The shifting demographic profi le of the United States and a growing recognition of the developmental implications of race, social class, historical experiences, and ethnicity have led to increased interest in studies of children from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. To date, most research on racial and ethnic minorities has been conducted in metropolitan areas. However, nearly 20 % of the US population lives in rural areas, and many rural residents are from racial and ethnic minority groups. For some groups, especially Latino/as, population numbers are increasing rapidly both nationally and in rural areas. Indeed, minorities were responsible for three- quarters of the population growth in rural areas between 2000 and 2010. Despite the changing demographics of rural areas and the presence of substantial minority populations, the intersection of rural location and ethnic minority status has received scant attention in the developmental literature. This book was undertaken to illuminate the experiences of racial and ethnic minority youth and families in the rural United States and to explore the challenges of conducting research with these populations.