However, blacks who did not gain mobility into the middle-class were concentrated in public housing ghettos. This resulted in a lawsuit in the 1990s and public housing was subsequently dispersed in the metropolitan area. After the 1960s when much of the white flight occurred, the black population largely settled on the north side of Minneapolis. Asians historically did not have a significant presence, but there are roughly 17,700 Asians in Minneapolis today, and their influence is growing. Their history began with labor workers working on railroads in the late 19th century who resettled in Minneapolis. These were mostly southern Chinese and in time brought families and others seeking fortune. The 20th century saw movement from other parts of East Asia including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. U.S. events in that region resulted in a greater influx of these populations, though Minneapolis only saw a small portion of the immigration, as most of these immigrants settled in California. Chinese dominated the group until the Vietnam War and its aftermath generated a large refugee migration of Southeast Asians into South Minneapolis in the 1970s. The Hmong nomadic clans were offered settlement and though the largest center of Hmong people is in St. Paul, a significant share settled in Minneapolis. As a result, the 2000 Census reported 13,883 people who marked "Other Asian" in the tic box, half of the Asian American group, while Chinese numbered at 2,447 people. As of the 2006–08 American Community Survey, there are 8,315 who were of the "Other Asian" group and there were 2,925 Chinese Americans residing in Minneapolis. A large number of the Somali immigrants settled in Minneapolis, which in 2002 harbored the largest population of Somalis in North America. According to 2010 American Community Survey data, there were approximately 85,700 people with Somali ancestry in the US. Of those, about 25,000 or one third were living in Minnesota. There is a growing Mexican population in South and Northeast Minneapolis. Religion According to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, 70% of the population of the city identified themselves as Christians, with 46% professing attendance at a variety of churches that could be considered Protestant, and 21% professing Roman Catholic beliefs. while 23% claim no religious affiliation. The same study says that other religions (including Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, and Hinduism) collectively make up about 5% of the population. References https://web.archive.org/web/20080517042659/http://www.theus50.com/minnesota/history.shtml Demographics Culture of Minneapolis