Download The Other America: 19.4

The Other America: 19.4
Topic/Objective: Why did millions of Americans live in
poverty in the 1950’s?
Essential Question: How does poverty continue to
wreak havoc on America?
The Urban Poor
• American dream is… a
dream!
• ¼ of Americans live below
poverty level by 1962
• Who are the poor?
– Elderly
– Single women and their
children
– Minority groups (African
Americans, Latinos and
Native Americans)
White Flight
• Millions of middle-class
whites leave cities for the
suburbs
– Take precious economic
resources and capabilities
– Isolate themselves from other
races/social classes
• Rural poor migrate to inner
cities in search of work
• Great Migration (19451960): 5 million African
Americans move from
South to urban areas
The Inner Cities
• Suburban Americans largely unaware of
poverty problem in cities
– Deny that U.S. could even have poverty!
• Turning point: Michael Harrington publishes
The Other America: Poverty in the United
States (1962)
– Poverty is widespread and brutal
– Inner cities have become dirty, crowded slums
Urban Renewal (or Decay)
• National Housing Act of 1949 promises “a
decent home and a suitable living
environment for every American family.”
• Rundown neighborhoods are torn down and
low-income housing is built
• In a lot of cases, poor people are simply
removed to allow building of shopping malls,
parking lots, and sports stadiums
The Line
• In your notes, construct a Venn diagram that
compares/contrasts poverty today vs. poverty
in the 1950’s. How does America continue to
experience a huge gap between affluent and
nonaffluent people? What are the
similarities/differences between the situation
now and the situation of the 1950’s.