Impact of the Great
Depression on
American Society
IB History of the Americas
Note-taking activity
Use the chart provided that divides these topics.
 Rural
 Urban
 Men
 Women
 African Americans
 Latinos/Hispanics
 Children
In the space provided, list facts regarding the
impact of the Great Depression
RURAL LIFE DURING
THE DEPRESSION
Between 1929-1932 almost ½ million
farmers lost their land
 While the Depression
was difficult for
everyone, farmers did
have one advantage; they
could grow food for their
families
 Thousands of farmers,
however, lost their land
 Many turned to tenant
farming and barely
scraped out a living
Rural people (farmers)
 They were also hit hard by the
depression. Many lost their lands and
had to become sharecroppers.
 The only advantage for these people was
the fact that they could grow food for
themselves. If they had the land.
Rural Areas
 Some farmers could manage to grow
their own food.
 1929-1932 over 400,000 farms were lost
to foreclosure.
 Many farmers
became tenant
farmers.
 Many people
packed up and
moved to
California looking
for agricultural
work.
Disaster Meets Disaster!
Dust Bowl
 The “ground zero” of the Dust Bowl
included parts of Colorado, New Mexico,
Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
 The effects of the Dustbowl would
physically impact about 26 states.
 The overall effect would be felt
throughout the whole nation.
Great Depression in the
Cities
 People in the cities not only
lost their jobs, they lost their
homes! This led to:
 Shantytowns or
Hoovervilles/Hoovertowns
 Soup Kitchens
 Breadlines
In Detroit…
 The Great Depression crippled the
industries of Michigan as well. Henry
Ford was one of the many tycoons who
resisted the idea that the economy was
bad. He Actually gave raises. Then a
year later decreased pay.
Impact on Workers and
Farmers

August 1931 – Ford
closed its Detroit
factories.
 75,000
unemployed in
one day.
 Millions others
unemployed.
Effect on Workers and
Farmers

Because large
factories closed –
small businesses
and restaurants
began to fail too.
 No customers
 No merchandise
 Rich people laid
off staff
Review of Stock Market
Unemployment
 Before the Great Depression the percentage of the nation
that was unemployed was 3.2%.
 By 1933, approximately 25% of the nations population was
unemployed, which translates to 13 million people out of
jobs.
 In the cities
-Many people could not make their mortgage or rent
payments and ended up being homeless.
-Many families would have to scrounge around in garbage
cans for food or beg on street corners from the wealthy
people that passed by.
BONUS
ARMY
 A 1932 incident further
damaged Hoover’s image
 That spring about 15,000
World War I vets arrived
in Washington to support
a proposed bill
 The Patman Bill would
have authorized Congress
to pay a bonus to WWI
vets immediately
 The bonus was scheduled
to be paid in 1945 --- The
Army vets wanted it NOW
BONUS ARMY
TURNED DOWN
Thousands of Bonus Army soldiers
protest – Spring 1932
 Hoover called
the Bonus
marchers,
“Communists
and criminals”
 On June 17,
1932 the Senate
voted down the
Patman Bill
BONUS MARCHERS
CLASH WITH SOLDIERS
 Hoover told the Bonus
marchers to go home–
most did
 2,000 refused to leave
 Hoover sent a force of
1,000 soldiers under the
command of General
Douglas MacArthur and
his aide Dwight
Eisenhower
AMERICANS SHOCKED
AT TREATMENT OF WWI
VETS
 MacArthur’s 12th infantry gassed more than 1,000
marchers, including an 11-month old baby, who died
 Two vets were shot and scores injured
 Americans were outraged and Hoover’s image
suffered
Impact on Men
 Men finding themselves out of work now had
to rely on their wives and children in some
cases to help make ends meet.
 Many did not take this loss of power as the
primary decision maker and breadwinner
very well.
 Some became so frustrated that they just
walked out on their families completely. A
1940 survey revealed that 1.5 million married
women had been abandoned by their
husbands.
Families all over the
United States faced hard
times.
 American families faced hard times.
 Some forced to split up.
 Some roamed the country trying to find work.
 Children often had to drop out of school and take low-paying
jobs or leave home and fend for themselves.
 Many tried to stick together for moral support.
 Women tried to save money by keeping an eye on the family
budget: Example: groups of women would go shopping
together, buy in bulk, and split the food and costs
 Women would patch up old clothes instead of buying new ones
Impact on Family Life
 Many couples delayed
marriage - the divorce
rate dropped sharply (it
was too expensive to
pay the legal fees and
support two households);
 and birth rates dropped
below the replacement
level for the first time in
American history.
Stress on Families



