In 1999, several Hispanic artists, including Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez, had number one songs on Billboard magazine's pop music charts. African American music has long influenced the American mainstream. The black-owned Motown Records gained universal appeal in the 1960s. More recently, Latin music has been influencing popular American music. Cuban-American Gloria Estefan, for example, has melded Latin and mainstream American popular music in a successful recording career.
Food preferences reflect another area of minority influence on mainstream culture.
More recently, American cuisine has included traditional American dishes with ingredients and cooking techniques that are commonly used in minority cultures. Changes in the nation's school curriculums are another example of how the majority sometimes must adapt to the minority culture, and illustrate that assimilation can involve adjustments by both sides. Many people are concerned that shifting the curriculum from one based solely on European history and culture to one that includes the history and literature of all the world's peoples will weaken students' education. 80 Other people believe that a broader understanding of world cultures will benefit all students, especially as they prepare for employment in an economy involved in global competition. The National Center for Education Statistics and a recent Harvard study report that students are more isolated by race and ethnicity in schools now than in the 1980s.