Date: Sat, 18 Jul 1998 12:55:30 EDT
From: Ann McReynolds <ARMcR(a)aol.com>
Subject: Maiden Names and Census 2000
Comments: To: ILLINOIS-ROOTS-L(a)LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU
Comments: cc: MISSOURI-ROOTS-L(a)LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU,
PENNSYLVANIA-ROOTS-L(a)LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU, SANDERS-L(a)rootsweb.com,
STONE-L(a)rootsweb.com, MIMS-L(a)rootsweb.com,
VA-WVA-ROOTS-L(a)LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU
To: TNROOTS-L(a)LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU
I suggest that all of us who are online should email our Congressmen
and
Senators to give them the opportunity to lead the charge for compelling the
Census Bureau to include women's "real" names, namely their maiden names,
on
Census documents! Maybe if they receive a zillion or so messages they'll get
the point, but don't count on it. Even better, why not email the Census Bureau
directly at cao(a)census.gov, and while you're at it, let them know we want
everyone to be counted, with no sampling....please be calm. This comment does
not reflect a "political" agenda, but a "genealogical" one.
By the way, The Census Bureau maintains an excellent website, offering many
different pages, although none seem to be truly scintillating...but, you can
find the Congressional Affairs Office (NO JOKE) at
http://www.census.gov/cao/www/congress/appormen.html, and they will tell you
more than you had every dreamed possible about Census 2000 and Congressional
Apportionment......your tax dollars at work.
Ann McReynolds, St. Louis
In regards to this movement to have women's maiden names
added to the 2000 and subsequent censuses: I think it would
be a very prudent thing to contact the local, state,
regional and national officers for the National Organization
for Women. Tell them it is high time and 70 years too late
to have women's maiden names included on our nation's census
records. Believe me, you could not get more clout, or more money
behind this movement than through them. They could exert
more political pressure than anything else you could ever do.
Robert L. Williams KC7BUM
---Veteran of operation Just Cause, Republic of Panama 1989
Heather Williams, Bryce LeGrand Williams, Kjersten Chase Noelle Williams
Ashland, Oregon
will7370(a)tao.sou.edu
I think this is a GREAT idea, but don't get your hopes up. Census-taking
is so expensive, and sampling is less expensive than a comprehensive head
count, and statistically-speaking, just as valid. That's really what a
census is for -- the statistics. The government does not use it to find
out who the people are, just the number of them, where they live, and
other facts necessary to plan and analyze programs, needs, voting
districts, expenditure of funds, etc. I remember reading a job ad in the
newspaper at least 3 years ago for census 2000 job openings, so that's how
long ago (at the very least) the year 2000 Census has been gearing up. I
imagine even the forms were printed long ago.
It's only genealogists who want to know exactly who lives where by name,
date and place of birth, job, education, parents' birthplaces, date of
immigration, etc. Having a head count again like it used to be would be
our great gift to future generations. If every genealogist in the country
were to innundate the Census Bureau, as well as every woman who believes
her maiden name is as important as her husband's, change might be
accomplished, at least by the 2010 census, if not the 2000 census.
Anyway, the year 2000 is really the last year of the OLD millenium, not the
first year of the new, so it is actually appropriate that the first census
of the new millenium, the 2010 census, reflect an increased awareness of
and respect for women's rights, children's rights, everyone's rights.
In fact, another change could be the question on race. Instead of trying
to pigeon-hole everyone into the same categories of White, Black, Hispanic,
Indian, etc., people ought to also have the option of providing a
description they feel most comfortable with, such as German-American, or
Hawaiian-Chinese-Portuguese, African-French, or whatever. This would be
more accurate and could contribute to awareness of and pride in one's
origins.
Cheryl Wray, jw90013(a)navix.net
P.S. Sorry if you get this message more than once. Feel free to pass it
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