Men felt like failures
for not providing for
families.
Women were often
fired for “taking” jobs
from men.
 Particularly if
married
Women took low-paying jobs as
domestics.
Social & Psychological
Effects
 People had become so demoralized by the
experience that suicides increased 30% during
1928-1932.
 Many people did not go to see a doctor or a
dentist because they didn’t have the money to
spare.
-People had to make tough decisions as to how
to spend their money. In most cases it came
down to life and death.
 Women who didn’t work before took jobs to help
support the family when the man was out of work
Social & Psychological effects
cont...
 Men that believed they had to provide for their
family, would leave home to find work
-In order to do this they would ride the rails
across the country in search of jobs and send
money back home when they were employed.
 Society recognized with various needs of one
another and tried to help.
-People would give blankets, food and even
space in their home for families that were in
need.
Depression’s Effect on Health

“No one has
starved.”
 President Hoover
Effect on Health
But some did.
 Thousands went hungry.
 Poor, hungry and without
shelter – more prone to
illness.
Particularly childrensuffered from poor diets
and lack of health care.
Malnutrition rose from 18%
in 1928 to 60% in 1931

Impact on Health




In the country, people grew
food.
 Used for food and to
barter for other goods.
In the cities, sold apples
and pencils.
Begged for money and
food.
Fought over restaurant
garbage.
Closeness in a Time of
Need
 The Great Depression brought communities back together.
-People would go out of their way for others.
-The old habits of our nation had returned and would shape a new
generation of people that lived through one of America’s hardest
times.
 The Great Depression would also change people’s lifestyles from
spending money freely to saving and thriftiness.
Women
 The majority of women found
themselves struggling to get
by with less.
 The typical American woman
had a husband still
employed, although not
working full time and taking
a pay cut.
 Most women experienced
the Depression in terms
increased domestic labor as
wage cuts and
unemployment or partial
employment sharply
reduced household budgets
Eleanor Roosevelt’s It’s
Up to the Women (1933)
•Book aimed at showing women how to pull country through
economic crisis:–
•"The women know that life must go on and that the needs of
life must be met and it is their courage and determination
which, time and again, have pulled us through worse crises
than the present one.”
•Women's daily lives summarized by E.R. as "endless little
economies and constant anxiety for fear of some catastrophe
such as accident or illness which may completely swamp the
family budget."
Household Incomes
 Over half of families in the 1930s had incomes between $500 and
$1,500 a year.–Median income for 1935-36 was $1,160.
 This meant families had to make do on $20-25 a week
 With care, a woman could feed a family of six on $5 a week:
–milk at l0c a quart,
–a loaf of bread at 7c,
–butter 23c a pound,
–two pounds hamburger for 25c
 Women's Bureau, Betty Crocker, home economists across country
developed recipes for women using cheaper and fewer ingredients
with which to stretch their budgets and feed their families.
Domestic Violence
•Tension of this arrangement visible in
sharp rise in domestic violence reports.
•As domestic violence epidemic is noted by
government agencies
.•Women are officially told that domestic
violence is the result of men’s depression
and women’s lack of sympathy.
•Women are advised to return home and
make their men feel more like men.
Effects on Women and
Children
 it was believed that if all married women
left the workforce then there would be
enough jobs for men-1931
 Working women became targets of
resentment.
 Some people believed women had no
right to work while men were
unemployed.
Impact on Children:
Education
 2,600
schools shut
down.
 300,000
students out
of school.
 Many went to
work instead.
Discrimination Increases

Times created
hostilities against
minorities.


