This is what beautiful Americans looked like in 1964. Despite poverty. We haven't come far enough.

[twodogsbarking]

https://www.life.com/history/war-on-poverty-appalachia-portraits-1964/

[NameAlreadyTaken]

1. It's heartbreaking

[twodogsbarking]

2. It was heartbreaking to me the first few times I looked. I have looked many times and it reminds me

of what it was like for some people where I grew up. It really gets to me, but in a good way too. We need reminded sometimes. Peace.

[WarGamer]

3. Wow I'm so happy that things are so much better today!!!!!

[Farmer-Rick]

14. Yup, I see that around here

If you take the back roads much of that can be seen today in East TN. Dilapidated houses, dirty kids living out of tool sheds, trailers overtaken by kudzu with elderly men living inside. People becoming elderly as their homes deteriorate around them.

The neighbor at the end of my lane had her 3 grandchildren, all under 6 years, living with her out of one of those Lowe's tool sheds without running water, no plumbing, minimal heat and no AC. They may have had electricity but I couldn't be sure. They called it a tiny home. Child Protective Services took the kids away and fined her. They sold the place.

I would have had some sympathy for her if she hadn't poisoned my dogs and voted for pedo Trump.

[twodogsbarking]

4. You nailed it.

[appmanga]

5. No, we haven't come far enough, except in insidiousness...

...where those in power have attached poverty and degraded lives to those who are black and brown. There are white communities throughout this county where poverty, hunger, and underemployment are rampant, but the story on Faux, Sinclair Broadcasting, and the other propaganda outlets is about lazy, conniving minority members who stay poor by choice and dedicate their lives to gaming the system. And that's what the poor white people in those communities see on the news, and are encouraged to be resentful about. Good old "divide and conquer".

[twodogsbarking]

10. Mind bending by the media. Yep.

[markodochartaigh]

6. It almost seems like having to be dunked

in that polluted pond would be enough to get them to convert to Catholicism.

[vanlassie]

9. And being preached at that they better

“Get with God” as if it is their fault… 🤬😩😡

[markodochartaigh]

12. Maybe it's just me,

but the people in that picture seemed to be looking at the preacher very skeptically.

[catchnrelease]

20. So scary!

I just imagine what is in that water! And you know they baptize all ages in that sewage, big and small.

[Solly Mack]

7. ...

[Codifer]

8. In 1964

there was nothing comparable to Oxycontin.

There's that at least.

[malaise]

11. Too sad

Rec

[twodogsbarking]

13. I wonder if any of the children in those pics are known today as adults.

There should be at least one still living.

[malaise]

15. Good question

Societies hide the reality of many citizens’ lives

[Fil1957]

16. Sad. Also sad is that if any of those people are still alive today, they probably voted for Trump.

[Aristus]

17. So no surprise that nothing has changed.

If you do what you have always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.

If you vote for those whom you have always voted…

[Ping Tung]

18. There is nothing romantic, glamorous, or lucky about being hungry or homeless.

When I was a little kid back in the '50s I remember my mother shoplifting food so we could eat.

It wasn't for long periods but enough to take the adventure out of it. It was some small comfort knowing and seeing people even worse off.

[berniesandersmittens]

19. Reminds me of my grandfather's elementary school picture

My grandpa was standing on the side, barefoot and with a rope tying his too large, rolled up jeans on.

All the kids are smiling ...including my little grandfather.

Poverty is a harsh life. The pic fills me with so much sadness and yet also admirstion. That little boy worked the rest of his life doing hard labor to provide a better life for his children.