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THE OTHER SIDE OF AMERICAN LIFEPoverty Amidst Prosperity
Key Vocabulary
Ideas
• Poverty Line: figure the government sets to reflect the minimum income required to support a family
• Urban Renewal Programs: replace slums with high-rise buildings for poor residents in an effort to remove poverty
• Juvenile Delinquency: Antisocial and/or criminal behavior of young people
Facts of the Times
• 20% of America lived in poverty during the 1950s
• Urban Renewal led to crowded housing with plenty of violence
• Government removed poor once they earned higher income, putting them back into poverty
• Juvenile delinquency up 45 percent between 1948 and 1953
African Americans• Moved to cities for better economic opportunity in the past
(think about everything we’ve discussed already in class)
• Racial discrimination in schools, housing, hiring, etc. kept African-Americans poor and stuck in the cities
• Generally averaged only 51% of what white workers earned and often did not receive other benefits
Hispanics• Bracero Program brought over 5 million workers to the US
to work on farms and ranches in the Southwest
• 350,000 stay in the US permanently but lived in extreme poverty
• Worked long hours, received very little pay, housed in small shacks
• Largely invisible in society until they organized for greater rights
Native Americans• Poorest ethnic group in America; made up less than 1% of
the population
• Termination Policy intended to bring Native Americans into the mainstream and ended their classification as a separate legal group
• Government attempted to have Native Americans move out of reservations and into cities with horrible results and life expectancy for Native Americans was far lower than other groups within cities
Appalachia• Stretches from New York to Georgia
• Unemployment soared and economy moved away from coal (roughly 1.5 million people without work)
• Standard of living very low (example: fewer doctors per 1,000 people than anywhere in the US; schools worse than inner-city schools of the time)
• High rates of infant mortality and nutritional deficiency
U.S. Census Bureau Poverty Thresholds, 2011
Size of Family Unit Poverty Threshold
One person (unrelated individual) $11,484
Under age 65 11,702
Age 65 or older 10,788
Two people 14,657
Householder under age 65 15,139
Householder age 65 or older 13,609
Three people 17,916
Four people 23,021
Five people 27,251
Six people 30,847
Seven people 35,085
Eight people 39,064
Nine people or more 46,572
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Weighted Average Poverty Thresholds, 2011, released in September 2012.