Cruz Torres

ABSTRACT Since the late 1980s, there has been a tremen-dous amount of reshifting in the Latino population of the United States. This movement has resulted in the increasing settlement of Latinos in areas of the country that have historically not had Latino populations, particularly in rural settings. In particular, ar-eas in the South and Midwest have experienced significant growth in the Latino population. This article provides an overview of this growth in the South using data fiom the 1990 and 2000 censuses. In addition, the article provides a brief description of the accom-panying articles that are featured in this special issue on Latinos in the South. Finally, the article discusses the implications of the ar-ticles contained in the special issue and provides direction for fb-ture research. *The authors acknowledge the generous financial support fiom the Farm Foundation to conduct the Latinos in the South Symposium held on April 25, 2002 in Atlanta. The authors of the papers-ind~uded in this special issue presented their papers at this symposium. In addition, the authors appreciate the assistance of Conner Bailey (former editor of Southern Ru