The archived Webcast of the conference. (Requires RealPlayer software.)

ANN ARBOR—With the 2000 U.S. Census data on race and ethnicity due to be released in March, the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research (ISR), the world’s largest academic survey and research organization, is hosting a discussion providing background on the Census data and exploring the emerging implications of an officially multiracial America.

On Jan. 15 from 1-3 p.m., some of the nation’s leading experts on the new Census race and ethnicity data—the first allowing Americans to identify with more than one racial group—will gather at ISR. Their discussion, in celebration of Martin Luther King Day, will be available via a live webcast at www.itd.umich.edu/umtv. Viewing the webcast requires RealPlayerTM software, which can be downloaded for free at the webcast site.

Participants include:

U.S. Rep. Thomas Sawyer (D-Ohio), chair of the Subcommittee on Census and Population which oversaw initial planning for the 2000 census;

Kim Williams, assistant professor of public policy at Harvard University and a specialist in race-ethnic politics and political movements, speaking about why the federal Office of Management and Budget revised its guidelines for the federal collection of race and ethnicity data in Census 2000.

Ann Morning, a Princeton University sociologist specializing in race and ethnicity issues, and the author of “Who is Multiracial? Definitions and Decisions” and several other articles and presentations on the multiple-race population of the United States.

David Harris, an assistant professor of sociology and research associate at the U-M Institute for Social Research, will discuss the kind of race and ethnicity data we should be collecting. Harris, who has analyzed data on multiracial youth from a nationally representative sample, has found that adolescent racial identities are fluid, with more than 10 percent identifying their racial identity differently at home and at school. For more information on his work, see his Web site: www.allharris.com Contact him at (734) 662-0526 or via e-mail to drharris@umich.edu

Reynolds Farley, professor of sociology and co-author of “Detroit Divided,” has analyzed responses to the questions on racial and ethnic identity in the 2000 Census dress rehearsal, conducted in Sacramento, Calif., Columbia, S.C., and Menominee County, Wisc., and to the 1999 American Community Survey conducted in 21 areas around the country ranging in size from metropolitan Houston, Texas, to Sevier County, Tenn. His analyses provide a fascinating preview of the prevalence and patterns of the country’s emerging multiracial identity. For more information, contact Farley at (734) 764-7303 or (734) 998-7141 or e-mail renf@umich.edu

The following U-M researchers are also available to talk about various aspects of this complex, emerging story:

Bill Frey, a demographer at the U-M Institute for Social Research and at the Milken Institute in Santa Monica, Calif., is the author of “The New Urban Demographics: Race, Space and Aging Boomers”; “New Black Migration Patterns in America: Are They Affected by Recent Immigration?” “Minority Magnet Metros in the ’90s”; and “Black Movement to the South, and Regional Concentration of the Races.” On his Web site, www.frey-demographer.org, you can access the latest population change and migration data charts for U.S. geographic areas by race. Contact Frey (pronounced Fry) at (888) 257-7244 or email billf@umich.edu or bill.frey@usa.net

David R. Williams, a sociologist at the U-M Institute for Social Research, and U-M psychologist James S. Jackson, who heads the ISR Program for Research on Black Americans, analyze the differences in state and federal classification of multiracial status in a recent issue of the American Journal of Public Health. Williams and Jackson argue that these differences, along with a lack of information about the diversity of the Black population,
Established in 1948, the Institute for Social Research (ISR) is among the world’s oldest survey research organizations, and a world leader in the development and application of social science methodology. ISR conducts some of the most widely-cited studies in the nation, including the Survey of Consumer Attitudes, the National Election Studies, the Monitoring the Future Study, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the Health and Retirement Study, and the National Survey of Black Americans. ISR researchers also collaborate with social scientists in more than 60 nations on the World Values Surveys and other projects, and the Institute has established formal ties with universities in Poland, China, and South Africa. Visit the ISR Web site at www.isr.umich.edu for more information.

archived Webcast of the conference2000 U.S. Censuswww.itd.umich.edu/umtvThomas SawyerKim WilliamsAnn MorningDavid Harris