Striking Photos Will Change The Way You See The Average American

What does the average American look like? As time goes on, the answer to that question is becoming more and more complicated. 

The country is living up to its melting pot reputation as American faces become less homogenous and more diverse, a phenomenon that renowned photographer and portrait artist Martin Schoeller captured for the October 125th anniversary issue of National Geographic magazine. 

The images, which are coupled with the individual's "self ID" and the box he or she checked to indicate race as specified on the 2000 and 2010 census, are a striking reminder of Americans' complex cultural and racial origins. 

The 2000 U.S. Census presented the question of race differently, allowing respondents the option of selecting more than one racial category, with nearly 7 million Americans identifying as members of two or more races. 

The 2010 census included changes to more clearly distinguish Hispanic ethnicity as not being a race, with data revealing that whites would no longer be the majority in the country by 2043.

Schoeller's photographs capture "the changing face of America," a trend that is no doubt picking up speed with the increase of both interracial marriages and the births of biracial babies. The images also challenge traditional ideas of identity, providing evidence for the fluidity of racial and ethnic classification, which is explored more deeply in the magazine:

On playgrounds and college campuses, you’ll find such homespun terms as Blackanese, Filatino, Chicanese, and Korgentinian. When Joshua Ahsoak, 34, attended college, his heritage of Inupiat (Eskimo) and midwestern Jewish earned him the moniker Juskimo, a term he still uses to describe himself (a practicing Jew who breaks kosher dietary laws not for bacon but for walrus and seal meat).

Tracey Williams Bautista says her seven-year-old son, Yoel Chac Bautista, identifies himself as black when he’s with her, his African-American parent. When he’s with his father, he’ll say Mexican. “We call him a Blaxican,” she jokes, and says she and her husband are raising him in a home where Martin Luther King, Jr., is displayed next to Frida Kahlo.

Striking Photos Will Change The Way You See The Average American


Jordan Spencer, 18, Grand Prairie, Texas
Self-ID: black/biracial
Census box checked: black




Celeste Seda, 26, Brooklyn, New York
Self-ID: Dominican and Korean
Census boxes checked: Asian/some other race 


Kelly Williams II, 17, Dallas, Texas
Self-ID: African American and German/multiracial
Census Boxes Checked: black


Sandra Williams, 46, Chicago, Illinois
Self-ID: biracial/“human being”
Census Boxes Checked: black


Daisy Fencl, 3, San Antonio, Texas
Parents’ ID for her: Korean and Hispanic
Census Boxes Checked: has not yet been counted


Christopher Braxton, 33, Brooklyn, New York
Self-ID: half African American, half Korean/Blasian
Census Boxes Checked: black/Korean


Maya Joi Smith, 9, Cary, Illinois
Self-ID: black and Asian/Korean and African American
Census Boxes Checked: black


Ariel Toole, 14, Chicago, Illinois
Self-ID: mixed race/multiracial
Census Boxes Checked: white/black/Vietnamese


Tevah Jones, 22, Grants Pass, Oregon
Self-ID: Trinidadian American/colored
Census Boxes Checked: white/black

Solomon Hsiang, 29, San Francisco, California
Self-ID: Chinese and Jewish eastern European
Census Boxes Checked: white/Chinese


Jesse Lee, 32, New York, New York
Self-ID: half Chinese, quarter Swedish, quarter French
Census Boxes Checked: Chinese


Joshua Ahsoak, 34, Anchorage, Alaska
Self-ID: Jewish and Inupiat Eskimo/“Juskimo”
Census Boxes Checked: Alaska Native


Jakara Hubbard, 28, Monee, Illinois
Self-ID: mixed
Census Boxes Checked: white/black


Gabriela Guizzo, 5, Rockville Centre, New York
Self-ID: “A little of everything”
Census Boxes Checked: white/Japanese


Hosanna Marshall, 32, New York, New York
Self-ID: African American, Native American, white, and Jewish
Census Boxes Checked: black


Helen Robertson, 54, Los Angeles, California
Self-ID: English
Census Boxes Checked: white/Asian


Jacob Benavente, 5, Torrance, California
Self-ID: American
Census Boxes Checked: Asian/native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander


Harold Fisch, 23, Austin, Texas
Self-ID: eastern European, Puerto Rican, Jewish, Texan
Census Boxes Checked: other

Lula Newman, 7, New York, New York
Self-ID: Chinese, Indonesian, German, Polish, Welsh
Census Boxes Checked: white/Chinese/other Asian


Oona Wally, 25, Brooklyn, New York
Self-ID: Chinese and Jewish/Caucasian
Census Boxes Checked: white/Chinese


Cameron Benjamin, 22, Los Angeles, California
Self-ID: Hawaiian, Chinese, and Caucasian
Census Boxes Checked: white/Chinese/native Hawaiian


Mars Wright, 25, Austin, Texas
Self-ID: mostly Filipino and black
Census Boxes Checked: black/Filipino


Mariyam Nayeri, 33, Brooklyn, New York
Self-ID: Mexican and Saudi
Census Boxes Checked: some other race


Alexander Sugiura, 27, Brooklyn, New York
Self-ID: American, ethnically Jewish
Census Boxes Checked: Japanese


Yudah Holman, 29, Los Angeles, California
Self-ID: half Thai, half black
Census Boxes Checked: other Asian


Themba Alleyne, 30, Los Angeles, California
Self-ID: multiracial/“I check every box.”
Census Boxes Checked: white/black/American Indian/Asian Indian/Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander


Adrian Adrid, 24, Haleiwa, Hawaii
Self-ID: white
Census Boxes Checked: white/Filipino

(POSTED by lipstickalley.com)