Beginning of Great Recession, during which foundations endure enormous losses of assets. Some Southern foundations respond by increasing their giving to meet the needs of their communities.

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, one of the largest environmental disasters in U.S. history, causes extensive economic, health, and environmental damage to communiites along the Gulf Coast.

The Affordable Care Act is passed.

The Supreme Court strikes down portions of the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder, which effectively results in laws and policies that make it harder for minorities to vote.

#BlackLivesMatter movement gains traction following the not-guilty verdict in Florida for George Zimmerman's shooting of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African-American high school student.

The growing shift to urbanization continues, with 75 percent of Southerners living in a metro county.

Reflecting the growing population in the South, the region now has 173 electoral votes, up from 144 in 1968.

Of the money that went to state and local groups, most of it went where the anti-immigrant threat was the lowest. In California, New York and Illinois, funding per immigrant totaled $6 over the three-year period while deportation levels were low. In the southeast, southwest and Florida, the deportation rate was five times higher, but funding was half as much per immigrant or less.

There are 764,300 farms in the South, down from 1.26 million farms in 1967.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, passed in 2017, corresponds to decreased charitable giving in 2018. When adjusted for inflation, total charitable giving declined 1.7%.

The population of the 11 Southeastern states totals 82.6 million, nearly doubling in fifty years and becoming increasingly diverse with growing Asian and Latinx populations.

Florida and Georgia are projected to become the first Southeastern states to become majority-minority states.

Supreme Court is considering allows a citizenship question in the 2020 census count which could profoundly affect the nation’s representative democracy. Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank notes that “Census Bureau research has projected a drop of at least 5.1 percent from noncitizen households if the question is added, part of an estimated undercount of 6.5 million people.”