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America's Forgotten People and Places: Ending the Legacy of Poverty in the Rural South

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2015

Joyce E. Allen-Smith ,
Ronald C. Wimberley  and
Libby V. Morris
Joyce E. Allen-Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Ronald C. Wimberley
Affiliation:
North Carolina State University
Libby V. Morris
Affiliation:
Institute of Higher Education, University of Georgia
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Abstract

This study focuses on the longstanding impoverishment of the rural South and three of its subregions-Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta, and the Black Belt. The poor quality of life in rural Appalachia and along the Mississippi Delta has been publically acknowledged by programs and commissions for improving conditions. However, the more comprehensive Black Belt subregion that links parts of Southern Appalachia and the Southern Delta has not received such regional policy attention. While the South as a whole is more rural and impoverished than other U.S. regions, this is largely due to the poor conditions in the Black Belt. In addition to region and rurality, a third feature of the pattern is race. It is in the Black Belt that the South's poor socioeconomic conditions are most concentrated. Policy and program attention are needed for regional solutions that take rurality and race into account along with demographic and other subregional characteristics.

Keywords

AppalachiaBlack BeltMississippi Deltapolicypovertyquality of liferuralSouth
Type
Invited Paper Sessions
Information
Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , August 2000 , pp. 319 - 329
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 2000

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