Mex

The 1930 census used Mex in two places. In the veterans column it was the short form for the Mexican Expedition, the U.S. Army campaign against Pancho Villa from March 1916 to February 1917.

In the color or race column, 1930 was the only census with a Mexican category. Enumerators were told to write Mex for people born in Mexico, or with parents born there, who were not definitely white, Negro, Indian, Chinese or Japanese. Before 1930 and again in 1940 they were not counted as a separate race, so the same family can be labeled differently from one census to the next.