A Nation of immigrants

Regardless of current needs to deal with future immigration, the US is a nation of immigrations. The US today has largest foreign-born population in its history - 28.4 million people (10 % of the total population). In addition, even most native-born US citizens can trace their ancestry back to one more immigrant or ethnic groups. “Ancestry” refers to a person’s ethnic origin, descent, or heritage or the place of birth ones parents or ancestors. Responses to the 1990 Census question about ancestral origins included references to 215ancestral back-grounds.

Based on a total population of 248.7 million in the US in 1990, the following were the largest ancestry groups claimed by Americans:

58.0 million (23.3%) German ancestry

38.7 million (15.6%) Irish ancestry

32.7 million (13.1%) English ancestry

15.0 million (6.0%) Italian ancestry

13.4 million (5.4%) Mexican ancestry

10.3 million (4.1%) French ancestry

9.4 million (3.8%) Polish ancestry

6.2 million (2.5%) Dutch ancestry

5.6 million (2.3%) Scotch-Irish ancestry

5.4 million (2.2%) Scottish ancestry

4.7 million (1.9%) Swedish ancestry

Ethnic Groups in the United States

Some of the major ethnic groups that have influenced, and continue to enrich, the extraordinarily diverse US culture are described below.

UNWILLING IMMIGRANTS

Among the flood of immigrants to North America, one group came unwillingly. These were Africans, 500,000 of whom were brought over as slaves between 1619 and 1808, when importing slaves into the United States became illegal. The practice of owning slaves and their descendants continued, however, particularly in the agrarian South, where many laborers were needed to work the fields. The process of ending slavery began in April 1861 with the outbreak of the American Civil War between the free states of the North and the slave states of the South, 11 of which had left the Union. On January 1, 1863, midway through the war, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which abolished slavery in those states that had seceded. Slavery was abolished throughout the United States with the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the country's Constitution in 1865. Even after the end of slavery, however, American blacks were hampered by segregation and inferior education. In search of opportunity, African Americans formed an internal wave of immigration, moving from the rural South to the urban North. But many urban blacks were unable to find work; by law and custom they had to live apart from whites, in run-down neighborhoods called ghettos. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, African Americans, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., used boycotts, marches, and other forms of nonviolent protest to demand equal treatment under the law and an end to racial prejudice.

Asian Americans

In 2000, there were 10.2 million Asian Americans living in the US. Nearly 50% of Asian Americans resided in the western part of the country, especially in the states of Hawaii, California, and Washington. Until recently, Asian Americans have not been prominently involved in politics. However, with the 1992 election of the first Korean – American US congressman, there are now six Asian Americans in the US Congress.