Daily AncestorNeg
Neg in the color or race column of the 1930 to 1950 census means Negro, the word the census then used for Black Americans.
Earlier censuses wrote B for black and Mu for mulatto. In 1930 both were dropped from the race column in favor of Neg, and the instructions said black and mulatto persons were to be returned as Negroes without distinction. The 1940 and 1950 instructions also use Neg.
So a family marked Mu in 1920 and Neg in 1930 did not change; the census categories did. Compare several censuses before drawing conclusions from this column.
As seen in a recordSex, race and age columns of the 1930 census
Byrd, Lucius, Head, M, Neg, 52
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Neg." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/abbreviations/census-neg. Last checked 2026-10-10.