The reason for this is the Immigration Act of 1965: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_and_Nationality_Act_of_1965 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigrati

The reason for this is the Immigration Act of 1965: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_and_Nationality_Act_of_1965 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_and_Nationality_Act... Especially look at the section called "Long-Term Results". I haven't studied this personally, but my history professor in college claimed that this act is essentially responsible for the fact that America has the ethnic diversity it does today. Basically, before 1965 only a very small number of non-white people were allowed to come to the United States. (Partly because of immigration restrictions, partly because of the Gentleman's Agreement of 1907 in which Japan agreed to restrict immigration for us.) After 1965, the quotas were much more equal for different regions of the world.