Chapter 24
Section 2
Hard Times
Pages 720-727
Objectives
• 1. Describe how unemployment during the Great
Depression affected the lives of American
workers.
• 2. Compare and contrast the hardships that
urban and rural residents faced during the
depression.
• 3. Analyze how the Great Depression affected
family life and the attitudes of Americans.
• 4. Explain how popular culture provided an
escape from the Great Depression.
American Workers Face
Unemployment
•
•
•
•
Increasing joblessness:
1929: 1.5 million workers were unemployed.
1933: 15 million workers were unemployed.
If you were able to keep your job during this
time your wages were decreased. Large
industries tried to keep experienced workers,
but reduced their number of hours worked.
• During this time immigration decreased due
to lack of employment in the U.S.
The American Worker
• The American worker was hit hard by the
depression. Many Americans resorted to
selling apples on the streets for 5 cents.
• African American worker was especially hit
due to discrimination they faced inside and
outside of the workplace.
• 1930s: Employers could hire women cheaper
so women in the workforce actually increased.
Life in the City
• City-dwellers faced a harsh life in unemployment and
poverty.
• Early 1930s the government didn’t help or support the
city dwellers. Eventually, the Salvation Army and the
Red Cross provided relief for residents.
• Mutualistas: Mexican American communities formed
mutual aid societies.
• Breadlines: men and women in poverty waited in line
for soup and pieces of bread provided by charity
organizations.
• Malnutrition was prevalent in the city and the long
term affects were poor teeth and eyes.
• Many were unable to keep and pay the rent on their
homes.
• Eventually many ended up in Shantytowns- makeshift
shelters built out of packing boxes, scrap lumber,
corrugated iron, and other thrown away items. [ many
mocked the president and called them Hoovervilles]
• The depression deepened President Hoover became
one of most disliked figures in American life, as the
slang of the era revealed. Empty pants pockets became
known as Hoover flags, and newspapers became
known as Hoover blankets.
Life on the Farm
• As the depression continued it didn’t just
affect those living in the city. People living in
the city couldn’t afford farm products. The
declining demand for farm products led to
prices to drop. Farmers ended up having to
much product. As people in the city were
starving, some farmers had to let crops rot in
the fields and some had to slaughter livestock
because they couldn’t afford to feed.
• As farmers incomes were continuing to decline
many were unable to keep up with their
mortgage payments. Banks started foreclosing on
farms and properties. In many areas farms friends
banded together to attend farm auctions and bid
low on the family’s possessions. When the
auction was over the friend’s would return the
goods back to the family. This strategy was so
successful that in 1933 Iowa passed laws that
temporarily stopped foreclosures sales.
• Tenant Farmers who were mainly African
Americans in the South lost everything due to the
drop in cotton prices.
• Migrant farmers located in the Southwest mainly
immigrated from Mexico. Mexican immigrants
were forced back to Mexico even those who were
American citizens. The government thought this
would relieve the strain of the depression on the
American public.
Josefina Fierro de Bright: relocated to California
with her parents to escape the revolution in
Mexico. Growing up during the depression in
poverty and ethnic discrimination left a lasting
effect on her. During her youth the family moved
frequently to find work. Her mother emphasized
the importance of getting an education. She
spent her life committed to helping the migrant
Mexican American worker improve their lives.
She helped establish a branch of the El Congresso
a Mexican American activist group.
Family Life in the 1930s
• The shift of responsibility was changing in the 1930s as
many women were the main breadwinners of the family.
People of the city and farms shared resources and support
through the hard times. Many families moved in together
and young adults moved back into their families homes.
• Family Strains: Due to the economic strains of the time
period many families broke apart. The marriage rate fell
due to the fact that unemployed men were less likely than
employed men to get married in the 1930s. The birthrate
also declined in the early years of the depression.
• The challenges of the time period to make ends meet were
huge. Families budgeted trying to put food on the table and
making clothes for their families. In the rural areas women
made their own soap and homemade bread.
Psychological effects
• Depression : Would describe the mood of the
people in the 1930s.
• 1932: 20,000 people committed suicide . Many
had never done without and didn’t know how to
handle the shame of not having employment.
• Even after the depression the memories of
saving, scrimping, and living hand to mouth
would remain vivid for the rest of people’s lives.
• Financial stability and material goods and comfort
would shape the culture of Americans who were
coming of age during the depression.
Popular Culture of the 1930s
• In hard times people look for a diversion to the economics
pressures of everyday life.
• Games, reading, radio, and eventually movies became a past time
during the depression.
• The Sound Explosion: movies were cheap entertainment. Sound
movies replaced silent movies of the late 1920s. During the 1930s
gangster films were popular [ Gangster movies, such as the 1930
release Little Caesar, were popular with audiences during the early
years of the Great Depression. Some historians have argued that
people responded positively to these movies because they
portrayed acquisitive individuals as selfish, evil, and ultimately selfdestructive.] Strong women emerged as stars of the time; Mae
West, Greta Garbo, Bette Davis, and Marlene Dietrich. Reinforced
the idea of survival in tough times.
• 1930s: Movie cartoons started by Walt Disney
such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.
[In 1933 Walt Disney released the cartoon Three
Little Pigs. A song from the cartoon, “Who’s
Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” became a huge
hit, perhaps because it reflected an
optimistic response to “the wolf at the door”the Great Depression itself.]
• 1930s: The radio was free entertainment during
the depression at home. Popular programs of the
time were the Shadow, Lone Ranger, and Little
Orphan Annie.
• Literature:
Comic Books were inexpensive and popular such as
Flash Gordon and Tarzan.
James Hilton: author of 1933, Lost Horizon. The
story was about an explorer who stumbles upon
the perfect utopia in the mountains of Tibet. The
idea of the perfect world.
• James T. Farrell: author of the 1932-1935, trilogy
Studs Lonigan, the story of the hard life of Irish
immigrants in the intercity of Chicago.
• Nathanael West: author of the book 1933, Miss
Lonelyhearts, about the perfect American dream
as a nightmare.
• William Faulkner: author of 1929, The Sound and
the Fury and 1930, As I Lay Dying, discusses the
trials and tribulations of small town Mississippi
life.