Ch 11 sec 2 Americans Face Hard Times

I. The Development of the Great Depression When the banks failed, they took everyone’s savings with them. There was no protection for the depositors, and even if they did not invest in the stock market, their banks did, and they lost all of their money in the bank. Now there is insurance for your accounts so that if a bank fails the depositors still get their money back.

I. The Development of the Great Depression Farmers also had problems. They were growing more food than they could sell, so prices dropped. Farmers were making less money, and could not pay their own bills. Unemployment continued to increase during the Depression, reaching 25% by Some areas had even higher rates, some up to 50%.

II. The Human Impact of the Great Depression Jobs were scarce, and competition was fierce for those few jobs. If you lost your job it was a quick way to poverty. Begging door to door, soup kitchens and breadlines were how many survived. Some people just did without. There were no federal government programs for the poor. Local charities and local governments were the only source of support.

II. The Human Impact of the Great Depression Many people lost their homes, and they often moved to neighborhoods of shacks called Hoovervilles. Some people became hoboes, hopping trains to move from town to town looking for work and food. Families broke apart due to the strains of the Depression. Many of the men left their families and became hoboes.

II. The Human Impact of the Great Depression Emotionally, the country was scarred as well. Taking handouts was viewed as a personal failure, because you could not care for yourself. Some couldn’t face life and committed suicide, others became bitter at the government and businesses that had failed the people.

III. Devastation in the Dust Bowl In the midst of the Depression, a drought hit the Great Plains area. All of the farming had removed the vegetation that held down the soil, and when the wind picked up, the dust would travel for miles. The area in the center of the country became known as the Dust Bowl, because of the huge dust storms that occurred. Some of the dust travelled all the way to the Atlantic Ocean.

III. Devastation in the Dust Bowl The drought forced many farmers to pack everything and leave, many going to California to find work. They were called Okies, even though they all were not from Oklahoma. They were met with resistance from everyone. The minority workers that they competed for jobs with, and the farmers they wanted to work for treated them poorly.

In your notebooks Draw the map of migration from the Dust Bowl to the other areas in the country from page 332. Label the map.