Guide to the 2010 Census

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Every 10 years, the U.S. government mails a census form to every home in America and does its best to count every person.

Why bother? Why don’t some people want to be counted? And what do all those numbers tell us about our country and how it’s changing?

This month, as census forms arrive in the mail, ThreeSixty writers answer those questions and more. We invite you to explore the articles and graphics, then leave a comment and share this work with a friend. Your opinion counts – just like every person in America.

Census puts a lot at stake -- $4 trillion and a vote in Congress

By Grace Pastoor

The census, first required in 1790, is — as Minnesota State Demographer Tom Gillaspy says — “the very core of being American.” When we were fighting the Revolutionary War, we were fighting for representation, and that’s exactly what the census has set out to do – represent us by counting us.

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What does the census ask and why?

By Youth Communication, reporting, and Meleck Davis, graphic, of Triangle Park Creative

The 2010 census is the shortest in its 220 year history, said Minnesota State Demographer Tom Gillaspy. It only asks 10 questions this decade.

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Confused about race? So is the Census

By Mariah Davis

In 1990, Robert Lilligren had to choose whether to check American Indian or white on the census form. Even though he is both, the census form only allowed him to choose one.

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I never chose my race, other people did it for me

By Mariah Davis

In the middle of ninth grade, my family moved from suburban Shoreview to St. Paul. I transferred to Arlington High School, a school with significantly fewer white kids, and more black and mixed-raced kids than I’d known before. The kids would make fun of me for things harder to change than my hair – my light skin, my suburban accent, my mostly Asian and white friends, and my punk style. They thought I acted like a white kid.

My parents had taught me all my life that I was black, but now, I was white.

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