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.
Most Americans will spend at least one year below the poverty line at some point between ages 25 and 75. Poverty rates are persistently higher in rural and inner city parts of the country as compared to suburban areas. In 2009, 13.2% (39.8 million) Americans lived in poverty. Starting in the 1930s, relative poverty rates have consistently exceeded those of other wealthy nations. California has a poverty rate of 23.8%, the highest of any state in the country. This is updated from the November 2012 estimate of 23.6. In 2009 the number of people who were in poverty was approaching 1960s levels that led to the national War on Poverty.