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866 C

HAPTER 27

Terms & Names

MAIN IDEA

One American's Story

The Other America

•urban renewal

•bracero

•termination

policy

Amidst the prosperity of the

1950s, millions of Americans

lived in poverty.

America today continues to

experience a marked income gap

between afﬂuent and nonafﬂuent

people.

WHY IT MATTERS NOW

James Baldwin was born in New York City, the eldest of nine chil-

dren, and grew up in the poverty of the Harlem ghetto. As a novel-

ist, essayist, and playwright, he eloquently portrayed the struggles of

African Americans against racial injustice and discrimination. He

wrote a letter to his young nephew to mark the 100th anniversary of

emancipation, although, in his words, “the country is celebrating

one hundred years of freedom one hundred years too soon.”

A PERSONAL

VOICE JAMES BALDWIN

“ [T]hese innocent and well-meaning people, your countrymen, have

caused you to be born under conditions not very far removed from

those described for us by Charles Dickens in the London of more

than a hundred years ago. . . . This innocent country set you down in

a ghetto in which, in fact, it intended that you should perish. . . . You

were born where you were born and faced the future that you faced

because you were black and for no other reason.

”

—The Fire Next Time

For many Americans, the 1950s were a time of unprecedented prosperity. But not

everyone experienced this financial well-being. In the “other” America, about

40 million people lived in poverty, untouched by the economic boom.

The Urban Poor

Despite the portrait painted by popular culture, life in postwar America did not

live up to the “American dream.” In 1962, nearly one out of every four Americans

was living below the poverty level. Many of these poor were elderly people, sin-

gle women and their children, or members of minority groups, including African

Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans.

WHITE FLIGHT

In the 1950s, millions of middle-class white Americans left the

cities for the suburbs, taking with them precious economic resources and isolat-

ing themselves from other races and classes. At the same time, the rural poor

migrated to the inner cities. Between the end of World War II and 1960, nearly

5 million African Americans moved from the rural South to urban areas.

▼

James Baldwin

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The urban crisis prompted by the “white ﬂight” had a direct impact on poor

whites and nonwhites. The cities lost not only people and businesses but also the

property they owned and income taxes they had paid. City governments could

no longer afford to properly maintain or improve schools, public transportation,

and police and ﬁre departments—and the urban poor suffered.

THE INNER CITIES

While poverty grew rapidly in the decaying inner cities,

many suburban Americans remained unaware of it. Some even refused to believe

that poverty could exist in the richest, most powerful nation on earth. Each year,

the federal government calculates the minimum amount of income needed to

survive—the poverty line. In 1959, the poverty line for a family of four was

$2,973. In 2000, it was $17,601.

After living among the nation’s poor across America, Michael Harrington

published a shocking account that starkly illuminated the issue of poverty. In The

Other America: Poverty in the United States (1962), he not only conﬁrmed that wide-

spread poverty existed but also exposed its brutal reality.

A PERSONAL VOICE MICHAEL HARRINGTON

“ The poor get sick more than anyone else in the society. . . . When they become

sick, they are sick longer than any other group in the society. Because they are

sick more often and longer than anyone else, they lose wages and work, and ﬁnd

it difﬁcult to hold a steady job. And because of this, they cannot pay for good

housing, for a nutritious diet, for doctors.

”

—The Other America

URBAN RENEWAL

Most African Americans, Native Americans, and Latinos in

the cities had to live in dirty, crowded slums. One proposed solution to the hous-

ing problem in inner cities was urban renewal. The National Housing Act of

1949 was passed to provide “a decent home and a suitable living environment for

every American family.” This act

called for tearing down rundown

neighborhoods and constructing

low-income housing. Later, the

nation’s leaders would create a

new cabinet position, Housing

and Urban Development (HUD),

to aid in improving conditions

in the inner city.

Although dilapidated areas

were razed, parking lots, shop-

ping centers, highways, parks,

and factories were constructed

on some of the cleared land, and

there was seldom enough new

housing built to accommodate

all the displaced people. For

example, a barrio in Los Angeles

was torn down to make way for

Dodger Stadium, and poor peo-

ple who were displaced from

their homes simply moved from

one ghetto to another. Some crit-

ics of urban renewal claimed

that it had merely become urban

removal.

Background

See pover ty on

page R43 in the

Economics

Handbook.

*Figures are for year-round, full-time employment.

Source: The First Measured Century, Theodore Caplow, 2001

Income Gap in America

(Ratio of Black Male Earnings to White Male Earnings*)

Black Earnings as Percentage of White Earnings

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

1940 1960 1980 2000

SKILLBUILDER

Interpreting Graphs

What trend does the graph show from 1940–1980?

What factors affecting people’s lives might contribute

to the income gap?

Skillbuilder

Answers:

1. The ratio of

black male

earnings to

white male

earnings

increased sub-

stantially.

2. Education;

occupational

training;

discrimination.

MAIN IDEA

Analyzing

Effects

What effect

did white ﬂight

have on America’s

cities?

MAIN IDEA

Analyzing

Effects

Why were

attempts at urban

renewal viewed as

less than

successful?

The Postwar Boom 867

A . Answer Loss

of people and

income leading

to decaying

ghettos.

B Answer

Because the

building boom

primarily took

place in the sub-

urbs; because of

lack of jobs, dis-

crimination, and

the impact of

white ﬂight.

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Poverty Leads to Activism

Despite ongoing poverty, during the 1950s, African Americans began to make sig-

niﬁcant strides toward the reduction of racial discrimination and segregation.

