24 



IN-STITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 12 



Table 6. 



-Age and sex distribution, village of 

 Cruz das Almas, 1948^ 



' Source : Data gathered by research staff. 



Statistical data on the present composition of the 

 adult popidation by either race or color is not 

 available. Of the 2,035 live births in the 17 years 

 from 1931 to 1947, or that period in which color 

 categories were employed in the village records, 

 1,490, or 73.2 percent, were listed as hrancos 

 (whites) ; 506, or 24.9 percent, as pardos (browns) ; 

 39, or 1.9 percent, as am-a.reJos (Japanese). None 

 were listed as pretos (blacks) , a fact which reflects 

 more the local racial situation ''^ than the actual 

 absence of relativelj' unmixed blacks among chil- 

 dren born in the community. 



Considering the character of this racial situa- 

 tion, the data in the hranco and pardo categories 

 are subject to considerable question from the stand- 

 point of lAysical anthropology. Traces of Indian 

 ancestry are apparent in a number of individuals 

 whom local inhabitants invariably refer to as 

 hrancos. The same is true with reference to per- 

 sons with visible traces of African ancestry. All 

 that one can say with certainty, then, is that those 

 persons classified as hrancos are predominantly of 

 European origin and that i^robably there are 

 among them a number of individuals of unmixed 

 European descent. The remainder are "whites" 

 in the sociological, rather than the anthropological, 

 sense. In this society, a person is white if he looks 

 predominantly like a white and if his friends and 

 associates so consider him. 



In a country where sensitivity to racial varia- 

 tions is ordinarily low, one might expect a num- 



ber of mixed bloods to be included in the hrameo 

 category and a number of relatively unmixed Ne- 

 groes to be included in the pardo category. This 

 hypotliesis is supported by the fact that among 

 the children born during these 17 years not a 

 single preto was registered, although several per- 

 sons at present living in the community who were 

 born during this period give indisputable evidence 

 of being of relatively unmixed African descent. 



Of the 148 stillbirths during these 17 years, 

 58.1 percent were registered as hrancos, 37.8 per- 

 cent as pardos, and 4.1 percent as amarelos. 

 These data indicate that 94.5 j^ercent of all hrmico 

 deliveries were live births and only 5.5 percent 

 were stillbirths; while 90.0 percent of pardo de- 

 liveries were live births and 10.0 percent were still- 

 births; and 86.7 percent of a?narelo deliveries were 

 live births and 13.3 percent were stillbirths. In 

 other words, the proportion of stillborn to live 

 births among individuals listed as pardos is ap- 

 proximately twice that among those listed as 

 hrancos and the proportion among anwurelos is 

 even higher. 



As has been indicated, in 1920, of a total popu- 

 lation of 4.310 in the community, only 101, or 2.3 

 percent were foreign-born, all of whom were from 

 European countries in which the language, reli- 

 gion, and many other cultural forms were similar 

 to those of the people among whom they had 

 settled. Of these immigrants, 27 were Spanish, 

 47 were Italians, and 27 were Portuguese. 



In 1934, or the most recent year for which sta- 

 tistical data are available, there were, as has also 

 been indicated, 64 Spanish, 56 Italians, 52 Portu- 

 guese, 73 Japanese, 6 Syrians, and 2 Germans in 

 the community.^" Of a total population of 3,780, 

 then, 7.0 percent were foreign-bom. In other 

 words, in the 14 years between the two censuses, 

 the proportion of immigrants in the population 

 trifjled. A part of this increase, however, was 

 due to shrinkage in the total population. Al- 

 though statistical data either to confirm or deny 

 the hypothesis are lacking, it is probable that dur- 

 ing the years since the last of these censuses was 

 taken, the j^roportion of the foreign-born has not 

 increased appreciably, if at all. There are at 

 present no Germans or Syrians in the community 

 and only two Japanese families. 



'•'' See section on Race Eelations, p. 189. 



>* Thirteen individuals were listed as "unspecified." 



