How Many Melting Pots? Intermarriage, Pan Ethnicity, and the Black/Non-Black Divide in the United States*

This study uses the I in 6 Long Form Sample of the 1990 Decennial United States Census to describe intermarriage patterns for a detailed set of racial and ethnic groups and determine whether the notions of assimilation, panethnicity, and a Black/non-Black divide describe racial and ethnic differentiation in the United States. Asian groups exhibit panethnicity in their intermarriage choices, tending to intermarry with members of other Asian groups. Latino groups fit both assimilation and panethnicity, with some Latino groups tending to intermarry with Whites and others showing an affinity for intermarriage with other Latinos. Intermarriage patterns also reveal a deep divide between Blacks and non-Blacks.