Divisions between economic classes and religious, racial and ethnic groups have existed since America's founding.

Although the Declaration of Independence stated "that all men are created equal," the United States from its inception has been a racially divided nation. Abraham Lincoln's election to the presidency in 1860 brought to a climax the long-festering debate about the relative powers of the federal and state governments and the issue of slavery. By the time of his inauguration, six Southern states had seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, soon to be followed by five more. The Civil War that followed between the North and South lasted four years. In the end, the Union stayed whole and 4 million Black slaves were freed. (Source: Smithsonian National Museum of American History)

Efforts to resolve inequalities and extend the rights of citizenship to Blacks included passage of the 13th Amendment (1865) to abolish slavery; the 14th Amendment (1868) extending "equal protection of the laws" to all citizens; and the 15th Amendment (1870) guaranteeing the right to vote could not be denied "on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude."

But none of these amendments led to true equality between Blacks and whites. Beginning in 1876 (and extending well into the late 1960s), hundreds of "Jim Crow laws" were passed, separating Blacks from white schools, housing, jobs and public gathering places. Black men were largely barred from voting beginning in the 1890s, when southern states passed literacy tests and poll taxes, effectively excluding the poor and anybody who could not read from the electoral process.

Who Was Jim Crow?

Jim Crow was not an actual person but actually the subject of a racist song performed by a white minstrel-show performer named Thomas Dartmouth "Daddy" Rice in the early 1800s. The song, called "Jump Jim Crow," was sung in "slave dialect" and denigrated Blacks. (Source: Ferris State University, Museum of Racist Memorabilia)

The Blight of Sundown Towns

The "nadir of American race relations" is a phrase often used to refer to a time in U.S. history when northern Republicans stopped supporting Black civil rights and incidents of anti-Black violence; lynchings, segregation, legal racial discrimination and expressions of white supremacy exploded. Click here to read more DiversityInc articles on civil rights.

This period, which began around the 1890s and extended through 1968, saw the emergence of "sundown towns" across the country when thousands of towns drove out Blacks and forbid them from living there. (Source: "Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism," by James W. Loewen)

Blacks were not the only group subjected to discrimination and lack of political representation. Over the decades, American Indians, Japanese people, Chinese people, Latinos, Muslims and Jews have also faced racial, religious and ethnic hostility. During World War II, more than 100,000 Japanese Americans were forced into internment camps. In addition to the expulsion of Blacks from sundown towns, Chinese people and other groups were driven out of many small towns. (Source: "Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism," by James W. Loewen)

The Know-Nothing Party

Even white immigrants faced their share of hostility in the United States. In the 1850s, the American Party, also known as the Know-Nothing Party, emerged on the scene in response to the rising number of Roman Catholics, primarily Germans and Irish, immigrating to this country. The party was established by native-born Protestants who viewed German and Irish Roman Catholics as an economic and political threat.

Specifically, their party platform called for:

• Severe limits on immigration, especially from Catholic countries
• Restricting political office to native-born Americans
• Mandating a wait of 21 years before an immigrant could gain citizenship
• Restricting public-school teachers to Protestants
• Mandating daily Bible readings in public schools (Source: New World Encyclopedia)

Limited Progress

Despite segregation, racial violence, punitive laws and the Ku Klux Klan, Blacks still managed to get elected to political office. In 1873, voters in Mississippi elected Hiram R. Revels (1870–1871), the United States' first Black senator. By 1876, 15 Blacks had served in the U.S. Congress. Such successes, however, were rare and short-lived. (Source: Office of History and Preservation, U.S. House of Representatives)

Plessy v. Ferguson: Segregation Becomes the Law of the Land

Before Rosa Parks sparked the modern-day civil-rights movement for refusing to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Ala., to a white passenger back in 1955, there was the pivotal case of Homer Plessy.

After a new law was passed in Louisiana 1890 segregating white and Black passengers on trains, Plessy changed the course of history when he refused to move from a seat reserved for white passengers. Plessy's arrest and subsequent challenge of the Louisiana law eventually made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In the pivotal case of Plessy v. Ferguson, the nation's highest court ruled against Plessy in 1896, saying that racially separate facilities, if equal, did not violate the Constitution. (Source: Smithsonian National Museum of American History)

President Woodrow Wilson Retreats on Civil-Rights Promises

In the early 1900s, Blacks began organizing politically into several groups, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Numerous Blacks had voted for President Wilson in the 1912 election, based on his promise to work for them.

