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War on Poverty

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A man walking down an unpaved street in an impoverished Appalachian neighborhood.

What the Best Places in America Have in Common

The Index of Deep Disadvantage reflects a more holistic view of how we can define "poverty."
by H. Luke Shaefer, Timothy J. Nelson, Kathryn J. Edin via The Atlantic on August 5, 2023
Ruby Duncan standing and addressing a group with Jane Fonda seated behind her on the eve of a protest in 1971.

When the Welfare Rights Movement Was a Powerful Force for Uplifting the Poor

The War on Poverty comes to life in a new book that explores how welfare mothers in Las Vegas built an organizing juggernaut that transformed lives.
by Eleanor J. Bader via The Indypendent on July 10, 2023
Illustration of the Supreme Court and a school house mirroring each other. The Supreme Court sits atop a dollar bill, and the school house is upside down on the other side of the bill.

The Racist Idea that Changed American Education

How a landmark Supreme Court decision was shaped by the racist idea that poor children can’t learn.
by Matt Barnum via Vox on February 13, 2023
Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson at his desk in November 1957.

When Lyndon B. Johnson Chose the Middle Ground on Civil Rights—and Disappointed Everyone

Always a dealmaker, then-senator LBJ negotiated with segregationists to pass a bill that cautiously advanced racial equality.
by Zachary Clary via Smithsonian on January 23, 2023
A political cartoon representing New Deal programs as children dancing around President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Timothy Shenk’s ‘Realigners’

Since the 18th century, American politics has functioned via coalitions between competing factions. Can alliances survive today’s partisan climate?
by Barton Swaim via The Wall Street Journal on October 7, 2022
People talking about a neighborhood map, from the cover of Claire Dunning's book "Nonprofit Neighborhoods."

Grantmaking as Governance

A new book examines how the US government funded the growth of — and delegated governance to — the nonprofit sector.
by Benjamin Soskis via Stanford Social Innovation Review on May 26, 2022
MLK receiving an honorary degree from the Free University, Amsterdam, October 20, 1956.

The International MLK

“The social revolution which is taking place in this country is not an isolated, detached phenomenon. It is part of a worldwide revolution that is taking place.”
by Robert Greene II via Black Perspectives on January 17, 2022
Aerial photograph of San Francisco, 1906.

How Private Capital Strangled Our Cities

By following the money, a new history of urban inequality turns our attention away from federal malfeasance and toward capital markets and financial instruments.
by Samuel Zipp via The Nation on January 4, 2022
Black and white photo of children eating a meal together

Have Crisis, Feed Kids

How a series of emergencies resulted in the school lunch programs we have today.
by A. R. Ruis via Nursing Clio on November 4, 2021
RFK speaking at the Ambassador Hotel in LA, moments before he was shot on June 5, 1968.

How Robert F. Kennedy’s Assassination Derailed American Politics

The idealistic presidential candidate was on the verge of seizing control of the 1968 race just as Sirhan Sirhan’s bullet struck.
by Larry Tye via Politico Magazine on September 2, 2021
Picture of a parent holding a child in a run-down room

The US Hasn't Changed How it Measures Who's Poor Since LBJ Began His War

Newer measures of poverty may do a better job of counting America's poor, which is necessary to helping them.
by Mark Robert Rank via The Conversation on July 12, 2021
Volunteer registered nurses from New Mexico give people coronavirus vaccines at a rural vaccination site in Columbus, N.M.
partner

Volunteering and Generosity Are No Substitutes for Government Programs

Conservatives have weaponized Americans’ desire to help to attack the social safety net.
by Katherine Turk via Made By History on April 19, 2021
A graphic that reads "taxpayer dollars."

"Taxpayer Dollars:" The Origins of Austerity’s Racist Catchphrase

How the myth of the overburdened white taxpayer was made.
by Camille Walsh via Mother Jones on April 5, 2021
A picture of a man and a graffiti wall

The Origins of an Early School-to-Deportation Pipeline

Appeals to childhood innocence helped enshrine undocumented kids’ access to education. But this has also inadvertently reinforced criminalization.
by Ivón Padilla-Rodríguez via NACLA on November 6, 2020
Teenagers from PAL take part in “Commissioner for A Day” on February 18, 1969

Rivalry in the Trenches

Philadelphia’s PAL and the Black Panther Party’s efforts to mold black youth into their own image.
by Menika Dirkson via The Metropole on September 23, 2020

For the First Time, America May Have an Anti-Racist Majority

Not since Reconstruction has there been such an opportunity for the advancement of racial justice.
by Adam Serwer via The Atlantic on September 8, 2020

We Should Still Defund the Police

Cuts to public services that might mitigate poverty and promote social mobility have become a perpetual excuse for more policing.
by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor via The New Yorker on August 14, 2020

America’s Long War on Children and Families

Trump’s family separation policy belongs to a much longer history of U.S. government forces taking children from families that don't match the American ideal.
by Paul M. Renfro via Boston Review on June 22, 2020
A lie-in in the road outside of a Pittsburgh jail. Many activists lay in both lanes of the road, some holding signs.
partner

Bail Funds Are Having a Moment in 2020

But today’s activism reflects longstanding commitments to freedom.
by Melanie Newport via Made By History on June 17, 2020
A street of brick storefronts in Cumberland, Kentucky.

Appalachian Hillsides as Black Ecologies: Housing, Memory, and The Sanctified Hill Disaster of 1972

A landslide that exposed racial inequalities embedded in Appalachian communities.
by Jillean McCommons via Black Perspectives on June 16, 2020

War Has Been the Governing Metaphor for Decades of American Life

But the COVID-19 pandemic exposes its weaknesses.
by Paul M. Renfro via TIME on April 15, 2020

A Revolution of Values

Martin Luther King Jr. proposed a fix for America’s poisoned soul: ending the Vietnam War.
by Peniel E. Joseph via Lapham’s Quarterly on April 6, 2020

The Surprising History of Americans Sharing Books

A visual exploration of how a critical piece of social infrastructure came to be.
by Ariel Aberg-Riger via CityLab on February 19, 2019

Hyman Minsky’s Views on the “Welfare Mess”

The intellectual father of the job guarantee movement saw it as a replacement for the social safety net.
by Matt Bruenig via People's Policy Project on May 13, 2018

Between Obama and Coates

Because both thinkers neglect political economy, they end up promoting a politics that is responsible for the nation's growing inequality.
by Touré F. Reed via Catalyst on March 12, 2018

The Kerner Omission

How a landmark report on the 1960s race riots fell short on police reform.
by Nicole Lewis via The Marshall Project on March 1, 2018
partner

LBJ’s 1968 State of the Union Was a Disaster. Can President Trump Avoid His Fate?

For unpopular presidents, the State of the Union is a minefield.
by Kyle Longley via Made By History on January 30, 2018

The Mythical Whiteness of Trump Country

"Hillbilly Elegy" has been used to explain the 2016 election, but its logic is rooted in a dangerous myth about race in Appalachia.
by Elizabeth Catte via Boston Review on November 7, 2017

How Fast Food Chains Supersized Inequality

Fast food did not just find its way to low-income neighborhoods. It was brought there by the federal government.
by Max Holleran via The New Republic on August 2, 2017

The Two-tiered Justice System: Money Bail in Historical Perspective

Decades of tough-on-crime policies that criminalized the poor and people of color are yet to be undone, but the pendulum is beginning to swing.
by Cassie Miller via Southern Poverty Law Center on June 6, 2017
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