America's War on Poverty

Episode 2

Given a Chance

Early 1965 is a critical period for President Johnson's war on poverty. Community action programs attract strong opposition from local and state governments. The Head Start program is created to provide poor children with adequate nutrition, health care and the educational advantages that other American children enjoy. The program looks at Head Start in Mississippi, America's poorest state.

Episode 3

City of Promise

Increasingly, the media and the public equate poverty with inner-city blacks. This program looks at the anger and despair of the poor and the powerless and examines attempts made in Newark, New Jersey, to reclaim the inner city through public/private partnerships.

Episode 4

In Service to America

This episode tells the stories of Legal Services and VISTA, two programs that combined individual action with the idea of volunteerism. Lawyers team up with migrant farm workers in California to fight for better working conditions and benefits, and VISTA volunteers and coal miners unite against strip mining companies in the Appalachians.

Episode 5

My Brother's Keeper

The Nixon Administration and the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO), in a surprising partnership, bring the nation to the brink of overhauling the federal Social Security system and replacing welfare with a guaranteed income for all citizens.