Hispanic people are the largest minority in the US with America’s Hispanic population reaching 59 million in 2018, with around 13.3 million people of Hispanic descent residing in the US. But is the notorious songstress Mariah Carey of Hispanic descent?
Mariah Carey isn’t Hispanic, though she is Latina which has a slightly different meaning to Hispanic despite how the two terms are often used interchangeably. As a Latina, Carey has ancestral ties to Latin America through her late father who was of Venezuelan African-American descent.
In New York where Carey grew up, nearly 14 thousand inhabitants (0.1% of the population) there are Venezuelan Americans according to this Census, with Hispanics accounting for just over a quarter of the population. Let’s take a look at the difference between Hispanics and Latinos, Carey’s fascinating ancestry and her views on working in the music industry as a woman.
What’s The Difference Between Hispanics and Latinos?
In America, the terms “Hispanic” and “Latino” derived from the need to loosely categorize immigrants who are from Latin America and their descendants. Often, in surveys the terms will sit under one racial category as “Hispanic/Latino/a”, so in theory, you could say Carey’s Hispanic but this wouldn’t be entirely accurate.
So what’s the difference?
Put simply, Hispanics can speak Spanish or are descended from Spanish-speaking populations while Latinos are people who are from or have descendants from Latin America.
A similarity between the two is that Hispanics and Latinos can be any race or color, but Latino doesn’t include speakers of European Romance languages such as Spainards and Italians. This means that a Spainard could be Hispanic and non-Latino and a Brazilian could be Latino and non-Hispanic.
Carey’s Ancestry
On March 27, 1970, Carey was born to interracial couple; third generation Irish American Patricia Carey and Alfred Roy Carey of Venezuelan Africian-American heritage. Mariah’s actual last name is Núñez but her father changed the surname before moving to America to avoid prejudice and judgements.
In America, about 33 million Americans are of Irish descent compared with just one percent of Americans who are of Venezuelan descent.
Amongst Venezeuelan immigrants, about 70% have a combined European, Indian, and African ancestry with 21% of Venezuelan Americans identifying as White, Black or Indian.
In relation to the language Venezuelan Americans speak, it’s been described as “Spanglish” or a mix of Spanish with English phrases, with the children of Venezuelan parents being encouraged to be fluent in Spanish.
As a collective group, middle-class Venezuelan Americans share a proportionately higher level of education compared to other Hispanic American groups.
Mariah’s Views: Being a Woman in the Music Industry
Carey entered the music industry in a time where society’s expectations of women were different, they often weren’t expected to go out and make a living for themselves as their husbands would be the breadwinners.
In an interview, Carey revealed her thoughts on what it was like being a woman in the music industry during her most prominent years as a singer. She said, “The decision makers, particularly in the beginning of my career, were always men and exclusively men. There were no powerful women around me, or even self-made women around me.”
Later she reflected on her earlier years in the industry saying, “When you’re with someone 20-something years older than you, and you’re a female, the perception is always going to be this girl’s being taken care of. No, darling. And they made billions of dollars off my incessant work. I did nothing but make albums.”
Conclusion
Our iconic songstress Mariah was born to a multi-racial family back in the ‘70s, and since then she has worked hard to make her fortune. Back at the start of her career, race was a big thing that caused much controversy but this didn’t stop this star from leaping into unknown territory.