You’ve probably looked at a census form and wondered why the boxes keep changing. It’s weird, right? One year "Hispanic" isn't there, the next it is. In the 1920s, someone from India might be legally "white," but by 1923, the Supreme Court says they aren't. Race feels like this solid, unmoving thing we're born into, but if you look at the history of racial formation in the United States, you realize it’s actually a moving target.
It’s a project. A social process.
Michael Omi and Howard Winant basically changed the game when they dropped their theory on this back in the 80s. They argued that race isn’t some biological fact written in our DNA—it’s a "sociohistorical" concept. Basically, it’s something we made up to organize society, and then we spent centuries convincing ourselves it was natural.
How Racial Formation in the United States Actually Works
Think of race as a script that gets rewritten every few decades. Omi and Winant call these "racial projects." A racial project is just an effort to reorganize and redistribute resources along racial lines. It’s how we connect what race means to how the world is actually structured.
Take the 1924 Immigration Act. That wasn't just about borders; it was a massive racial project. It effectively shut out Asians and severely limited Southern and Eastern Europeans because, at the time, people like Italians or Jews weren't quite considered "white" in the way we think of it now. They were "in-between" groups.
Money and power drive these shifts.
When the US needed labor in the 17th century, the "white" identity was forged to prevent poor Europeans from teaming up with enslaved Africans. Before that, people identified as Christian, or English, or Irish—not "white." The law had to literally step in to create these boundaries. Virginia’s 1662 law making enslavement hereditary through the mother is a prime example of racial formation in the United States being etched into the legal code.
The Courts as a Laboratory
The law is where the "formation" part gets really messy. Consider Takao Ozawa. In 1922, he went to the Supreme Court arguing he was white because his skin was literally pale and he lived an American life. The Court said, "No, white means Caucasian."
Then, literally one year later, Bhagat Singh Thind (a high-caste Indian man) showed up and said, "Okay, anthropologists say I’m Caucasian, so I’m white, right?"
The Court flipped the script. They told him that "white" wasn't a scientific term after all, but rather something the "common man" understood it to be. Basically, they moved the goalposts because they didn't want him to have the right to citizenship.
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It’s all incredibly fluid.
The Power of the Census
If you want to see racial formation in action today, just look at the data.
In the 1860 census, you had categories like "Mulatto." By 1890, they added "Quadroon" and "Octoroon." Why? Because the state was obsessed with tracking "racial purity" after the Civil War. By 1930, those categories vanished. They weren't useful for the social goals of the era anymore.
Fast forward to 2020. Over 33 million people checked "Two or more races." That’s a 276% increase from 2010. Did everyone suddenly become multiracial in ten years? No. The formation changed. The way we are allowed to talk about ourselves and the boxes available to us shifted.
We see this now with the "Middle Eastern or North African" (MENA) category. For decades, people from Lebanon or Egypt were legally classified as white. But many didn't feel white, and they certainly weren't treated that way after 9/11. The push for a MENA category is a modern racial project—a group of people trying to redefine their place in the American hierarchy to get better representation and medical research funding.
It’s Not Just About Identity
Race creates reality.
When we talk about racial formation in the United States, we aren't just talking about feelings. We’re talking about the racial wealth gap. Currently, the median wealth for a white household is roughly $285,000, while for Black households, it’s about $44,900.
This isn't an accident.
It’s the result of decades of racial projects like Redlining (the FHA's refusal to insure mortgages in Black neighborhoods) and the GI Bill, which mostly benefited white veterans. These weren't "natural" outcomes. They were policy choices that formed the racial landscape we live in today.
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Beyond Black and White
We often talk about race in America as a binary. It's not.
The "Model Minority" myth is a classic example of racial formation affecting Asian Americans. In the mid-20th century, during the Cold War, the US government wanted to look good on the world stage. They started promoting a narrative of Japanese and Chinese Americans as hardworking and quiet to "prove" that the American Dream worked for everyone, largely to dismiss the claims of the Civil Rights Movement.
It was a strategic pivot.
Before that, the "Yellow Peril" was the dominant formation. Same people, different social needs, different racial label.
Resistance and Re-formation
It’s not just the government doing the forming.
Communities fight back. The "Black is Beautiful" movement of the 60s was a racial project from the bottom up. It took a category that had been defined by stigma and repurposed it into a source of pride and political power.
You see this today with the term "Latinx" or "Latine." There’s a massive internal debate within those communities about whether these terms are helpful or if they’re just academic impositions. That debate is racial formation. It’s the sound of a group of people trying to figure out how they want to be seen by the state and by each other.
Why This Matters Right Now
Honestly, if you don't understand that race is "formed," you’ll always be confused by American politics. You’ll think these divisions are biological or inevitable. They aren't. They are maintained.
The US is currently undergoing a massive shift. By the middle of the 21st century, some projections suggest "non-Hispanic whites" will be less than 50% of the population. This "browning of America" narrative is triggering a new wave of racial projects—from changes in voting laws to debates over what kids can read in school.
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It’s the same old process, just a different year.
Practical Ways to Navigate This
Understanding racial formation gives you a bit of a "Matrix" view of the world. You start seeing the wires. If you want to actually use this knowledge, here’s what you do:
1. Question the "Natural"
When you see a statistic—like incarceration rates or health outcomes—don't assume it’s because of something inherent in a group. Ask: what policies or "projects" led to this? If Black women are 3 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women, that’s not biology. That’s a formation issue in our healthcare system.
2. Watch the Labels
Pay attention to how media outlets describe people. Why is one person an "expatriate" and another an "immigrant"? Why is one neighborhood "transitioning" and another "gentrifying"? These words are tools used to form our perception of race and class.
3. Engage with the Data
Check out the US Census Bureau's deep dives on how they categorize race. It’s eye-opening to see how much the definitions have shifted since 1790.
4. Read the Source Material
If you want to be a real expert, pick up Racial Formation in the United States by Omi and Winant. It’s dense, but it’s the blueprint. It helps you understand that while race is a "social construct," it’s one with very real, very physical consequences.
The goal isn't just to "see" race, but to understand who is doing the framing and why. Once you see the frame, you can start to think about how to build something different.
Next Steps for Deeper Insight:
- Audit your sources: Look at the last five news articles you read. Identify which "racial projects" or narratives they are supporting, even if they don't use the word race.
- Trace your history: Look into the history of your own ethnic or racial group in the US census. See when your "group" first appeared and how the definition has narrowed or expanded over time.
- Examine local policy: Look at your city’s zoning laws. These are often "ghost" racial projects that continue the work of Redlining without using racial language.
Understanding this isn't about guilt or "wokeness"—it's about accuracy. It’s about looking at the United States and seeing it for what it actually is: a work in progress.