SOC 308 Week 2 Assignment Ethnic Group Evaluation

Ethnic Group Evaluation. By the mid-twentieth century, the European immigrant groups described in Week One had combined to form a white racial majority in the United States. Today, Blacks, Indigenous Americans, Asians, Hispanics, and non-white Europeans interact with the white majority in a system of race that can be broadly described as comprising whites and non-whites, whites and racial minorities, or whites and people of color. While unique ethnic groups share a culture in which ethnic conflict is present, including pressures to assimilate, the broader culture also celebrates the unique culture of many ethnic groups in America. 

Write a paper in which you evaluate a selected major ethnic group in the United States. Please elaborate on the following points in your essay:

1. Select and describe one of the following ethnic groups: 

Black Americans
Hispanic Americans
Asian Americans
Indigenous Americans 
White Americans

2. Examine the history of this group in the United States, including the following: 

Immigration
Contact with other ethnic groups
Assimilation or pluralism, and its connection to the group’s contact with other ethnic groups 
Conflict with other ethnic groups

3. Provide an example of a widely held myth or misconception about this ethnic group. How do we know this is a myth? Why is this myth so difficult to abandon?