Before teachers can heed recent calls for planning literary experiences that expose children to books about people in other cultures, they need to evaluate the books on the many ethnic booklists. This evaluation process can be confusing, due to the varying quality of multiethnic literature for children. There are five questions that teachers…

This study explored the identity development of Asian American college students, especially in relation to the simultaneous development of individual and group identity. It examined how second-generation Asian Americans interpreted their evolving sense of self in relation to race/ethnicity and how their racial/ethnic identity affected their…

Based on ethnographic research on Puerto Ricans on the island and mainland, this paper examines why Nuyoricans' identities are disparaged by island and mainland Puerto Ricans. Nuyoricans are Puerto Ricans, especially in New York, who mix North American and Puerto Rican cultural traits. Many have grown up traveling between the island and mainland.…

The purpose of this paper is to share findings from two studies. One study investigates how Minnesota school administrators are addressing cultural diversity and English Language Learners. Data was collected through an electronic survey sent to superintendents and principals. 326 surveys from a possible 998 were completed for a return rate of…

Writing is an effective tool for investigating the problem of ethnic stereotyping, that is, grouping people from diverse cultures into broad unrepresentative categories. A first-year composition class addressed ethnic stereotyping using media critique. Class activities divided the process of deconstructing cultural stereotypes into three steps:…

The image of the Puerto Rican in 33 books written between 1950 and 1980 for young adults was examined. Nine reviewers evaluated the books for their characterization of Puerto Rican socioeconomic status, demographic status, educational attainment, family representation, and male/female roles. The negative image of the Puerto Rican that emerged from…

In view of the vast amounts of Native American stereotyping that exists in the United States today, English teachers should analyze ways to reduce the effects of such stereotypes. Despite recent attempts to raise ethnic consciousness, American popular culture still perpetuates and reinforces Indian stereotypes, and these prevailing images block…

Educators should be aware that recent rhetoric about diversity in this country often does not consider the continuing discrimination and mistreatment of Asians. Simply put, the employment situation for Asian and Pacific Americans is characterized by underemployment and the channeling of Asians into a narrow range of jobs. Many people today have…

According to a footnote in the 1990 book "The Noble Savage,""The Spanish Black Legend is the view of Spain's genocide in The New World, as accounted for by Bartolome de las Casas and the European historians who, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, denounced this genocide, often utilizing it as an anti-Spanish propaganda…

Because of the newness of the concept of multicultural education in many schools and the lack of published materials available to teachers, it becomes the responsibility of the teacher to design a program aimed at meeting the needs of their classes. Certain objectives may be achieved through reading books or stories about young people from…

A review of 80 years of writing and research on stereotypes indicates that there is little agreement on a definition of stereotype; also that the major emphasis has been on definitions that emphasize the consensus of a group on the elements of a stereotype. This paper defines stereotypes in terms of characteristics ascribed by individuals, rather…

Julius Streicher, the German publisher sentenced to death in the Nuremberg trials for rhetorical crimes against humanity, published the widely-read and virulently anti-semitic weekly tabloid "Der Stuermer" from 1923 to 1945. Through Streicher's rhetoric and through the publication's cartoons, Jews were depicted as bacilli, vampires,…

The Chicana has traditionally been seen as a silent partner in a marriage and culture: one who is totally subservient to her husband and devoted only to his needs and her children's needs. This research questions if this role is changing and, if so, how and to what degree. A tragedy of the Chicana's future is that the barriers to development are…

Distorted images of American minorities are reflected in all spheres of American life, including academic and public policies. Some specific examples include: (1) Harvard's 1922 quota system for Jews, the university's pattern of white supremacy, and bias in its scholarly research; (2) the relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II; (3)…

The use of the media to gain public acceptance of a group's ideology and policies is usually unsuccessful unless the group can create a newsworthy event, especially one that is unusual or that involves conflict. In the case of the Indian movement, the brief, superficial television coverage of the American Indian Movement's (AIM) take-over of the…