The Depression spread
around the world.
• European countries trying
to recover from the
ravages of WWI faced
high war debts.
• Germany was still paying
war reparations.
• With Americans unable to
buy their goods now,
European economies
suffered even more.
The situation became worse
when Congress passed the
Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act.
• It was supposed to push
Americans to buy goods
made in the US and help
American Industries.
• Instead imports from
Europe declined. They had
less money to spend on
US goods and American
Industry suffered.
•
The Depression brought suffering and
hardship to many Americans.
•
Millions of people lost their
jobs. Some went hungry or
became homeless.
Americans and Latinos were
especially difficult. They
had higher unemployment,
were paid less than whites
and violence was directed
against them.
• Shantytowns were
created, where they lived in
little shacks they made out of
scrap material.
• Some ate in soup kitchens
(offered free food) or breadlines
(feed the hungry), where charities
served meals to the needy. Those who
could not afford to buy food stood in
Conditions for African
•
Twenty-four African Americans
died by lynching in 1933.
•
Whites attacked African
Americans and they demanded
Latino American be sent back to
the countries they came from.
Farm Failure
• The biggest problems were in farming. After the war, the demand
of food dropped and farmers suffered. The widespread problem of
joblessness and poverty cut down the demand for food and many
Americans simply went hungry.
• By 1933, with farmers unable to sell food they produced, farm
prices had sunk to 50 percent of their already low 1929 levels.
• Lower prices meant lower income for farmers, and many borrowed
money from banks to pay for land and equipment.
• As incomes dropped, farmers couldn’t pay back their loans, and in
the first five years of the 1930s, hundreds of thousands of farms
went bankrupt or suffered foreclosure.
A Farm Foreclosure
A farm is being sold at a foreclosure sale in Iowa. Military police
were on hand to keep farmers from disrupting the auction. ca.
1935.
• Initial Reaction= Depression
will not last long, people can
take care of themselves
• Not the government's
problem
• Let Charities and orgs take
care of the people
• Gov't handouts weaken the
moral fiber of people
“Hooverville”
• Some families were
forced to live in
shanty towns
– A grouping of shacks
and tents in vacant
lots
• They were referred to
as “Hoovervilles”
because of President
Hoover’s lack of help
during the depression.
Central Park, New York City
Many waited in unemployment
lines hoping for a job.
People in cities would wait in line for
bread to bring to their family.
Christmas Day
Breadlines in
New York City,
1931
• To make matters worse, a long drought hit the Great Plains. There was
little rain from Texas to N. Dakota. The grass that had once held the soil
in place was now gone. When powerful winds swept across the Great
Plains, the soil simply blew away. This dry area of blowing soil was
called the
Dust Bowl. (lasted about ten years)
The Great Plains Were
Buried
• Crops turned to dust=No food to
be sent out
• Homes buried
• Fields blown away
• Great Plains in state of
emergency
• Dust Bowl the #1 weather crisis
of the 20th century
A drought on the Plains lead to
dust storms that destroyed crops.
“The Dust Bowl”
Dustbowl
A traveler noticed a nice new hat by the side of the road, and
he stopped to pick it up.
Under the hat was a man, buried up to his neck in the dust! As
he dug the poor fellow out,
the traveler asked if he wanted a ride into town. "No, I'll get
there myself,"
the man replied, "I'm on a horse."
Effects on the American Family
•
•
•
•
•
Some families broke apart under the
strain of poverty & unemployment.
Many men felt ashamed because they
had lost their jobs. Some men simply
left their families and wandered the
•
country looking for work.(Hobos )
•
•
•
Women tried to work, too. But they
were paid less than men and many
people were complaining that
employers should not hire women.
Children suffered terribly from
poverty and malnutrition related
diseases. Some children ran away
from home in search for work.
“If I leave my mother, it will mean one
less mouth to feed” Eugene Williams
age 13.
•
•
•
•
The federal government did not give
direct relief-cash, or food directly to the
poor people.
Charities and some city governments
struggled to help.
States collected less tax money.
Programs like child welfare were cut.
School days were shortened or closed
all together.
Children often went to work to help
out their families; they often labored
in sweatshops under horrendous
conditions.
Rates of suicide and mental illness
increased.
Young people were forced to give up
their dreams of college.
Man in hobo jungle killing
turtle to make soup,
Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Sept. 1939.
Some families were forced to relocate
because they had no money.
Two Families During
the Depression
Some families tried to make money by
selling useful crafts like baskets.
1929-1939
• Stock market
crash
• Didn’t realize
the effect it
would have
• No money to
replenish what
was borrowed
Many found being broke
humiliating.