"But Wilson permitted segregation in federal offices soon after becoming president, treating it, he said, not as an instrument of humiliation, but as a means to ease racial tensions. Even though civil rights groups regularly lobbied the federal government for help to stop the violence, threats and reprisals faced daily by Blacks, Wilson took no action against such practices.'' (Source: The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library)

It would take another 58 years before the Supreme Court overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling outlawing racial segregation in America. In 1954, the court declared the system of separate-but-equal unconstitutional in its landmark Brown v. Board of Education case. The battle for school desegregation ultimately expanded the struggle for social justice beyond the classroom, leading to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which outlawed discrimination and segregation in voting, education and the use of public facilities.

Today, Blacks, Latinos, women, Asians and other underrepresented groups hold more elected positions than at any other period in U.S. history.

A Black President in the White House

Just a few years ago, many people doubted they would ever see a Black man in the White House or a Black woman assuming the duties of first lady or a Latina donning the robes of a Supreme Court justice in their lifetime. But today, the success of President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor proves the political landscape in the United States has been transformed.

Today, elected officials from a patchwork of cultures, traditions and religions, including Christians, Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus, all sit together on the 111th United States Congress.

And the nation's first Black president has appointed the most diverse Cabinet in history in terms of racial/ethnic/gender diversity. Click here to read "Obama Vs. Bush: Scorecard on Cabinet Diversity."

Of the 23 key Cabinet-level positions in Obama's administration, 10, or 43 percent, are filled by white men. But the rest are filled by women, Blacks, Latinos and Asians.

Specifically:

Four of the top jobs, or 17 percent, are filled by white women—former Sen. Hillary Clinton is now secretary of state, former Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is heading the Department of Health and Human Services; economist Christina Romer; and former Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is the first woman to head the Department of Homeland Security.

Three positions, or 13 percent, are filled by Asian Americans: Former Washington Gov. Gary Locke is the first Chinese American to serve as commerce secretary; Gen. Eric K. Shinseki is the first Asian American to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs; and Nobel Prize winner Steven Chu is the first Chinese American to lead the Department of Energy.

Two out of the 23 appointments, or 8 percent, are filled by Latinos. Former Sen. Ken Salazar is the second Latino to hold the position of interior secretary and former Rep. Hilda L. Solis is the first Latina labor secretary.

And four jobs, or 18 percent, are filled by Blacks, including Eric H. Holder Jr., the nation's first Black attorney general; Susan E. Rice, the first Black U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; Lisa P. Jackson, the first Black person to head the EPA; and former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, the first Black U.S. trade representative.

Obama also named internationally recognized disability-rights leader Kathy Martinez, who has been blind since birth, as assistant secretary for the Office of Disability Employment Policy. (Click here to watch a DiversityInc roundtable video of Martinez.) Nancy Sutley of Obama's White House Council on Environmental Quality is the first prominent member of the LGBT community to become part of his administration. Another first on the LGBT front: During Obama's inaugural ceremony, an LGBT band marched in the inaugural parade for the first time in the history of the United States.

In May 2009, Obama appointed Kevin Jennings to the post of assistant deputy secretary of education and director of the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools at the U.S. Department of Education. Jennings is founder of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), a national organization that focuses on ensuring safe schools for LGBT students. Over the past few months, however, a movement has been growing among right-wing conservatives to expel Jennings from his post.

Progress: Racial/Ethnic Diversity

Blacks

Black voters have also made tremendous strides in the political arena. The Congressional Black Caucus, a group that represents Black representatives in Congress, said that 123 Blacks have served in Congress since 1870. Since 1870, when Sen. Hiram Revels of Mississippi and Rep. Joseph Rainey of South Carolina became the first Blacks to serve in Congress, a total of 125 Blacks have served as U.S. representatives or senators. (Source: www.house.gov)

Asian Americans

There have been 18 Asian Americans who have served on the U.S. House of Representatives, and six have served as senators.

Dalip Singh Saund was the first person of Indian ancestry elected to Congress in 1957. Hiram Fong was the first Asian Pacific American elected to the Senate and the first American of Chinese ancestry elected to Congress in 1959. Jim Kay was the first person of Korean ancestry elected to Congress in 1993.

Daniel Inouye was the first Japanese American elected to Congress in 1963. In 2007, Republican Rep. Bobby Jindal became the first U.S. governor of Indian descent when he was elected governor of Louisiana. Ahn "Joseph" Cao is the first person of Vietnamese ancestry, elected to Congress in 2009.

In April 2009, Sonal R. Shah was appointed director of the new Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation in the White House. Previously, Shah was a member of the Obama-Biden Transition Project.

