Final answer:
Urban areas in the 1950s suffered due to a mix of social, economic, and political challenges, including the migration of populations to the suburbs, racial tensions, unemployment disparities, industrial job declines, and deteriorating infrastructure and public services.
Step-by-step explanation:
The reasons why many urban areas suffered in the 1950s are multifaceted, entailing social, political, and economic challenges. After World War II, there was a significant migration of African Americans to Northern cities, which exacerbated racial tensions and eventually led to "white flight," as whites moved to the suburbs. This migration resulted in a shift in demographics within urban areas, leading to increased poverty and unemployment, especially among the African American community whose unemployment rates were at least twice as high as their white counterparts.
Furthermore, the American workforce transitioned from an industrial-based to a service-based economy, diminishing the need for blue-collar labor in cities. This fundamentally altered the economic structure, with cities seeing a decline in industrial jobs, an increase in service sector jobs, and, as a result, an expanded suburban population that absorbed many of the economic resources previously found in urban areas. The suburbs grew by 46 percent during this time, pulling away the middle-class and thus eroding the urban tax base. This economic shift caused a deterioration of city infrastructure and exacerbated fiscal challenges for city governments.
Violence and unrest in cities also surged as the population grappled with social inequality and inadequate public services. Urban areas faced numerous hardships, including declining wages for industrial workers, factory closures, and a lack of investment in housing and schools. Many big-city governments became major landowners due to abandoned properties, contributing to fiscal crises, like the one that nearly bankrupted New York City in 1975. Gentrification and public policy efforts in later decades began the restoration process for some urban areas, but these initiatives often displaced long-term, lower-income residents.