The 1940 Census is the 16th census of the United States.  It was released in April of 2012 and is available  on the National Archives website. Unlike previous censuses the 1940 United States Federal Census has the following changes that are important to African American researchers:

 

• Whether or not a person is living at home or absent and 

• More information on education and 

• Specific information on employment

• Mother tongue, their first language, birthplaces of fathers and mothers and whether or not the person was a veteran.

•  The occupation, industry and class of the worker and whether or not each individual woman enumerated had been married more than once.

• It asked these same women the number of their children born minus the still born.  

• At the time of the 1940 Census there were 132,164, 569 people in the United States.  

For more on the 1940 U.S. Federal Census visit:  https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/United_States_Census_1940