Part Three: Americans Face Hard Times The Great Depression Part Three: Americans Face Hard Times

The Dust Bowl A new disaster struck the Plains in the 1930s —the Dust Bowl. Winds blew away soil on land cleared by farmers and parched from drought. The result was “black blizzards.” Black blizzards blocked the sun, seeped into houses, and killed people and animals. Crops failed, and farmers were ruined. In some counties, one in three families left to make a living elsewhere.

Ken Burns The Dust Bowl video trailer (5:55) Click here to watch

Dust Bowl - Dallas, South Dakota 1936

Before the storm

During the storm

Dust Bowl refugees competed with local workers for low-paying jobs. Eventually, police tried to close roads into California, but migrants kept coming.

Part of an impoverished family of nine on a New Mexico highway Part of an impoverished family of nine on a New Mexico highway. Depression refugees from Iowa. Left Iowa in 1932 because of father's ill health. Father an auto mechanic laborer, painter by trade, tubercular. Family has been on relief in Arizona but refused entry on relief roles in Iowa to which state they wish to return. Nine children including a sick four-month-old baby. No money at all. About to sell their belongings and trailer for money to buy food. "We don't want to go where we'll be a nuisance to anybody." Children of migrant workers typically had no way to attend school. By the end of 1930 some 3 million children had abandoned school. Thousands of schools had closed or were operating on reduced hours. At least 200,000 children took to the roads on their own.  Summer 1936. Photographer: Dorothea Lange.

People in California called the migrants “Okies” because so many were from Oklahoma.

Click here to watch a scene from Grapes of Wrath

Hard Times Soaring unemployment 25% unemployment Millions more worked shorter hours or took pay cuts

Unemployed men vying for jobs at the American Legion Employment Bureau in Los Angeles during the Great Depression.

June 1938. Photographer: Dorothea Lange. Part of the daily lineup outside the State Employment Service Office. Memphis, Tennessee. June 1938. Photographer: Dorothea Lange.

A jobless man sells apples on the streets of New York City in 1932 A jobless man sells apples on the streets of New York City in 1932. More than 15 million people, nearly one quarter of the United States work force, were unemployed by 1932, three years after the stock market crash that signaled the beginning of the Great Depression.

Hard Times Soaring unemployment Families in Crisis Marriage and birth rates drop Parents unable to provide for their children Fathers, teens leave home to find work

Hard Times The Depression was especially hard on families. Couples Fathers Children They put off marriage. Many had to leave home in search of work. Children often went hungry. When they did marry, couples had fewer children. Ashamed, some deserted their families. Many could not attend school.

Henry Koczur left his East Chicago home in September 1932 at 16, believing that one less mouth to feed would lighten the burden on his family of eight. His father was out of work and sick with stomach ulcers; his mother often had to serve potato soup for breakfast, lunch and supper. Henry headed for California, "a land where I didn't think anyone could starve. Many times when the freight trains stopped at night, we'd light a match just to see what was growing in the fields."

Hard Times Soaring unemployment Families in Crisis Homelessness Riding the rails Lower standard of living Shacks of wood and metal scraps

August 1936. Photographer: Dorothea Lange. People living in miserable poverty, Elm Grove, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma. August 1936. Photographer: Dorothea Lange.

Squatter's Camp, Route 70, Arkansas, October, 1935 Squatter's Camp, Route 70, Arkansas, October, 1935. Photographer: Ben Shahn

Freight car converted into house in "Little Oklahoma," California Freight car converted into house in "Little Oklahoma," California. February, 1936. Photographer: Dorothea Lange

Unemployed workers in front of a shack with Christmas tree, East 12th Street, New York City. December 1937. Tattered communities of the homeless coalesced in and around every major city in the country. Photographer: Russell Lee.

Squatter makes coffee in kitchen at his home in abandoned warehouse, Caruthersville, Missouri. August 1938. Photographer: Russell Lee.

section of San Antonio, Texas. March 1939. Photographer: Russell Lee. Squatters in Mexican section in San Antonio, Texas. House was built of scrap material in vacant lot in Mexican section of San Antonio, Texas. March 1939. Photographer: Russell Lee.

Upstairs bedroom of family on relief, Chicago, Illinois. April 1941 Upstairs bedroom of family on relief, Chicago, Illinois. April 1941. Photographer: Russell Lee

During the Depression, women struggled to support themselves and their families. in the workplace Competed with men for jobs Were more likely than men to lose jobs or have wages cut Found fewer job opportunities Women at home took on more chores to save money: sewing clothes, canning food, and baking bread.

