Upload
fuller
View
80
Download
0
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
The Other Side of American Life. Poverty Amidst Prosperity. Review of Life in the 1950s/1960s. We discussed prosperity during the 1950s and 1960s and how most Americans were better off than before. Do you believe this was true for all Americans? If yes, why? - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Citation preview
THE OTHER SIDE OF AMERICAN LIFEPoverty Amidst Prosperity
Review of Life in the 1950s/1960s• We discussed prosperity during the 1950s and 1960s and
how most Americans were better off than before. Do you believe this was true for all Americans? • If yes, why?• If no, what groups were not part of the “new 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
Short Answer/Discussion• Does this idea of “The Other Side of American Life” still
exist today? If so, how?
• Do these examples disprove the idea of the American Dream?
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 10,788Two people 14,657
Householder under age 65 15,139 Householder age 65 or older 13,609
Three people 17,916Four people 23,021Five people 27,251Six people 30,847
Seven people 35,085Eight people 39,064
Nine people or more 46,572Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Weighted Average Poverty Thresholds, 2011, released in
September 2012.