American Indians

Although Congress has long had committees and subcommittees that deal with issues related to American Indians, few have served in the House or Senate. Originally, the Constitution treated the Indian tribes as separate nations. On June 2, 1924, Congress enacted the Indian Citizenship Act, which granted citizenship to all American Indians born in the United States. The right to vote, however, was governed by state law, and many were barred from voting until the 1950s.

The first member of Congress to claim American Indian ancestry was a Republican from Kansas named Charles Curtis, who was one-eighth Kaw-Osage. Others have included Benjamin Reifel (R-S.D.), who served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a Cheyenne, who designs Indian jewelry and dresses and wears his hair in Indian style, was elected to the House in 1986 and to the Senate in 1992. Thomas Jeffery Cole, a member of the Chickasaw nation, is currently the only American Indian in Congress.

Latinos

Latinos have held important positions at all levels of government. Since 1988, when Ronald Reagan appointed the first Latino Cabinet member, Lauro Cavazos as secretary of education, Latinos have had an increasing presence in the Cabinet. They include Ken Salazar, current secretary of the interior, and Hilda Solis, current secretary of labor. There are currently 23 Latinos in the House of Representatives. Robert Menendez is the only current Latino senator. In 2009, Sonia Sotomayor became the first Supreme Court associate justice of Latin American origin.

Gender Diversity

The year 2008 will surely go down as the year of the woman in American politics. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the maverick mother of five, became the first woman to join a presidential ticket since Geraldine Ferraro in 1984. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was the leading candidate for the White House before losing the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama.

But the ascendancy of women in political life was a hard-fought battle. In 1920, the suffrage movement scored a major victory with the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution granting women the right to vote. The women's liberation movement began in earnest during the civil-rights era the 1960s.

In the decades that followed, women steadily made inroads to political power. In 1984, former vice president and presidential candidate Walter Mondale selected Geraldine Ferraro to be his running mate, making her the first woman to be a major-party national nominee in addition to being the first woman.

However, the most significant year for women in politics was 1992, when as many as 60 million women voted, and their impact was felt. After the ballots were counted, 24 new women had been elected to the House of Representatives along with five new women senators, the largest increase of women political leaders in American history. (Source: Center for the Study of Women and Society, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York)

Christine Todd Whitman served as New Jersey's first and only woman governor from 1994 to 2001, and Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) made a serious bid for the 2000 presidential election. Today, 68 women serve in the House of Representatives. Fourteen women are in the Senate today.

Religious Diversity

Although a lot of media coverage of Obama during the presidential election was devoted to false yet persistent rumors that he was Muslim, Obama is actually a member of the United Church of Christ. Nearly half the nation's presidents have been affiliated with the Episcopal or Presbyterian churches. John F. Kennedy remains the only Catholic to have held the nation's highest office. Only three U.S. presidents—Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson—have been unaffiliated with a specific religious institution.

In 1845, Lewis Charles Levin became the first Jewish member of Congress. Six years later, John Milton Bernhisel became the first Mormon in congress, representing Utah. Dalip Singh Saund, an Indian-born Sikh from California, was elected to Congress in 1956. By 1961, the majority of Congressional leaders were still Protestants, but there were also 100 Catholics, 12 Jews and 7 Mormons. (Source: Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative)

Among the nation's smaller religious groups, one group stands out in terms of its numbers in Congress: Jews, who account for just 1.7 percent of the U.S. adult population, make up 8.4 percent of Congress, including slightly more than 13 percent of the Senate. (Source: Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative)

In 2006, Keith Ellison became the first Muslim elected to Congress. Ellison, who is Black and a convert to Islam, caused a minor media sensation when he declared that he would take the oath of office on the Quran rather than the Bible. In 2008, Ellison was joined by another Black Muslim, André Carson, who won a special election in March of that year. Muslims, who account for approximately 0.6 percent of the U.S. adult population, make up 0.4 percent of Congress. (Source: Pew Forum's recent U.S. Religious Landscape Survey. View more research on Muslims from the Pew Research Center on DiversityIncBestPractices.com)

In 2006, Hank Johnson and Mazie K. Hirono became the first elected Buddhists to join Congress. Johnson is a practicing Buddhist who converted to the religion as a young adult, while Hirono, who was born in Japan, calls herself a non-practicing Buddhist. Buddhists make up 0.4 percent of Congress and 0.7 percent of the U.S. adult population. (Source: Pew Forum's U.S. Religious Landscape Survey)