Jesuit Volunteers in the South are situated across five states. In a variety of placements, Jesuit volunteers serve large African American populations in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana, and primarily the Mexican-American community in Texas. New immigrants from Latin America, Asia and Africa arrive in the region every year and contribute to the evolving complexion of the South. Southerners are statistically the most "churched" of Americans and-many say-the most hospitable. The region encompasses the Southern Appalachian and Ozark Mountains; the swamp, bottom land and beaches of the Gulf Coast; and the great plains, hill country and deserts of Texas. After World War II, people from other regions in the U.S. were attracted to the South by the lower cost of living, the warmer climate and an increase in job opportunities, particularly in the oil industry. Entrenched racial inequality characterized the South (and much of the rest of the country) until black Southerners organized the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and challenged the Jim Crowe system. Today, per-capita incomes remain lower than the American average and the men, women and children who are poor continue to face crises in housing, education, health care, and criminal justice. Typically characterized as the "Bible Belt," the South is home to significant justice movements, including the Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, pioneered by Sr. Helen Prejean in New Orleans, and the SOA watch, which leads efforts to close the School of the Americas in Ft. Benning, Georgia. more
