U.S. Census Office, Constituents of the Population of Cities of More than 100,000 Inhabitants (1903)

This 100% stacked bar graph from the Statistical Atlas, 1900, published in 1903 under the direction of Henry Gannett, shows the constituents of the population of cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants. The population is divided into five separate categories: Native white of native parents (U.S.-born White people born to two U.S.-born parents); Native white of foreign parents (U.S.-born White people born to one or more immigrants); Foreign white (White immigrants); Chinese and Japanese (People of Chinese or Japanese descent); and Negro (People of African descent). The graph at once demonstrates the influx of immigrants to large, industrialized urban centers in the late 1900s, and the nativism and racism that existed at the time. The graph is organized in descending order from top to bottom according to the percentage of the "Native white" population, implying this as a defining, critical characteristic. Black, as well as Chinese and Japanese people, are categorized by race or ethnicity alone, regardless of where they were born. In 1900, Black people continued to face extreme prejudice and segregation, while Chinese, Japanese, and other people of Asian descent were prevented from becoming U.S. citizens and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 had barred Chinese laborers from entering the country.