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Racism and ethnic discrimination in the United States has been a major issue since the colonial
era and the slave era.
Legally sanctioned racism imposed a heavy burden on Native Americans, African Americans,
Asian Americans, and Latin Americans.
European Americans (particularly Anglo Americans) were privileged by law in matters of literacy,
immigration, voting rights, citizenship, land acquisition, and criminal procedure over periods
of time extending from the 17th century to the 1960s.
Many non-Protestant European immigrant groups, particularly Jews, Irish people, Poles and
Italians among others, suffered xenophobic exclusion and other forms of discrimination
in American society.
Major racially and ethnically structured institutions included slavery, Indian Wars, Native American
reservations, segregation, residential schools for Native Americans, and internment camps.
Formal racial discrimination was largely banned in the mid-20th century, and came to be perceived
as socially unacceptable and/or morally repugnant as well, yet racial politics remain a major
phenomenon.
Historical racism continues to be reflected in socioeconomic inequality, and, indirect
forms of expression, most prevalently symbolic racism. Racial stratification continues to
occur in employment, housing, education, lending, and government.
Discrimination permeates all aspects of life in the United States, and extends to all communities
of color.
Discrimination against African Americans, Latin Americans, and Muslims is widely acknowledged.
Members of every major American ethnic minority have perceived racism in their dealings with
other minority groups.