XXXXXXXXXX u01a1 Select and Define a Major Urban Area – Charlotte, North Carolina HIS1000 – Immigrants in the American City Professor Jennifer Worley October 14, 2011 As a consultant for Americans Can Do Better Now (ACDBN), I have been tasked with reviewing and analyzing the history, customary cultures, and economic atmosphere of Charlotte, North Carolina. According the United States Census Bureau, the population of Charlotte was approximately 704,000 with nearly 97,000 considered foreign born – with nearly 48,000 entering the United States within the last 11 years (US Census, 2011).

Over the past decade, Charlotte has experienced an ethnic change within the city as there has been an increase in the Hispanic or Latino population and a decrease of the population of white. From 2000 to 2009, the Hispanic population increased from 39,800 to 86,941 – an increase of over 55% within this group and gaining an increase of more than 5% in the overall population of the city. The White population increased only slightly from 297,845 to 337,106 – though an increase of 15% but losing more than 7% in the overall population of the city.

The remainder of the ethnic groups for the city – Black, Asian, American Indian, Two or more races and Other Race alone – increased slightly but remained relatively low in comparison to the Hispanic population for the same time frame. This also appears to be the trend in the state of North Carolina as well. The Hispanic population has increased by nearly 47% in the same noted time frame (Charlotte, NC, City-Data. com, n. d). Prior to the last 10 years, the population of Charlotte, as well as North Carolina, was primarily Caucasian and African-American.

As Olsen & Beal (2010) note, there are nearly 40 million Hispanic-Americans currently residing in the United States. Additionally, they also state nearly 30 million people of Mexican descent – legal and illegal – reside within the United States (p. 264). Regarding the current population of Charlotte, nearly 60,000 of the residents were born outside of the United States – 5. 6% in Latin America, 2. 9% in Asia and 1. 4% in Europe. Additionally, this is nearly twice the states average residents of foreign birth (5. %). As noted in figures 1-4, the two ethnic groups with large populations born outside the United States are that of Hispanic and Asian origin. The foreign born Hispanic population is smaller in percentage numbers but the overall population of Asians is much higher – 46,637 versus 21,947 (Charlotte, NC, City-data. com, n. d). Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Additionally, as seen in Figure 5, adapted from City-Data. com, the foreign population born outside the United States has increased by over 82%.

It should also be noted that “native” refers to the population born outside the United States to United States citizens. While in Figure 6, it shows the increased foreign born populations coming from Latin America, Mexico, Central America and Asia (Charlotte, NC, City-Data. com, n. d. ). Population born outside the United States – Charlotte Figure 5 Year of entry for the foreign-born population – Charlotte Figure 6 According to the 2010 Census, “Hispanic or Latino” refers to a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race.

Additionally, the Hispanic population in North Carolina and seven additional states in the South (Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee) and South Dakota has more than doubled in size between 2000 and 2010 but still remains less than 9 percent in each respective states and less than the national average of 16 (US Census, 2011). The majority of the immigrants relocating the Charlotte appear to be of Hispanic descent but at this time, the distinction between the origins is unknown.

When understanding the overall of the ethnic origins, many of the geographic regions suffer from extreme poverty due to politic unrest and instability; therefore, have little to no economical or educational opportunities to prosper. Many immigrants level their native land to seek opportunities in the United States through legal and illegal entry due to the economic instability of their homelands. The poverty level in Mexico is currently increased by 3 million people to 52 million people in 2010 – equating it to over 46% of the country living in poverty and nearly 12 million of those people living in extreme poverty (Wilkinson, 2011).

At this time, the city of Charlotte does not appear to be changing radically with an influx of immigrants. The ethnic growth of the area does appear to be increasing with Latin and Central American immigrants. I believe it is currently below the national average for other urban areas of the country as New York, NY has foreign born population of nearly a million people (942,235) – less the than the entire population of Charlotte (New York, NY, City-Data. com, n. d. ). References:

New York, New York (n. d. ). Races (New York). Retrieved on October 14, 2011 from: http://www. city-data. com/races/races-New-York-New-York. html. Charlotte, North Carolina (n. d. ). Races (Charlotte). Retrieved on October 14, 2011 from: http://www. city-data. com/races/races-Charlotte-North-Carolina. html#ixzz1ao0NsSts Olson, J and Beal, H (2010). The ethnic dimension in American history (4th ed. ). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN: 9781405182515. Wilkinson, T. (2011, July 29).

Poverty grew in Mexico to nearly half the population, study finds. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on October 14, 2011 from: http://articles. latimes. com/2011/jul/29/world/la-fg-mexico-poverty-20110730 United States Census Bureau. (2011). Statistical abstract of the United States: 2012. Retrieved on October 14, 2011 from: http://www. census. gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0038. pdf United States Census Bureau. (2011). The Hispanic population: 2010. Retrieved on October