ABSTRACT
The term Pacific Islanders refers to a nonhomogeneous group of persons with origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or the other archipelagos of Pacific Oceania. These island groups comprise hundreds of volcanic islands and atolls separated by miles of open ocean. These distances allowed variations in language, cultural practices, and social organization patterns to develop, and these differences persist even after emigration to other countries. As a minority group within the United States, Pacific Islanders include but are not limited to Native Hawaiians, Samoans, Guamanians, Marshallese, Tongans, and Fijians.