Whites were willing to take
the low wages of AsianAmericans, Hispanics and
African-Americans.
Mass deportation of
Mexican-Americans – even
though they were born in
the USA!
Minority Groups and the
Depression
Mexican-Americans
•
As white families moved west, it became harder for Mexican Americans to find
work.
•
In California, local leaders and unions convinced government to deport many
Mexican-born workers and their children, many of whom were U.S. citizens.
•
A shortage of jobs in the Southwest led to the illegal deportation of 500,000
Mexican-Americans so that whites could get more jobs or government relief.
(Mexican Repatriation)
African Americans
•
Faced discrimination
– Many lost jobs to unemployed white workers.
•
Many able to find work through relief programs.
•
African American leaders acted as advisors to Roosevelt.
– Mary McLeod Bethune was an educator appointed to Roosevelt’s cabinet.
– African Americans appointed to Roosevelt’s cabinet were known as the Black
Cabinet.
 Mary McLeod Bethune:
helped establish “the
black cabinet,” headed
up the National Youth
Association, and advised
Roosevelt on racial
issues
 Marion Anderson:
performed at Lincoln
Memorial which was
arranged by Eleanor
Roosevelt
Impact on African
Americans
Many African American teenage boys
ages 15-24 didn’t want to be a burden so
they left their families to ride the rails and
look for work.
African Americans suffered more than
whites, since their jobs were often taken
away from them and given to whites. In
1930, 50 percent of blacks were
unemployed.
Children took on more responsibilities,
sometimes finding work
By 1932, 40 to 50 percent of black workers
in Chicago were unemployed.
Impact on Mexicans
 High unemployment rates led to hostility
towards Mexican immigrants
 Deportation – but situation is Mexico is
worse
 Migrant work camps established by U.S.
Farm Security Administration
 Provided necessities
 Protection
 Sense of community
Mexican Repatriation
 The Mexican Repatriation refers to a mass migration
that took place between 1929 and 1939, when as many
as 500,000 people of Mexican descent were forced or
pressured to leave the US.
 50% were American Citizens (children of illegal
immigrants)
 The Immigration and Naturalization Service targeted
Mexicans because of "the proximity of the Mexican border
and easily identifiable barrios."
 The Repatriation is not widely discussed in American
history textbooks
 These actions were authorized by President Herbert
Hoover and targeted areas with large Hispanic
populations, mostly in California, Texas, Colorado, Illinois
and Michigan.
Deportation of Mexican
Americans at Union Station
Depression-era culture
helped lift people’s spirits.
WPA
Literature
Works Progress Administration– put artists to work and
helped to create a record of life during the Depression
Writers like John Steinbeck explored the theme of
Depression life in his writings.

Music
Radio
•
Film
•
Some musicians, like folk singer Woody Guthrie,
expressed themes of loss and struggle, reflecting the
American Depression experience.
 Swing music helped people forget their troubles and lifted
spirits.
Radios provided inexpensive entertainment with music and
popular radio shows.
Movies offered Americans another way to escape from reality.
The New Deal had lasting
effects on American
society.
The New Deal has had long-reaching effects:
• Gave Americans help and hope in a time of severe
crisis
• Expanded the role of federal government
• Some agencies and programs still exist today and
remain an important part of American society.
– Social Security still provides economic relief to the
elderly, children, and those with disabilities.
– Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation protects the
savings of bank customers.
Ending activity…
 In one paragraph: REFLECT ON what
you thought about the different troubles
each sex/race/age had to go through.
 In one paragraph: ANSWER
 Which race/age/sex would be the best to be
during the Great Depression? The worst?
PROVIDE EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT YOUR
CLAIMS