Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The “Hispanic” category does not appear before the census of 1940. It is not a
“race”, but an indication of a person's origin. It refers to immigrants from Spanish-
speaking countries in Latin America, against which the quota laws of 1924 foresaw
no restriction.
The rise of Mexican immigration, however, led the government to take control
starting in 1932. Although they were unprejudiced in appearance, the Johnson laws
of 1965 in essence established a quota against Mexican immigration. This explains
the tide of illegal immigration ever since. The Hispanic minority is an emerging
community in the United States and one that is increasingly aware of its linguistic
individuality and the economic discrimination from which it suffers. It is beginning
to organize itself politically like the black community.
In 2004, more than 18.3 million US residents were born in Latin America. This
represents 53.7% of the group of first generation immigrants. Add to that second
generation Hispanics and the descendants of older waves of immigration and a
community of more than 41.3 million people (14.1% of the total population) in 2004
is formed. “Latinos” have thus become the first minority in the country since the
2000 census.
4.3. The African-American question
The case of black Americans is unique. Their presence preceded the country's
independence, and with 1 million people, they represented one fifth of the
population of the United States in 1800. Centuries of slavery explain that from the
outset, censuses classified the population as a “race”. Even if it is a symbolic
ethnicity, since black Americans originally came from very different parts of West
and Central Africa, the hardship imposed on them forged unparalleled community
awareness.
For a long time, the “African-American question” remained a regional issue.
Although the National Association for the Advancement of Color People was
founded in 1909 in Springfield, Illinois, on the occasion of the centennial of the birth
of Abraham Lincoln, 81% of the 9.8 million Afro-Americans still lived in the
11 “seceded” southern states according to the census of 1910 (see Figure 4.3).
