Racism has plagued the United States since its inception. The underside of American history is filled with the reality of racism--the decimation and removal of the Indians, slavery, Jim Crow, internment camps for Japanese Americans, the crime of driving while black, and border patrols, to name some examples. This set covers the period from colonial times until today and all the groups discriminated against at one time or another: Arabs and Muslims, who are the most recent targets, blacks, Asians, the indigenous, Latinos, European immigrants, and Jews. It is the first work to explore the magnitude of the explosive issue and does so in a non-inflammatory manner. More than 450 essay entries present key terms, organizations, movements, incidents, forums, texts, individuals, legislation, theories, and the like.
The wide range of entries will facilitate cross-disciplinary reading and research for high school and higher education students and the general reader. As an authoritative ready-reference, it will be crucial for understanding of the minority groups and their experiences with the dominant culture. Most entries contain suggestions for further reading. A timeline, photos, and a host of primary documents uomplement the entries. Sample entries: Academic Racism, American Literature and Racism, Aryan Nations, Barrios, Bensonhurst Incident, Columbus Day Controversy, Detroit Race Riot of 1967, Eugenics Movement, Films and Racial Stereotypes, Freedom Riders, Gulf War, Jim Crow Laws, La Raza Unida, March on Washington, Melting Pot, Mexican Repatriations, Minstrelsy, Nation of Islam, One-Drop Rule, Pan-Asian Solidarity, Race Riots, Redlining, Sharecropping, Sioux Outbreak of 1890, Slave Codes, Sports Mascots, Tokenism, U.S. Border Patrol, War on Poverty and the Great Society, WASPs, White Flight, Zionist Occupied Government