Central and South America.
This rich mix of cultures and ancestries is a key part of Hispanic and Latino identity in the U.S.

Pacific Islander American Identity

Pacific Islander Americans come from islands like Hawaii, Samoa, Guam, and others. Many have mixed heritage due to interactions with different cultures over time.

For example, many Native Hawaiians have mixed ancestry, often with European or Asian roots.
This blending of cultures adds to the unique identity of Pacific Islander Americans.

Eurasian-American Identity

Eurasian Americans are people with both European and Asian ancestry. This group has grown as more people from Europe and Asia have come to the U.S. and formed families.

Many famous people, like actors and musicians, are Eurasian, showing the beauty of this mixed heritage.

Afro-Asian-American Identity

Afro-Asian Americans have both African and Asian ancestry. This is another growing group in the U.S., reflecting the diverse connections between different communities.

Multiracial Characters in Stories

You can find multiracial characters in books, movies, and TV shows. These characters help tell stories about identity, family, and fitting in, reflecting the real experiences of multiracial people in America.

Images for kids

Olaudah Equiano
Charley Taylor holding an American flag. Charley was the son of Alexander Withers and one of Withers's slaves. Withers sold Charley to a slave dealer and he was sold again in New Orleans.
US Census reporting of Two or Mixed Races 2010 - 2017
Auliʻi Cravalho is of Hawaiian, Irish, Puerto Rican, Portuguese and Chinese descent.
Keanu Reeves has an English mother and a father of English, Hawaiian, Irish, Portuguese and Chinese descent.
Charles Mingus was born to a mother of English and Chinese descent and a father of African-American and Swedish descent.
Barack Obama's mother was of mostly English ancestry and his father was from Kenya.
Jennifer Beals was born to an Irish-American mother and an African-American father.
Kamala Harris was born in Oakland, California to a Tamil Indian mother and an Afro-Jamaican father.
Tiger Woods was born to an Asian-American mother and African-American father.
Bill John Baker, who is 3.13% Cherokee, was the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 2011 to 2019.
Seminole elder Billy Bowlegs III was also of Muscogee, African-American and Scottish descent through his maternal grandfather Osceola.
Radmilla Cody is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation and of African-American descent.
Charles Curtis was a Native American, born to a Kaw, Osage, a Potawatomi and French mother and an English, Scots and Welsh father.
Deb Haaland is from the Laguna Pueblo people and is the first Native American Cabinet Secretary as Secretary of Interior. Her father is Norwegian-American.
Maria Tallchief was a member of the Osage Nation and of Ulster-Scots descent.
Redd Foxx's mother was half Seminole and his father was African-American.
Jimi Hendrix was born to a Cherokee mother and was part English, African-American, Irish and German.
Edmonia Lewis was of Mississauga Ojibwe, African-American and Haitian descent.
Claudia McNeil was born to an Apache mother and an African-American father.
Della Reese was born to a mother of Cherokee descent and an African-American father.
James Earl Jones has said in interviews that his parents were both of mixed African-American, Irish and Native American ancestry.
Ben Campbell was born to an Azorian mother and father of Northern Cheyenne, Apache and Pueblo Indian descent.
Faunceway Baptiste was a multi-racial Native American of Choctaw and Euro-American heritage. He was a lieutenant colonel in the Civil War.
Will Rogers was born in the Cherokee Nation to mixed race parents of Cherokee and English descent.
Ruth Gordon's ancestor Parthena was an African mistress of Joseph Pendarvis a member of the notable, Native American descended, Landgrave family of South Carolina.
Rebecca Hall was born to a mother of Sioux, African-American, Scottish and Dutch extraction and an English father.
Heather Locklear is of Lumbee descent.
Tia Mowry Her mother is of Afro-Bahamian descent and her father is of English and Irish ancestry.
James Brown was of Apache, African-American and Asian descent.
Muhammad Ali was of English, African-American and Irish descent.
