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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.