This chapter reviews the relationship between Native Americans and European settlers, as well as the institution of slavery in the United States. It considers racial dynamics in the 19th century as the United States industrialized and developed major urban centers, and compares with European immigrants during this same time span. The chapter also considers how the development of the helping professions, particularly social work, both reflected and challenged the evolving racial project in the United States. It focuses on the Progressive Era and the New Deal, the modern civil rights movement and the Great Society of the 1960s. The history of African Americans in the United States is one of survival, resilience, and collective solidarity despite encountering extreme forms of racism. The Japanese experience illustrates a cycle of anti-immigrant racism with some factors common to most non-White American groups.