This document provides demographic information about Milton, MA, Massachusetts, and the United States. It then lists examples of literature for the largest ethnic groups in each location. The literature for white populations is consistent across locations but literature for other groups varies between Milton, MA, Massachusetts, and the US. The document concludes that the current body of American literature does not accurately reflect the diversity of the US population based on the demographic information presented.
2. MILTON, MA
Demographics: Milton
White: 85.4% White
Irish: 38% Hispanic/Latino
Italian: 11.3% African American
English: 8.6% Asian
German: 4.7% Other
1 10 100
Hispanic/Latino: 1.7%
African American: 10.2% Irish
Italian
Asian: 2% English
Other: .6% German
0 10 20 30 40
3. MASSACHUSETTS
Massaschusetts Demographics:
White White: 84.5%
Hispanic/Latino Irish, 23.8%
African American Italian: 14.2%
French: 12.9%
Asian
English: 11.8%
Other German: 6.7%
1 10 100
Hispanic/Latino: 6.8%
Irish African American: 5.4%
Italian
French Asian: 3.8%
English
German Other: 3.7%
1 10 100
4. USA
Demographics USA
• White: 75.1%
White
• Hispanic/Latino: 12.5% Hispanic/Latino
African American
• African American: 12.3%
Asian
• Asian: 3.6%
Other
• Other: 5.5% 1 10 100
5. COMPARISONS
Milton Massachusetts USA
90
68
45
23
0
White Hispanic/Latino African American Asian Other
6. LITERATURE FOR MILTON
WHITE: Dubliners by James Joyce, Collected Poems by William Yeats, The Divine Comedy by Dante
Alighieri, The Ides of March by Valerio Massimo Manfredi, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens,
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, Little Criminals by
Gene Kerrigan
AFRICAN AMERICAN: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou, The Color Purple
by Alice Walker
“"He was a stranger, and if he chose to leave us with a stranger, it was all of one piece."
- Maya Angelou, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
7. LITERATURE FOR
MASSACHUSETTS
WHITE: Dubliners by James Joyce, Collected Poems by William Yeats, The Divine Comedy by Dante
Alighieri, The Ides of March by Valerio Massimo Manfredi, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Jane
Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
“I had never spoken to her, except for a few casual words, and yet her name was like a summons to all my foolish blood.”
James Joyce, Dubliners
HISPANIC/LATINO: “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho
AFRICAN AMERICAN: “Devil in a Blue Dress” by Walter Mosely
ASIAN: “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu
8. LITERATURE FOR USA
WHITE: Dubliners by James Joyce, Collected Poems by William Yeats, The Divine Comedy by Dante
Alighieri, The Ides of March by Valerio Massimo Manfredi, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Jane
Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
HISPANIC/LATINO: “In the Time of the Butterflies” by Julia Alvarez
AFRICAN AMERICAN: “The Price of a Child” by Lorene Cary
ASIAN: “The Joy Luck Club” by Amy Tan
"I discovered that maybe it was fate all along, that faith was just an illusion that somehow you're in control."
Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club
9. ANALYSIS
In researching the demographics of Milton, Massachusetts and the United States, it became evident that the
current body of American literature does not accurately reflect the diversity of the population.