This book organizes and synthesizes basic factual information concerning the changing status of blacks, Puerto Ricans, Mexican Americans, and American Indians. It specifically provides the highlights of data on income, employment, and education of minorities and sketches the broad patterns as revealed through federally published statistics and other public and private resource documents. The book is divided into six chapters. Chapter one, an overview, emphasizes the need for a closer look at the difficulties of minority groups. Chapters two through five stress the particular problems of each group separately. Chapter six reviews the positive and negative aspects of the present situation and makes predictions for the future. Each chapter presents tables, charts, and graphs to accompany the text. (Author/DB)