Cultural Issues In the 1930’s

Struggles Women Faced Hard time finding jobs Roles in the household Tried for real jobs got scorned and judged Wanted all jobs go to white men Only stereotypical jobs Made up for not working Sold something of theirs Buying day old bread Warming dishes in oven to save gas

Struggles African Americans Faced Barely any jobs 30% less than white workers wage if they had a job At first NRA (National Recovery Act) worked and it was equal But NRA public works  didn’t really hire blacks and gave them awful wages Faced KU Klux Klan, company thugs, and police violence New Deal had little impact on blacks more for economic purposes Black unemployment rates were two, three, or even four times those of white workers

City vs. Country Factories were shutting down in the city City dwellers often went hungry Soup kitchens in larger cities sometimes Crowded, unheated, unsanitary living spaces Cities attracted “beaten people” people who lost everything Had to work harder to keep clean ; didn’t have electricity Hospitals and doctors hard to reach “Dust pneumonia "from working near farms Weather influenced a great deal of their lives Didn’t buy new clothes used flour sacks sometimes

Between Now and Then The 1920s were years of expansion 1920s was period of optimism Gained money Time of new thinking New views of life Laissez-faire policy 1930s was years of depression Loss of money Beginning of time period had a weak leader Returned back to tradition instead of keeping thoughts of the 2o’s

Why it was difficult? The Stock market crash Corrupted banks and companies Banks closing people freaked out Many businesses ran out of money “Lived lean but didn’t starve” Not much money Stealing problems to get food and money