After the dissolution of the tribal government of the Cherokee Nation in the 1900s and the death of William Charles Rogers in 1917, the Federal government began to appoint chiefs to the Cherokee Nation in 1919.
At the same time, the share of the population in the nationâs urban areas increased from 70% to 81% over that 50-year period. And much of the South still struggles with poverty. Of the 16 Southern states, only Maryland and Delaware had a poverty rate below the national average in 1960. Among the 14 Southern states with poverty rates higher than the U.S. average that year, only Virginiaâs had dropped below the national mark by 2010. Over the past 50 years, the poor have increasingly lived in the 20 most populous counties.
1 Poverty is both a cause and effect of insufficient access to quality education. 2  A 2003 study sponsored by the National Center for Children in Poverty found that in families whose income falls below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Line children score far below average on reading, math and general knowledge tests. A lack of education perpetuates poverty and breaking this cycle is key to overcoming persistent poverty in Georgia. 2  Data suggest that poverty affects increases the likelihood a student will not graduate high school and will miss more days of school than his or her more affluent counterpart.