Mexican Americans also suffered during the Great Depression. Many were migrant workers in the Southwest. When unemployed white workers flooded the area looking for work, Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans were deported. Union and civic leaders convinced the government to deport Mexican-born workers – even if their children were American-born.

Native Americans continued to live in poverty. FDR’s Commissioner of Indian Affairs, John Collier, created the Indian New Deal. The Indian Reorganization Act restricted sales of Native American lands. Under the plan, Native Americans were hired to build schools, hospitals, and irrigation systems. Congress failed to enable self-government of the tribes or to promote education, however.

Sharecroppers were forced from their land as cotton prices plummeted. African Americans were hit especially hard by the Depression. Over half were unemployed in the South. South North Sharecroppers were forced from their land as cotton prices plummeted. African Americans continued to migrate north, looking for factory jobs. Some moved to the cities, but they often lost jobs to unemployed whites. Often, however, they were the last hired and the first fired.

FDR had a mixed record on civil rights. Hundreds of thousands of African-Americans found work through relief programs like the CCC and WPA. Yet he failed to support an antilynching bill because he did not want to lose support from southern senators. Black Cabinet Advised the President on African American issues Included Mary McLeod Bethune and William Hastie Still, he appointed more than 100 African Americans to government posts.

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt inspired many women. She was a champion for equal rights for all people. Helped transform the role of First Lady Traveled widely Made radio speeches and wrote newspaper columns Used her position to champion women’s rights

A concert by African American singer Marian Anderson proved to be symbolic of the civil rights struggle. The Daughters of the American Revolution had refused to allow Anderson to sing in their hall. Eleanor Roosevelt arranged to have Anderson perform at the Lincoln Memorial in front of a huge crowd.

Depression-Era Culture In 1935, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) began to employ artists – painters, sculptors, writers, and actors. “They need to eat, too,” - Harry Hopkins, WPA director

American arts and media reflected the hardships of the time. Under New Deal programs, artists and photographers like Dorothea Lange recorded everyday experiences.

Other artists painted murals on public buildings.

Forest Park, IL – U.S. Post Office

WPA musicians traveled the country to record cowboy ballads, folk songs, and African-American spirituals that would otherwise have been lost to history. Woody Guthrie wrote songs of the loss and struggle he witnessed during the Great Depression. This Land Is Your Land

It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing Swing music helped people forget their troubles. Thousands tuned in to big band music on the radio and danced to the fast-paced rhythms. Duke Ellington Benny Goodman Count Basie It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing

Steinbeck will go on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962. John Steinbeck captured the desperation of Dust Bowl families in his classic novel The Grapes of Wrath, about a family – the Joads – moving to California to look for work. Steinbeck will go on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962. Watch a scene from The Grapes of Wrath

Now the wind grew strong and hard and it worked at the rain crust in the corn fields. Little by little the sky was darkened by the mixing dust, and the wind felt over the earth, loosened the dust, and carried it away. The wind grew stronger. The rain crust broke and the dust lifted up out of the fields and drove gray plumes into the air like sluggish smoke. --John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

The radio was a vital part of life, as people listened to FDR’s fireside chats, popular bands, and comedians.

On the Good Ship Lollipop Some movies portrayed the social problems of the time. Many movies, however, were meant to help people forget their troubles. On the Good Ship Lollipop

Effects of the New Deal Social Security Act Old-age Insurance FDR’s New policies changed American society in ways that are still being debated today. Social Security Act Old-age Insurance Aid to families with dependent children Aid to the disabled Unemployment benefits

Effects of the New Deal Social Security Act Labor reforms – National Labor Relations Act Workers guaranteed the right to organize Collective bargaining upheld Prohibited unfair business practices aka the Wagner Act

Effects of the New Deal Social Security Act Labor reforms – National Labor Relations Act Fair Labor Standards Act Set minimum wage Set maximum weekly work hours Established time-and-a-half for overtime Ended child labor in some businesses

Effects of the New Deal Social Security Act Labor reforms – National Labor Relations Act Fair Labor Standards Act New union – CIO

Effects of the New Deal Social Security Act Labor reforms Banking protections FDIC – protects depositors money SEC – regulates the stock market

Effects of the New Deal Not everyone, however, agreed with Roosevelt’s policies. Critics believed that the federal government should not take such an active role in society. Many of these critics favored a return to the tradition of laissez faire. Many of Roosevelt’s critics were concerned with the government’s reliance on deficit spending. Most importantly, critics pointed out, the New Deal failed to end the Great Depression.

Effects of the New Deal For many Americans, the most important result of the New Deal was that it restored their faith in government.