White Hispanic and Latino Americans
White Hispanic and Latino Americans, also called Euro-Hispanics, Euro-Latinos, White Hispanics, or White Latinos, are Americans who identify as white people of European descent with roots in Spain or Latin America.
Based on the definitions created by the Office of Management and Budget and the US Census Bureau, the concepts of race and ethnicity are mutually independent. For the Census Bureau, ethnicity distinguishes between those who report ancestral origins in Latin America and Spain, and those who do not. From 1850 to 1920, Mexicans in the United States were generally classified as white by the U.S. census. In 1930, "Mexican" was officially added as a racial category on the United States census but was soon after removed due to political pressure from the Mexican consul general in New York, the Mexican ambassador in Washington, the Mexican government itself, Mexican Americans, and the League of United Latin American Citizens who protested the exclusion of mixed-race Latinos in comparison to White Latinos or Euro-Latinos from whiteness. In 1970, a 5 percent sample of the census was asked if their "origin or descent" was Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or Other Spanish. In 1980, the full population was asked about "Spanish/Hispanic origin or descent" identifying three nationalities. Thereafter "Latino" was classified solely as an ethnicity separate from race. In 2000, the US Census Bureau allowed persons to check multiple race identifiers.
As of 2020, 62 million or 18.7% of residents of the United States of America identified as Hispanic or Latino of which 12.5 million or 20.3% self-identified as white alone down from the 2019 American Community Survey when 38.3 million, or 65.5% of Latinos self-identified as white.
History
Some Euro-Latinos/White Latinos in the United States of America today are descended from original Spanish colonists who settled the so-called "internal provinces" and Louisiana of New Spain. As the United States expanded westward, it annexed lands with a long-established population of Spanish-speaking settlers, who were sometimes overwhelmingly or exclusively of white Spanish ancestry. This group became known as Hispanos. Prior to incorporation into the United States of America, Hispanos that were fully Spanish, had enjoyed a privileged status in the society of New Spain and later in post-colonial Mexico. The vast majority of Hispanos however, were racially mestizo, and thus weren't always seen as white by U.S standards.Racial identity
Concepts of multiracial identity have existed in Latin America since the colonial era, originating in a Spanish caste system. During the 20th century, the concept of mestizaje, or 'blending', was adopted as a national identity by a number of Latin American countries in order to reduce racial conflict.A 2014 Pew Research Center survey found that one-third of US Latinos identify as "mestizo", "mulatto", or another multiracial identity. Such identities often conflict with standard racial classifications in the United States: among Latino American adults surveyed by Pew Research who identified as multiracial, about 40% reported their race as "white" on standard race question as used on the US Census; 13% reported belonging to more than one race or "mixed race"; while about 20% chose "Latino" as their race.
Demographics
The top 10 U.S. states with the largest White alone population.White Hispanics are widespread, with California and Texas being two states with some of the highest populations of Hispanics self identifying as white. West Virginia has the highest percentage of the Hispanic population identifying as White Hispanic with 34.2%. The commonwealth of Puerto Rico had a White population of 536,044 or 16.5% of all Hispanics with an additional 24,548 people who were white alone representing 66.7% of all non-Hispanics.
In the 2000 census, the responses that contained a race specified by the Office of Management and Budget and a race not specified by OMB, were reclassified to match the races that OMB had considered. In this way, 44.24% of the Hispanic population that had marked as white and another race not specified by the OMB was recategorized as only white.
Hispanics and Latinos who are native-born and those who are immigrant identify as white in nearly identical percentages: 53.9 and 53.7, respectively, per figures from 2007. The overall Hispanic or Latino ratio was 53.8%.
In 2017, the Pew Research Center reported that high intermarriage rates and declining Latin American immigration has led to 11% of US adults with Hispanic ancestry to no longer identify as Hispanic. First generation immigrants from Spain & Latin America identify as Hispanic at very high rates which reduces in each succeeding generation, second generation, third generation, and fourth generation.
