U.S. Census Bureau, Constituents of the Populations of States and Territories (1903)

This 100% stacked bar graph was included in the 1900 Statistical Atlas of the United States, a compilation of data visualizations created from 1900 Census data under the direction of Henry Gannett. The graph illustrates the racial composition of each state’s population. The bars are color-coded: blue represents “native white of native parents,” and pink represents “native white of foreign parents,” with “native white” referring to White individuals born in the United States. Green denotes “foreign white,” or White immigrants. Orange represents the Indigenous population, yellow represents the Chinese and Japanese populations, and black represents the Black population. The graph is, "...arranged in the order of the percentage of native White of native parents" (Gannett, p. 42). This organizational structure reflects the false belief many White Americans held at the time: that of White racial superiority, especially the superiority of those born in the United States. The graph reveals several demographic trends and historical developments across the country. For example, former slave states like Mississippi and South Carolina had large Black populations relative to other states in the country, while northern and midwestern states like North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin had large first- and second-generation White immigrant populations. Furthermore, the "Ind. [Indian] Territory" shown on the graph has a large proportion of White people compared to "Indians" due in large part to the Dawes Act that broke up Native American land and subsequent land rushes in which the government opened the land to White settlers. Overall, this visualization reveals the growing racial diversity of the United States during this time.