Cultural Differences In Pima County

There is a rich diverseness of cultural and ethnic and racial backgrounds within Pima County. The Tohono O’odham Native American tribe, the refugee population, the Hispanics and Latinos among other groups all reflect the essence of this culture specific to Pima County, while also defining and contributing to the health statuses throughout the area. Within the borders of this county, one will find a varying number of races as can be seen in Table 7. From this 2010 census seen in Table 7, 34.6 % of the population identifies as Hispanic or Latino while the other 65.4 % is of non-Hispanic or Latino descent. Of the 65.4 % who classify as non-Hispanic or Latino, 74.3 % of them are declared White with the next highest percentage at 12.3% coming from

As seen in Table 8, Mexicans account for a distinguishable 30.8 % that no other specific Hispanic or Latino race compares to. Following Mexicans, the next highest represented group would be in the “Other” category with complete disregard to those of South or Central American descent. Each race plays a role on the communities throughout Pima County. The Mexican population who have contributed greatly to the area of Pima County influencing the food with many restaurants serving a style adopted from Sonora, Mexico, music, language, religious involvement, historically and politically with movements such as the Chicano movement in the 1960’s and in art, with controversial figures such as Pancho Villa, and similarly the neighborhoods with street names familiar to that of Hispanic culture and certain barrios (Spanish word for neighborhood) found

Many contributed to and worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad while others represent the history of the Buffalo Soldiers who were part of the 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments and 9th and 10th Calvary Regiments that fought against the Native Americans as well as helped establish Arizona as a state (Through Our Parents’ Eyes, n.d.). More recently we can see their influences in places like the Dunbar African American Culture Center where they are looking to preserve the history of African Americans and the Davis Monthan Air Force Base that has brought in a number of Blacks to the Pima County