Does Money Whiten in the United States? Re-Examining the Rules for Inheriting Race

Aliya Saperstein, Stanford University
Carolyn A. Liebler, University of Minnesota

The idea that “money whitens” is one of the more fascinating, and divisive, subjects among scholars of race in Brazil and Latin America. Debates continue as to whether or not a dark-skinned person would be perceived and treated as if they were white once they acquired sufficient wealth, income or education. However, in the U.S., it has generally been taken for granted that the boundaries between whites and blacks, in particular, are too rigid to allow for significant racial mobility—even across generations. We plan to draw on restricted-use census and ACS data (1970-2010) for children in couples consisting of one white and one black parent to explore: (a) how they have been racially classified; (b) whether the likelihood that they would be classified only as “white” has varied over time, or by Hispanic origin; and (c) whether classification differs by socioeconomic status, as the “money whitens” hypothesis would suggest.