Inspired by the African-American civil rights movement, other minorities also

began to develop a deeper political awareness and a voice. Mexican-American

activism gathered steam after veterans returned from World War II, and a major

change in government policy under Eisenhower’s administration fueled Native

American protest.

MEXICANS SEEK EMPLOYMENT

Many

Mexicans had become U.S. citizens dur-

ing the 19th century, when the United

States had annexed the Southwest after

the War with Mexico. Large numbers of

Mexicans had also crossed the border to

work in the United States during and

after World War I.

When the United States entered

World War II, the shortage of agricultur-

al laborers spurred the federal govern-

ment to initiate, in 1942, a program in

which Mexican braceros (

brE-sârPIs), or

hired hands, were allowed into the

United States to harvest crops. Hundreds

of thousands of braceros entered the

United States on a short-term basis

between 1942 and 1947. When their

employment was ended, the braceros

were expected to return to Mexico.

However, many remained in the United

States illegally. In addition, hundreds of

thousands of Mexicans entered the

country illegally to escape poor econom-

ic conditions in Mexico.

THE LONGORIA INCIDENT

One of the more notorious instances of prejudice

against Mexican Americans involved the burial of Felix Longoria. Longoria was a

Mexican-American World War II hero who had been killed in the Philippines. The

only undertaker in his hometown in Texas refused to provide Longoria’s family

with funeral services.

In the wake of the Longoria incident, outraged Mexican Americans stepped up

their efforts to stamp out discrimination. In 1948, Mexican-American veterans

organized the G.I. Forum. Meanwhile, activist Ignacio Lopez founded the Unity

League of California to register Mexican-American voters and to promote candi-

dates who would represent their interests.

NATIVE AMERICANS CONTINUE THEIR STRUGGLE

Native Americans also

continued to ﬁght for their rights and identity. From the passage of the Dawes

Act, in 1887, until 1934, the policy of the federal government toward Native

Americans had been one of “Americanization” and assimilation. In 1924, the

Snyder Act granted citizenship to all Native Americans, but they remained

second-class citizens.

In 1934, the Indian Reorganization Act moved ofﬁcial policy away from

assimilation and toward Native American autonomy. Its passage signaled a

change in federal policy. In addition, because the government was reeling from

868 C

HAPTER 27

Background

In 1954, the

U.S. launched a

program designed

to ﬁnd and return

undocumented

immigrants to

Mexico. Between

1953 and 1955,

the U.S. deported

more than

2 million illegal

Mexican

immigrants.

▼

In 1942, Mexican

farm workers

on their way to

California bid

farewell to their

families.

MAIN IDEA

Analyzing

Issues

How did the

Longoria incident

motivate Mexican

Americans to

increase their

political and social

activism?

C. Answer

They were out-

raged at the

discrimination

against Mexican-

Americans and

the incident

spurred them on

to become more

politically active

and organized.

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The Postwar Boom 869

the Great Depression, it wanted to stop subsidizing the

Native Americans. Native Americans also took the initia-

tive to improve their lives. In 1944, they established the

National Congress of American Indians. The congress had

two main goals: (1) to ensure for Native Americans the

same civil rights that white Americans had, and (2) to

enable Native Americans on reservations to retain their

own customs.

During World War II, over 65,000 Native Americans left

their reservations for military service and war work. As a

result, they became very aware of discrimination. When

the war ended, Native Americans stopped receiving family

allotments and wages. Outsiders also grabbed control of

tribal lands, primarily to exploit their deposits of minerals,

oil, and timber.

THE TERMINATION POLICY

In 1953, the federal govern-

ment announced that it would give up its responsibility for

Native American tribes. This new approach, known as the

termination policy, eliminated federal economic support, discontinued the

reservation system, and distributed tribal lands among individual Native

Americans. In response to the termination policy, the Bureau of Indian Affairs

began a voluntary relocation program to help Native Americans resettle in cities.

The termination policy was a dismal failure, however. Although the Bureau of

Indian Affairs helped relocate 35,000 Native Americans to urban areas during the

1950s, they were often unable to ﬁnd jobs in their new locations because of poor

training and racial prejudice. They were also left without access to medical

care when federal programs were abolished. In 1963, the termination policy

was abandoned.

▼

Native Americans

like the man

above received

job training from

the Bureau of

Indian Affairs to

help them settle

in urban areas.

Vocabulary

subsidizing:

ﬁnancial

assistance given

by a government

to a person or

group to support

an undertaking

regarded as being

in the public

interest

1. TERMS & NAMES For each term, write a sentence explaining its signiﬁcance.

•urban renewal •bracero •termination policy

MAIN IDEA

2. TAKING NOTES

In overlapping circles like the ones

below, ﬁll in the common problems

that African Americans, Mexican

Americans, and Native Americans

faced during the 1950s.

What do these problems illustrate

about life in the 1950s?

CRITICAL THINKING

3. EVALUATING

Do you think that urban renewal

was an effective approach to the

housing problem in inner cities?

Why or why not? Think About:

• the goals of the National

Housing Act of 1949

• the claims made by some critics

of urban renewal

• the residents’ best interest

4. ANALYZING ISSUES

How did Native Americans work to

increase their participation in the

U.S. political process?

5. DRAWING CONCLUSIONS

Which major population shift—

”white ﬂight,” migration from

Mexico, or relocation of Native

Americans—do you think had the

greatest impact on U.S. society?

Why? Think About:

• the impact of “white ﬂight”

• the inﬂux of “braceros”

• the effects of the termination

policy

African

Americans

Mexican

Americans

Native

Americans

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