Was “African” what Hawaiians usually put on 1961 birth certificates for a race?
Is the white around the letters a product of typewriter key impressions or what? Can’t be, now that I look at it again; the white is around the document’s print, too, not just around the typed characters. I take it that this is a photographed copy which shows the security background. No mention of his Indonesian adoption? This doesn’t appear to be all of the document, if changes in citizenship status are supposed to be noted. My 1959 birth certificate indicates weight and length, this one doesn’t or at least the part they’re showing doesn’t.
Go here: Obama’s Birth Certificate, Dissected
Info is in thread as website has crashed.
Sigh. Not this again. Parents were allowed to classify their race however they wanted. If they didn't like any of the categories listed, they could check "other" and write whatever they liked.
Given that Obama Sr. was a pan-African nationalist, it isn't surprising that he preferred to classify himself as "African" rather than "negro" or "black" or whatever option Hawaii offered at the time.