Data Literacy for Social Studies, Estimated Population of American Colonies, 1610-1780

This stacked bar graph displays the estimated population of the American colonies between 1610 and 1780 disaggregated by race. It can be found in a spreadsheet along with the original data source and a recreated table of the original data. The data for the graph, originally displayed in tabular form, were compiled by Stella H. Sutherland with the United States Census Bureau from a wide variety of primary, secondary, and tertiary sources. The table included estimates for "White" (i.e., anyone of European descent) and "Colored" (i.e., anyone of African descent) populations in the colonies, which we designated as "White" and "Black" in the recreated table and graph. The graph allows you to analyze both the growth of population in the American colonies over time as a result of both immigration (voluntary and forced) and natural growth, and the proportion of White colonists versus enslaved people. It is important to not that the graph and the data used to create it do not include the population of Indigenous Peoples.