Whitney Houston was part Native American, African-American and Dutch.
Martin Luther King Jr. was of Irish and African descent.
John Mercer Langston was of English, Native American and African descent.
Oprah Winfrey is 89% Sub-Saharan African, 8% Native American and 3% East Asian.
George Herriman, who was born into a Creole family, wore a hat to conceal his hair texture. His death certificate identified him as Caucasian.
Patrick Francis Healy was born to an Irish-American plantation owner and his biracial slave. He and his siblings identified as white in their formative years and most made careers in the Catholic Church in the North.
Carol Channing was born to a white mother and a half African-American and German father. She passed for white during the height of her career and later publicly acknowledged her mixed race origins.
Mary Ellen Pleasant, born to a slave and the youngest son of James Pleasants, contributed to advancing the abolitionist movement.
G. K. Butterfield was born to two mixed race black identified parents of Portuguese and African descent from the Azores.
Robert Purvis was born to a part Moorish, German Jewish and Sephardic Jewish free woman of color and an English father. He identified as black and worked to serve his community.
Imitation of Life star Fredi Washington portrayed a woman who passed in the famous film, but was against passing in her own life.
Walter Francis White belonged to a middle-class hyperdescent African-American chattel slave descended family who remained negro or black-identified.
Daniel Hale Williams was of African-American and Scots-Irish ancestry. Although members of his family passed as white, he exclusively served and identified with African-Americans.
Harry Shum Jr. was born in Limón, Costa Rica, the son of Chinese immigrants. His mother is a native of Hong Kong and his father is from Guangzhou, China.
Stacey Dash is the daughter of a Mexican-American mother Linda Dash (née Lopez; d. 2017) and Dennis Dash, an African-American.
Geraldo Rivera is half Puerto Rican and Ashkenazi Russian Jew.
Adrian Grenier mother is Mexican (Spanish, Indigenous) and some French. His father is of English, Scottish, Irish and German ancestry.
Chita Rivera's mother was of Scottish and Italian descent and her father was Puerto Rican.
Rosa Salazar is of French and Peruvian descent.
John H. Sununu was born to a Salvadoran mother of Lebanese descent and an American father of Palestinian and Lebanese descent.
According to DNA testing, Eva Longoria's Mexican-American ancestry consists of 70% European, 27% Asian and Indigenous and 3% African origin.
Princess Kaʻiulani was of Indigenous Hawaiian and Scots-American descent.
Queen Emma of Hawaii was of Hawaiian Nobility and Scottish ancestry.
Actor Dwayne Johnson's mother is Samoan and his father is Black Nova Scotian.
Jason Momoa was born to a mother of Native American, Irish and German ancestry and a father of Indigenous Hawaiian ancestry.
Lou Diamond Phillips is of Cherokee, Hawaiian, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino and Scotch-Irish American ancestry.
Chloe Bennet; mother is Caucasian and her father is Chinese.
Moon Bloodgood is part Irish, Dutch, and Korean.
Tia Carrere is part Spanish, Chinese, and Filipino.
Kip Fulbeck is part English, Welsh, Irish, and Cantonese.
Norah Jones was born in Brooklyn, New York to an English-American mother and Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar of Bengali descent.
Sean Lennon is the son of Japanese multimedia artist Yoko Ono, and English and Irish descended John Lennon.
Olivia Munn; father is of English, Irish, and German ancestry, while her mother is from Vietnam.
Jennifer Tilly is part Native American, Irish, Finnish, and Chinese.
Nicki Minaj is part Afro-Trinidadian and East Indian.
Ne-Yo is part African-American and Chinese.
Bobby Scott is of African-American and Filipino (maternal grandfather) descent.
Sonja Sohn is part African-American and Korean.
Jero is part African-American and Japanese.
Tommy Pham is an American baseball player whose mother is black and his father was born in Vietnam to a Vietnamese mother and an African-American father.

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Multiracial American Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.