theless, since World War II, the Native American culture has made many advances towards reconnecting with a cultural identity, the land and protection of their human and civil rights. Today’s population of Native Americans stood at 1,878,285 in the 1990 U.S. Census, with the majority of American Indians located in four states; Oklahoma, California, Arizona, and New Mexico (Paisano 1). Because of a resurgence in the Native American social movement during the latter half of the 20th century, there are other reasons beside natural births that account for the much higher numbers of American Indians in the 1990 Census than the one in 1970 (a 110% increase), “Other factors that may have contributed to the higher count of American Indians include improvements in the question on race; improvements in the way the Census Bureau counted people on reservations; continued use of self-identification to obtain information on race; a greater propensity in 1990 than in earlier censuses for individuals to report themselves as American Indian; and improved outreach programs and promotion campaigns” (Paisano 1).
The greater propensity for individuals to report themselves as American Indians can be directly attributed to the resurgent social movement among this population, one that has shifted away from traditional goals of assimilation to a reclaiming of the past and cultural identity. The calculated efforts of the U.S. Government to systematically wipe out the Indian culture were so successful that during the first half of the 20th century and even as late the 1970s, Native Americans were reluctant to connect with their heritage and culture for fear of social repercussions. The movement has been quite successful in the sense that Native Americans are continuously growing as another group considered a culture that lends America its great diversity. Many programs, organizations and federal and state legislation exist that protect the human a...