Population by national origin
Some Hispanic or Latino American groups that have white majorities or pluralities originate in countries that do not. For example, Mexico's white only population is 9% to 17%, while Mexico is majoritarily mestizo, meaning that they have mixed European and Native American ancestry, while 52.8% of Mexican Americans are white, or identify themselves as white in the Census. The differences in racial perceptions that exist in both countries are considered: the concept of race in Mexico is subtle not only including physical clues such as skin color but also cultural dispositions, morality, economic, and intellectual status. It is not static or well defined but rather is defined and redefined by the situation. This makes racial distinctions different from those in other countries such as the United States.Other important differences lay in the criteria and formats used for the censuses in each country: In Mexico, the only ethnic census including categories other than Amerindian performed by the government offered the following options in the questionnaire:
- Full European heritage
- Mixed Indigenous and European heritage
- Full Indigenous
- Foreigners without racial distinction
- Other race
Representation in the media
noted that appellation varies according to geographical location, observing that in Puerto Rico she was considered white, but on the United States mainland she was considered a "brown person."Since the early days of the movie industry in the United States of America, when white Hispanic actors are given roles, they are frequently cast in non-Hispanic white roles. Hispanic and Latino Americans began to appear in the American movie industry in the 1910s, and the leading players among them "were generally light skinned and Caucasian". White Hispanic and Latino Americans portraying Hispanic characters usually have olive skin, dark hair, and dark eyes.
File:Myrtle Gonzalez photoplay 1.16.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Myrtle Gonzalez was a silent actress and soprano of Mexican Californio descent in the early 20th century.
Myrtle Gonzalez was one such Mexican-American actress in the silent film era; she starred in at least 78 motion pictures from 1913 to 1917. In 1919, Photoplay Magazine honored Gonzalez with a Bronze Plaque for her exceptional performance in “The Mexican” which was considered one of her finest roles.
Anita Page was an American actress of Spanish descent who reached stardom in 1928, during the last years of the silent film. Page was referred to as "a blond, blue-eyed Latin". Hilary Swank an American actress and film producer recipient of numerous awards, including two Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. Her maternal grandmother, Frances Martha Clough, was born in El Centro, California, and was of Mexican descent.
File:Vera Michelena 6.JPG|thumb|right|200px|Vera Michelena was an actress of Spanish Venezuelan descent in the early 20th century.
Telenovelas have been criticized for not fully reflecting the racial diversity of Hispanic and Latino Americans, and for underrepresenting non-white Hispanic and Latino Americans, in favor of those that are of lighter complexion, blonde-haired and blue/green-eyed rather than the typical Hispanic and Latino Americans of olive skin complexion, dark-haired and brown-eyed.
White Hispanic/white Latino literature originating from the San Joaquin Valley revolves around the lives and stories of farmworkers. Meanwhile, the autobiographies of white stateside Puerto Ricans and the poetry of the Nuyorican Movement are most often about their socioeconomic concerns.
Marriage trends
A total of 27% of Hispanics marry outside their ethnicity. Non-Hispanic white/Hispanic intermarriage is the most common intermarriage in the United States representing 42% of interethnic marriages compared to white/black at 11%. Intermarriage rates between whites and Hispanics do not differ significantly among the genders.Genetics
Genetic research has found that the average non-European admixture is present in both white-Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites with different degrees according to different areas of the United States. Average European admixture among self-identified white Hispanic Americans is 73%, contrasting to that of non-Hispanic European Americans, whose European ancestry totals 98.6% on average. "Average admixture," however, can be a misleading measure, as it conflates vastly different population groups and ignores marked differences within individual Latino groups. Each Latin American country has a unique demographic history, with significant diversity within each country as well, especially in larger countries. Mexican Americans and Central Americans are frequently of mestizo descent for instance, but Mexico has a significant white population, estimated at between 13 and 42 million out of a total population of 130 million, making it home to the largest total white population in the Hispanic Americas alone, and the second largest in Latin America. In some Latin American countries, a majority of the population are white, including Cuba, where 64% of the population are white. Other Latin American countries with a high percentage of white Latin Americans include Uruguay and Argentina, where large majorities of the population are of European descent. In Uruguay, although the population is only 3 to 4 million, over 86% of the population are white according to the 2023 census, even higher than the percentage of white people in the United States or Canada.The genetic profile of American Latinos varies from group to group and is a result of unique immigration histories. For instance, the Cuban exiles "fleeing the Castro regime in the 1960s and '70s were almost entirely white, educated and middle or upper class."