Chapter 42

Which statement best describes the impact of The Other America when it was published in 1962?

• It woke up the nation to the reality that poverty still existed in many places.

• It led to the formation of a new political party for people in poverty.

• It was ignored by politicians, who blamed the poor for their poverty.

• It incited riots among poverty-stricken minorities.

According to The Other America, which of these factors contributed the least to the invisibility of the poor in the 1950s?

• the lack of political power among low-income people

• the mass production of affordable clothing

• the development of the interstate highway system

• the migration of middle-class families to the suburbs

Which statement is true of poverty in the late 1950s?

• The average age of a person living in poverty was 20 in the late 1950s.

• Around one in four Americans was living in poverty in the late 1950s

• The poor population was mostly blue-collar workers in the late 1950s.

• Poverty stricken areas were very far from affluent areas in the late 1950s.

How did the Housing Act of 1949 worsen poverty, rather than help it?

• It discriminated against African Americans who often needed the housing the most.

• It raised the cost of owning a house, causing middle-class people to lose money.

• It caused hundreds of thousands of poor people to be displaced from their homes.

• It increased the price of other necessities, such as education and grocery items.

How did the rise of agribusiness in the 1950s hurt small farmers?

• by producing crops more efficiently than small farmers could

• by driving seed and fertilizer prices up for small farmers

• by buying land once owned by small farmers

• by hiring small farmers to run corporate farms

What impact did the termination policy have on many Indigenous groups during the 1950s?

• They lost their chance to relocate to cities.

• They became economically self-reliant.

• They fell deeper into poverty.

• They expanded their reservation lands.

The maps below show Chicago in 1960. Which statement is best supported by the data on the maps?

• The poor were spread evenly throughout Chicago.

• Chicago had more poor people than most other cities.

• Poverty was highest in Chicago's Black neighborhoods.

• Poverty affected all of Chicago's ethnic groups equally.

Which group was the poorest in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s?

• blue-collar workers

• Chinese immigrants

• African Americans

• Indigenous people

Read the quote below from a leading clergyman in 1834. What philosophy towards the poor does the quote exemplify? “Pauperism is the consequence of willful error, of shameful indolence [laziness], of vicious habit.”

• Government has an obligation to help the poor.

• Poverty is a result of a moral failing.

• Poverty is oftentimes a result of misfortune.

• Government is a result of an economic failing.

___________ refers to the minimum amount of income one would need to meet basic needs.

• Poverty line

• Low income

• Pauperism

• Total budget