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The One Minute Geographer: The Great Plains — Race, Ethnicity and the Trump Vote, Part 1
While we look at details about race and ethnicity along the 100-degree meridian keep in mind that the Great Plains is one of the ‘whitest’ areas of the USA. Rather than giving a lot of detailed statistics I thought it would be simpler just to point out some regions along the strip that are more diverse than the rest. So I drew ovals on the map above broadly defining some regions that stand out.
The large gray oval on the northern half of the map contains counties, most of which have 90% or more non-Hispanic white population. But within that circle are exceptions: six counties within the yellow oval have 5% or more Native American population. Most notably, the northern yellow dot marks Rolette County ND, the northernmost county on the strip, where the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation is located. Many of the Chippewa People live here and 78% of the county population is Native American. Part of Lyman County SD, the southern yellow dot, has a portion of the Rosebud Indian Reservation, home to many Lakota people. In Lyman County 40% of residents identify as Native Americans.
The southern half of the meridian includes counties that have large percentages of Hispanics/Latinos. Hispanic/Latino is a cultural and ethnic term and Hispanics may be of any race. The southern dark…
