Ch7/Sec1: Where Are Ethnicities Distributed?
Ethnicity (Greek word ethnikos):
 Identity w/ a group of people who share the cultural traditions of a
particular homeland or hearth
 Distinct from race which is identity with a group of people who share a
biological ancestor
Clustering occurs on 2 scales:
a) w/in a specific region of the country
b) w/in a specific neighborhood in a city
1) Regional concentration of ethnicities:
- Hispanics (15%): clustered in the SW:
 1/3 of the population of AZ, NM, TX & ¼ of the population of CA
 Hispanic = term adopted by the U.S. gov.’t in 1973
 People from Latin America call themselves Latino/Latina
 People from Mexico call themselves Chicano/Chicana
- African Americans (13%): clustered in the SE
 ¼ of the popul. of AL, GA, LA, MD, SC & 1/3 of the popul. of MS
 Less than 1% of the popul. in the NE
- Asian Americans (4%): clustered in the W
 40% of the popul. of HI,
 50% of all Asians live in CA (12% of the popul. of CA)
- American Indians & Alaska Natives: clustered in the SW & the Plain
States
2) Concentration of ethnicities in the cities:
- African Americans and Hispanics are highly concentrated in urban
areas (90% v. 75% of all Americans)
e.g. Detroit, MI – 85% of the population of Detroit is African
American, while 7% of the rest of MI
Chicago, IL – 30% of the population of Chicago is African
American, while 8% of the rest of IL
- Hispanics: 25% of NYC, while 6% of the rest of NY
- The distribution of African Americans and Hispanics is mixed in CA
- In Los Angeles, the major ethnic groups are clustered in different but
contiguous neighborhoods (Koreatown, Chinatown, etc.)
African American migration patterns:
3 major migration patterns:
1) Forced migration from Africa to the American colonies in the 18th c.
 Slavery, diffused by European plantation owners in the Americas
 1710-1810: 10 million slaves by Spain, Portugal, & the U.S.
 Africans captured Africans & sold them to slavery
 Triangular trade:
- Europe  Africa: slaves & gold for clothes & manufactured goods
- Africa  Caribbean: slaves & gold for sugar, molasses
- Caribbean  Europe: sugar & molasses
[Caribbean  N. America: sugar & molasses for rum to Europe)
 Slaves freed after the Civil War: sharecroppers renting their land from
a landowner, who gives them seeds, tools, sheds, & a line of credit in
exchange for a certain amount of crops  they became heavily
indebted
2) Immigration from the U.S. South to northern cities in the 1st half of the
20th c.:
 introduction of farm machinery & a decline in land devoted to cotton
 better job prospects in the North & West
(push-pull factors)
 migration through clearly defined channels:
a) East Coast along I-95: Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York
b) East Central along I-75 & I-77: Detroit or Cleveland
c) West Central along I-55: St. Louis & Chicago
d) Southwest along I-10 & I-20: CA
 migration in 2 main waves: b/f & after the two world wars (expansion
of factories manufacturing war materials)
 expansion of the ghetto, then moving out of the ghetto in the 1950s &
1960s