Tally's Corner the Early 1960's Can Be

Tally's Corner The early 1960's can be considered the "civil rights era's legislative phase… as well as the time of the Johnson administration's 'War on Poverty.'" (Greenhouse, 2011, p. 148) It was a time when one in four Americans were considered "poor," a number that had been steadily rising since the end of the Second World War in 1945. And of those 25% of Americans who were considered poor, 30% of them were African-Americans. (Greenhouse, 2011, p.

148) Liebow's Tally's Corner is an examination of the root causes for poverty among America's African-American population in the early 1960's. At that time it was generally believed by most white Americans that the large percentage of African-Americans living below the poverty level was the result of racial issues particular to the African-American race. In other words, because so many African-American families were in poverty, it was assumed that the cause had to have something to do with their race.

In the early 1960's it was the misconceived idea that African-American men had a "lack of motivation to achieve economic self-sufficiency," that guided public perception and thus public policy. (Greenhouse, 2011, p. 149) Unemployment among African-American men is one of the biggest public policy problems that the author examined. The overarching misperception that African-American men do not want to get good jobs and make their way into the middle class and how this is the basis for public policy is one of the issues faced in the book.

The author clearly demonstrated that the men with which he had associated were not lazy, or lacking in the desire to succeed, but were faced a number of outside misperceptions that led to their lack of opportunity. As Liebow put it: "the job fails the man and the man fails the job." (Liebow, 2003, p. 63) Another major public policy issue faced by Liebow in Tally's Corner is the problem with absentee fathers among the African-American population.

And as the author asserted "this absence of father is one of the chief characteristics of the father-child relationship." (Liebow, 2003, p. 73) Again society puts the blame on the absentee fathers without understanding the root causes for their absence, which actually have larger social root causes. Liebow discovered that the men on the street corner were wrongly being accused by society of being lazy and un-ambitious.

He used the response of a truck driver looking for day laborers as his example because many of those he met were unwilling to take those menial jobs. But Liebow discovered that this was because of a "complex combination of attitudes and assessments," which were based on life experiences. (Liebow, 2003, p. 71) Take Leroy, for instance, who's life experiences taught him that the only future he had was a future loaded with "trouble," which made him ever ready to leave town on a moment's notice. (Liebow, 2003, p.

70) Because of Leroy's inability to make a connection with his community, to put down roots, he was constantly discouraged from seeking meaningful employment and all the connections to the community that come with it. Another of society's misconceptions, which has led to misguided policy decisions, was the misperception about the root causes of absentee fathers. Tonk's relationship with his daughter is an example of society's inability to properly diagnose social ills.

While he openly admits that having her stay on a "year-round basis would seriously compromise his free time," he too suffers from an inability to maintain roots in his community. (Liebow, 2003, p. 93) This has manifested itself in Tonk not being able to accept the role of "father" that society has built up and expects of him. One of the main themes in the book is that African-American men want to assume the traditional role of father and provider that society has created for them.

They enter into adulthood with the expectation that they can assume this role successfully, but are faced with problems and obstacles that are too difficult to overcome on their own. As a result of the obstacles society has placed in their way, they become dejected and trapped in a vicious circle of underpaid jobs with no future.

In other words, "the way in which a man makes a living and the kind of living he makes have important consequences for how the man sees himself and is seen by others." (Liebow, 2003, p. 210) And this sense of self-worth is at the basis of the man's behavior and his ability or inability to make social connections to the community. Public policy in the 1960's was based on the false premise that.