Poverty

Poverty in the 1950's was one of the country's biggest issues. 30 million lived below the poverty line.  Michael Herrington  published The Other America (1962) to inform the mainstream communities about what life was like in the middle city. These people couldn't live in the suburbs because they couldn't afford the car, home and land that was required to be accepted in that part of society. Urban renewal programs tried to abolish poverty by destroying slums and building homes for low-income people with a permanent rent. The projects often created a clout of violence due to the crowding. Turns out that the programs destroyed more than they created. Many of the citizens behind were African-Americans who came to the North for greater economic opportunity. Lorraine Hasberry, an African-American author, published A Raisin in the Sun, the story of a working class African-American woman struggling against poverty and racism. Hispanics were left behind, too, but thanks to the Bracero Program, nearly 5 million Mexicans were brought to the U.S to work on farms; about 350,000 of them stayed in the USA. Native Americans, however, were no longer recognized as legal entities under the termination policy, making them subject to the same laws as white citizens. They soon became the poorest ethnic group in the nation; and then there's the residents of rural Applachia! When mining was no longer allowed, the backbone of their economy was broken. 1.5 million people ended up abandoning their mountainside to get jobs in the city.