The Great Depression Americans Face Hard Times

Questions & Impacts Many Americans had questions – How did the stock market crash? – Why did the stock market impact the depression? Many Americans felt the impacts – Workers understood having a job and then not – Families understood having a home and then not Americans either experienced or knew someone who experienced the hardships & losses

Searching for Jobs and Meals : Unemployment never rose above 3.7% 1933: Unemployment had shot up to 24.9% Those that kept jobs had wages cut – Paychecks were 10, 20, 30 percent lower Than pre-depression Factory workers hit particularly hard – No longer chances for upward mobility – Workweeks shortened, leading to eventual lay offs – While looking for a new factory job, met with responses: “No help wanted” “We don’t need nobody” – Clothes became tattered, he said less, stared more, and moved slower

Searching for Jobs Contd. Women were able to help – Found jobs washing & ironing clothes – Laboring as a maid Additional Impacts at home – Children ate smaller meals – Water replaced milk – Meat disappeared from table – All family members felt hunger – Family members received free meals in soup kitchens – Many people received scraps from bread lines Handouts from charities or public agencies

Poverty Many workers moved from unemployed to unemployable Families plunged into homelessness & poverty Many felt “betrayed” by American Dream All of these feelings were expressed in a song by E.Y. Harding – “Brother Can You Spare a Dime?” – About worker who labored to build, then fought to defend the country – Song asked simple questions: “I built railroads, I fought your wars” “Why should I be standing in line? What happened to the wealth I created?”

Homelessness Slept on benches, empty rail cars, cardboard boxes Hoovervilles: makeshift shantytowns of tents & shack built on public land or vacant lots Some former skilled workers used lumber scraps, tar paper, tin, and glass to construct make-shift “shacks” Largest “Hooverville” sprang up in Central Park – Used newspapers as blankets – Walked around looking for jobs – “Hoover Flags”- empty pockets turned out, sign of poverty

Morale Boosting Efforts NYC Mayor, Fiorello LaGuardia: – Read comic strips to children over the radio Pennsylvania, Taxpayers Protection League: – Nonviolent protests to thwart evictions *Many Americans found no such escapes from misery

Poverty Affects Rural America Falling commodity prices started before Depression After depression, the bottom fell out – Crop prices fell even further – New debts added to old debts – Great Plains was suffering through lasting drought Resulted in more farmers losing their farms and moving Farmers traveled country looking for work & fighting for survival

Rural America Contd. 1919: Bushel of wheat sold for $ : Bushel of wheat sold for $ : Pound of cotton sold for $ : Pound of cotton sold for $6.52 Prices fell on corn, beans, cattle, & hogs as well Could not pay debt, buy seed, repair equipment, or what families needed to survive 1932: Sioux City Mild Producers Association threatened to strike of no higher profits developed

Sioux City Milk Producers -1932: Sioux City Mild Producers Association threatened to strike of no higher profits developed -Threats were ultimately ignored by local store owners -Milk farmers dumped 1,000 gallons on a road outside the city -This action was unthinkable by many farmers’ standards -Farmers still feared losing everything

Farmers Lose Their Farms : One million farmers failed to pay their mortgages and lost their farms – Banks foreclosed on lands – Banks repossessed equipment – Bankers sold what they could at public auction Some remained as tenant farmers: – Worked for landowners rather than themselves Others “drifted,” looking for work “For those who remained, Mother Nature dealt a cruel blow to already cruel times.”

Great Plains Drought in Great Plains became a huge problem Normal rainfall was less than 20 inches per year – Could not produce enough crops No irrigation system in existence Farmers used plains to plant wheat Plowed much of existing grass Grasses prevented topsoil from blowing away By early 1930s, very little grass is left to protect the plains

The Dust Bowl “Dust Bowl” occurred in 1932 High winds Cloud of dust & dirt towered 8,000ft high Moved as fast as 100mph Choked & blinded those caught Killed cattle & birds Blanketed rivers Suffocated fish Dirt seeped into houses Dirt dumped as far as Boston, NYC, & D.C. *Storms displaced as much dirt as Americans had moved to build the Panama Canal.

Other Impacts of the Dust Bowl Farmers that survived had biggest operations – Bought repossessed land – Purchased at very low prices – Expanded into commercial farms Motivated govt. to help farmers – Federal projects dammed rivers – Dams eventually provided irrigation that made farm profits possible

Migration Dust Bowl caused huge farmer migration “Okies”: Migrants from Oklahoma, generally used to refer to all migrants from the plains Moved toward CA, OR, WA Moved anywhere jobs could be found 800,000 migrated before the movement slowed Many people “landed” in California – Empty promises caused them to keep looking – Looking for jobs, shelter, and relief Rural states lost population, large cities gained

Family Life Affected Men who lost jobs felt they had betrayed their family Loss of job meant reduction in “breadwinner” status Men reacted differently – Some labored to find new jobs – Some sank into shame and despair – Some deserted their families Employed men – Feared each paycheck was their last – Felt guilty if/when relatives were suffering Wives & Children – Birthrates plummeted – Mothers worked to stretch incomes – Sewed clothes & did odd jobs – Discipline often declined, children quit school & ran away from home – Some huddled together, other families broke apart

Minorities Suffer Minorities were the poorest of the poor Felt effects of depression hardest African Americans: – Last to be hired, first to be fired – In South, landowners through black sharecroppers off land – Many migrated to North – No jobs available in the North either – 1932: unemployment of African Americans reached 50% Double the national rate Relied of emotional resources of family to cope

Mexican Americans Competition for jobs btwn. Okies & Mexican Americans heated up Workers often struggled to find & keep jobs Faced additional burden of discrimination In South, whites wanted Repatriation of Mexicans – Efforts by local, state, & fed govt. to encourage or coerce Mexican immigrants & naturalized children to return to Mexico Hundreds of thousands of Mexicans pushed out of the U.S. End of 1930s, Mexican Americans working in most industries of the SW – Farming – Ranching – Industry

Lasting Ironies Typically, economic slump was called “panic” or “crisis” Hoover used depression because he though it sounded less severe Depression described state of mind and economic reality Showed despondent America People were overwhelmed by inescapable poverty Economic & emotional crisis that affected Americans in ALL walks of life