1. 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?

2. 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)

3. 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 ( ): 5 million African Americans move from South to urban areas

4. 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

6. 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

8. 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.