ABSTRACT
At the height of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, Howard Thurman said, “One of the central problems in human relations is applying the ethic of respect for personality in a way that is not governed by special categories” (The Luminous Darkness, p. 1). Special categories, however, have always been a part of the American scene. Although the United States was once called a melting pot, many groups in America remain separate from other groups—distinguishable in terms of beliefs, practices, appearance, language, or self-identification. Some people have been attracted to the United States by the opportunities they believed were here, some have come to escape bad situations in their native land, and some were brought here against their will. Some immigrant groups have become completely assimilated, some have failed in their efforts to be accepted into the mainstream, and some have tried desperately to maintain or to rediscover their connections with their past.
