Hawaii in 1961 had different listings for race on birth certificates than the rest of the U.S. According to what I read last night if the child had two different race parents then the race or national origin of the father was listed on the birth certificate. Obama Sr was African hence the designation of “African”. Gov. Lingle didn’t seal the records for Jr, the Department of Health did according to a report in “The Honolulu Advertiser” last week. The clever use of semantics still has people wondering as the reporter who wrote the story advised “that the State of Hawaii has verified that Obama Jr was born in Hawaii” but this is not what the reps said. They said there was a file for Jr which doesn’t mean much considering how lax Hawaii is regarding registrations of birth up to a year after birth and foreign births can be registered in Hawaii if the parent was a resident of Hawaii for a year.
In 1961 it wouldn’t have said African for race. They still used “colored” or Negro”.