I know everyone has heard this questions thousands of times before but what percentage of dominicans is of (dark or black) color like my self ? I know there is a good number of dominicans who are dark like me but it always makes me feel bad because I'm tired of telling people who don't understand about me.
I live in a small city in indiana and I can't help but to feel left out en the cold. I haven't been home in 15 years, I find myself explaining where I'm from every day and why I'm dark ? I was born in SD but lived in sousa til 6 should I continue to keep explain
who Iam and or just forget about the whole thing.

your post mystifies me no end. why would someone from a country 17 degrees north of the equator, have to explain their dark skin?

small city lol

The following is my own personal opinion. I am not looking for endless discussions with none of our Haitian friends on this forum like Gouletcolonial, Dreadlocks, Jemesouviens, Afrolatino, Josean etc...

Where were your ancestors born? Meaning, your grandparents, and their parents? Where they born on the Dominican Republic's soil before 1822? Than you can call yourself Dominican. About 11% of Dominican population has pure African heritage, whom mostly immigrated in the 18th, 19th and early 20th century from the other islands in the region, and also from the Southern states of the USA.

Obviously, the majority of Dominicans are mixed with blacks, whites, Taino, Lebanese, Asian etc and come in different shades from dark to very light skin. Purely white Dominicans consist of about 16% of the population, so they are a minority as well. If you want to know more about the Dominican Republic's cultural heritage and popular identity I suggest that you study our history. For example the treaty of Ryswyk, the period of the pronounciation of the Republic in 1844 and the era of Trujillo. The history of the Dominican Republic is quite complex, however, at present Dominicans of all races live relatively peacefully next to one another. And more important than the race issue, it is the Dominicanness-cultural identity which binds all Dominicans as a nation.

A vast amount of the people in the Dominican Republic is of Haitian decent. They are mostly black. Approximately 2 million Haitians live in the Dominican Republic nowadays, which is one out of four people, or a quarter of the population. You should understand that for Dominicans it is important to set themselves apart from their neighbours, as Dominican identity is built upon the Latin/Hispanic heritage. And many Haitians born in the Dominican Republic want to be accepted as Dominicans, but because of the fact that Dominicans are very proud of their own identity, an important number of Dominicans do not accept that Haitians raised or born in the Dominican Republic want to pass as Dominicans. And some Haitians that were born in the Dominican Republic have a problem with admiting their Haitian heritage, perhaps because they feel stigmatised by a part of Dominican society or on the contrary, maybe because they feel they are well integrated into Dominican society. But my opinion is that no matter what, Haitians should be proud of their heritage just like Dominicans are, and help the country of their heritage, even if they live abroad.

dominicana if you judge by the local Indiana definition of dark it may be that 90+% of Dominicans fit the description, since people in those parts would still consider even a 'high yellow' a dark person. If you narrow it to your specific description of dark-skinned it becomes hard to say, but a sober guess would be well in excess of 50% of individuals, with variations in regions. For many this kind of question would have different answers depending on exposure to the sun

"Meaning, your grandparents, and their parents? Where they born on the Dominican Republic's soil before 1822?"

If her grandparents or parents were born on Dominican soil before 1822 then call the Guiness Book of World Records because they unquestionably would be the oldest people on the planet...LOL..Hay Dios mio....

buenoha, you will not get an "endless" discussion from me, for two reasons.1) the haitian/dominican malaise is not something which inspires much commentary from me. 2) i do not argue with fools, because, from a distance, nobody can tell the difference.

I have visited the Midwest before and do find it a bit odd that you have to explain where you're from everyday. Perhaps it could have something to do with your accent if you have one, or behavior like if you drive around pumping loud music. I have traveled a lot and despite all the commentary DT receives, you'd be surprised at how little people around the world know about the Dominican Republic and Dominicans. If you want to get around it quick, just say it's a country in the Caribbean where the European colonizers invaded and brought African slaves, the population racially split 50/50. If you want to get around it even quicker (although I hate doing this) just say the culture comes close to the Puertoricans, it's the Hispanic group Americans are most familiar with in terms of having people of different shades. Trying to explain who we consider ourselves to be can be rather pointless when people are still using the idiotic one-drop rule.

Cibaeno and Dreadlocks, you guys are troublemakers and are thereby banned til tomorrow.

Thank you very much.

You can explain to me all you want, I LOVE MORENAS...

Unfortunately, living in the US for so long has made you one of "them".

Men like Dominicanas for the way they are in the DR. In the U.S., you're just another "Americana"