Another trend that I found on the map was that poverty is high in Southeastern United States in the 70’s and that is the only part of the country of this time that has a high concentration of Black people. It also interestingly has a much lower concentration of White people than in the rest of the country in comparison. One article states that in the 1970’s, As of 1980, “nearly 70% of the urban poor were black… and 10% white.” It also stated that poverty was concentrated in urban areas at the time. One thing that could’ve factored into poverty during this time period was President Nixon and his wage-price controls. He kept prices high which lowered demand and made salaries “too high, which forced businesses to lay off workers.” There was also a lot of change in the family structure and immigration which impacted poverty as well. The 70s also saw a good amount of supreme court cases against job discrimination, which could play into the race factor. Black people are a protected group under Title VII against job discrimination, and seeing that there were many supreme court cases that were related there was probably a need for this.

Throughout the decades, poverty fluctuates do to harsh recessions. The ’70’s was the decade with the most distinct pattern between Blacks and Whites living in America and poverty rates. Race distribution throughout America slightly changes throughout the decades as well, but not as harshly as poverty.

 

work cited:

Amadeo, Kimberly. “The History of Recessions in the United States.” About News US Economy. N.p. N.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

“Poverty in America, Social Changes & Global Crises.” Poverty in America,
Social Changes & Global Crises. N.p. Ed. Dario Berrebi. 1 May 2011. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

“Supreme Court in the 1970s.” Supreme Court in the 1970s. N.p. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

-Miranda Delancey