Geography of Poverty

MSNBC to Document the Conditions of the Poor in America:  The Geography of Poverty

"For the first time in more that 50 years, the majority of America's public school children are living in poverty." Over the next few months MSNBC and photographer Matt Black will document the lives of Americans living in poverty.  The project, The Geography of Poverty, will take Black to more than 77 cities from coast to coast.  Black will begin the journey in California and travel the southwest to Texas; then he will cover the South, the Northeast, the Great Lakes, Indian Country in the Dakotas, and then the Northwest.

MSNBC has provided interactive maps and charts (above) that show poverty statistics by county, city, and state.  Feature stories will be published, and users can follow along on the routes on the Web page.  Stories will chronicle issues of transportation, education, access to healthcare, the criminal justice system, and environmental issues.  Black’s photographs will also be featured on his Instagram account.

The Ball State University Libraries’ Atlas Collection includes atlases that document world poverty issues.  The Penguin State of the World Atlas by Dan Smith was published in 2012 and includes maps showing income levels and economic growth, wealth inequality, the plight of refugees, debt, malnutrition, and other issues related to poverty.  The Social Atlas of the United States by William H. Frey also documents wealth, income, and economic issues using maps.  The Atlas of World Hunger, Atlas of the Great Irish Famine, and Atlas of Global Development also include maps about poverty.

Atlases can be circulated to members of the Ball State University community for 28 days or longer.  Reference atlases are located in the GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library.

For more information, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.