The U.S. Bureau of the Census reported in Census 2000 that the U.S. population totaled 281.4 million people. (See Table 1.1.) Of that number, 69.1 percent identified themselves as white alone. The other 30.9 percent were members of one or more minority racial or ethnic groups. Although women are a majority of the nation's population (143.4 million women versus 138.1 million men according to…
In 1977 the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting, a policy directive that established four racial and two ethnicity categories. The racial categories were white, black, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Asian/Pacific Islander. The ethnicity categories were Hispanic origin and not of Hispanic origin. (People…
"Hispanic" is a broad term used to describe a varied ethnic group of individuals who trace their cultural heritage to Spain or to Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America. The term can also refer to persons whose Spanish ancestors were residents of the southwestern region of the United States that was formerly under Spanish or Mexican control. According to Census 2000, Americans o…
In 1619 the first Africans arrived in what was to become the United States. Subsequently, their numbers increased rapidly to fill the vast demand for slave labor in the new land. The first slaves were brought into this country via the West Indies, but as demand increased, they were soon brought directly to the English colonies on the mainland in North America. Most were delivered to the South and …
The term "Asian-American" is a catch-all term that did not gain currency until the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was not until 1980 that the Census Bureau created the "Asian and Pacific Islander" category, a departure from the previous practice of counting several Asian groups separately. Although seemingly a geographic description, "Asian and Pacific Islander&#…
Most experts agree that the people known as Native Americans and Alaska Natives arrived in North America from northeast Asia at least 30,000 years ago during the last of the Ice Age glaciations (coverings of large areas of Earth with ice). At that time, the two continents were connected by a land bridge over what is currently the Bering Strait. Recent studies indicate that they may have actually c…
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