Minorias En Usa

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Throughout history, indigenous peoples in the United States have been forced to abandon their native culture, languages, and values in an attempt to assimilate them into the mainstream culture. According to Spring (0000) such oppressing actions have included the denial of U.S citizenship to Native Americans due to the Naturalization Act of 1790 that was later revoked in 1924 by theIndian Citizenship Act, schooling efforts to culturally and religiously transform Native Americans, the establishment of the Civilization Act that subsidized Protestant missionary educators to “civilize” Native Americans by converting them into Christianity, and the removal of Native American children from their families to send them to over to boarding schools.
These boarding schools weresupported by the labor of their students who from the fifth grade attended classes for half a day and worked the other half on agricultural tasks, and had little time for recreation. These schools committed abuses to such extent that, when punishing students,, “…these children were flogged with ropes, and some boarding schools contained their own jails” (0000).
Despite these acts of oppression,Native Americans have been able to survive and maintain essential aspects of their native culture. According to the 2010 U.S Census data, there are 5.2 million people in the United States identified as American Indian and Alaska Native, either alone or in combination with one or more races. The definition of American Indian or Alaska Native used by the 2010 Census is “…a person having origins inany of the original peoples of North and South American [including Central America] and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment”(U.S Census). As of today, there are 566 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes spread out throughout the United States as well as other Native American communities that are not officially recognized by the U.S government (Bureauof Indian Affairs Website, Department of Interior). Currently, the states with the largest Native American populations are California, Oklahoma, Arizona, Texas, New York, New Mexico, Washington, North Carolina, Florida, and Michigan (U.S Census).
Characteristics of Native Americans in the United States
Federally recognized tribes and Native American communities may differ significantly fromeach other in terms of their customs, language, environment, religion, history and economic circumstances. According to Tatum (0000) these communities may range from the most traditional where members speak their native language at home to those who are more acculturated into mainstream society and speak English as their first language. Whether they live in a reservation or off the reservationalso have an influence on their cultural connectedness and level of assimilation into mainstream culture. The most fundamental values among different indigenous groups in the United States are responsibility for family and friends, adherence to tradition, communal concern, cooperation and tribal identification (0000). Unfortunately, these values at times can be in conflict with the values ofAmerican mainstream culture that embrace individualism, competition and financial success. The aforementioned conflict of values hinders integration of Native Americans into mainstream society, therefore having a significant impact on their participation in higher education (Raphael).
Native American Representation in American Higher Education
Within the context of American higher education, NativeAmericans represented only 1 percent of the total undergraduate student enrollment in U.S degree granting institutions in the fall of 2009 compared to 62 percent for Whites, 15 percent for Blacks, 13 percent for Hispanics, and 7 percent for Asian/Pacific Islanders (Citation). While American Indian/Alaska Native enrollment increased from 70,000 to 189,000 students from 1976 to 2009, these...