Latinos formed the largest single immigrant group. This term was invented in the United States and included people from quite different origins— Mexicans, Central and South Americans, and migrants from Spanishspeaking Caribbean islands like Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico (although the last group, of course, were American citizens, not immigrants). With 95 million people, Mexico in 2000 had become the world’s largest Spanish-speaking nation. Its poverty, high birthrate, and proximity to the United States made it a source of massive legal and illegal immigration. In 2000, Mexican-Americans made up a majority of the Hispanic population of the United States and nearly half the residents of Los Angeles.
Latina nannies pushing baby carriages in Beverly Hills, California. In the 1990s, for the first time in American history, female immigrants outnumbered male immigrants.
Numbering more than 45 million in 2007, Latinos had become the largest minority group in the United States. Latinos were highly visible in entertainment, sports, and politics. Indeed, the Hispanic presence transformed American life. Jose was now the most common name for baby boys in Texas and the third most popular in California. Smith remained the most common American surname, but Garcia, Rodriguez, Gonzales, and other Hispanic names were all in the top fifty.
Latino communities remained far poorer than the rest of the country. A flourishing middle class developed in Los Angeles, Miami, and other cities with large Spanish-speaking populations. But most immigrants from Mexico and Central America competed at the lowest levels of the job market. The influx of legal and illegal immigrants swelled the ranks of low-wage urban workers and agricultural laborers. Latinos lagged far behind other Americans in education. In 2007, their poverty rate stood at nearly double the national figure of 12.5 percent. Living and working conditions among predominantly Latino farm workers in the West fell back to levels as dire as when Cesar Chavez established the United Farm Workers union in the 1960s.
Asian-Americans also became increasingly visible in the 1990s. There had long been a small population of Asian ancestry in California and New York City, but only after 1965 did immigration from Asia assume large proportions. By 2000, the number of Asian-Americans stood at 11.9 million, eight times the figure of 1970. Like Latinos, Asian-Americans were a highly diverse population, including well-educated Koreans, Indians, and Japanese, as well as poor refugees from Cambodia, Vietnam, and China. Growing up in tight-knit communities that placed great emphasis on education, young Asian-Americans poured into American colleges and universities. Once subjected to harsh discrimination, Asian-Americans now achieved remarkable success. White Americans hailed them as a “model minority.” By 2007, the median family income of Asian-Americans, $66,000, surpassed that of whites. But more than any other group, Asian-Americans clustered at opposite ends of the income spectrum. Large numbers earned either more than $75,000 per year (doctors, engineers, and entrepreneurs) or under $5,000 (unskilled laborers in sweatshops and restaurants).
Figure 27.2 BIRTHPLACE OF IMMIGRANTS, 1990-2000
During the 1990s, immigration from Latin America and Asia eclipsed immigration from Europe, traditionally the main source of newcomers to the United States.
The U.S. Border Patrol apprehending Mexicans who had entered the country in violation of immigration laws, near San Diego, California. In 1990, more than 1 million immigrants were arrested and deported after crossing the border illegally.
The United States, of course, had long been a multiracial society. But for centuries race relations had been shaped by the black-white divide and the experience of slavery and segregation. The growing visibility of Latinos and Asians suggested that a two-race system no longer adequately described American life. Multiracial imagery filled television, films, and advertising. Interracial marriage, at one time banned in forty-two states, became more common and acceptable. Among Asian-Americans at the turn of the century, half of all marriages involved a non-Asian partner. The figure for Latinos was 30 percent. Some commentators spoke of the “end of racism” and the emergence of a truly color-blind society. Others argued that while Asians and some Latinos were being absorbed into an expanded category of “white” Americans, the black-white divide remained almost as impenetrable as ever.
Korean youngsters rehearsing a dance at the Veterans’ Administration Medical Center in Columbia, South Carolina, an illustration of the growing diversity of American society.
Figure 27.3 THE PROJECTED NON-WHITE MAJORITY: RACIAL AND ETHNIC BREAKDOWN
Despite the ups and downs of unemployment, the rate for non-whites remains persistently higher than that for whites.
One thing, however, seemed clear at the dawn of the twenty-first century: diversity was here to stay. In 2000, whites made up around 70 percent of the population, blacks and Hispanics around 13 percent each, and Asians 6 percent. Because the birthrate of racial minorities is higher than that of whites, the Census Bureau projected that by 2050, only 50 percent of the American population would be white, a little less than 25 percent would be Hispanic, and blacks and Asians would account for around 13 percent each.