LIFE DURING THE DEPRESSION Chapter 25 – Section 3

Hard Times in America  Not every family needed aid during the Great Depression  Some families survived by pulling together and doing with less  Most Americans had to make do with less income, food, and security

Women go to Work Some women went to work; others worked hard at home to save money by: –Sewing clothes –Baking bread –Canning vegetables Famous women of the Depression: - Frances Perkins - Hattie Caraway - Eleanor Roosevelt

The Plight of Minorities The Depression hit minority groups hard. - African Americans - Native Americans - Hispanic Americans

CONDITIONS FOR MINORITIES Conditions for African Americans and Latinos were especially difficult Unemployment was the highest among minorities and their pay was the lowest Increased violence (24 lynchings in 1933 alone) marred the 1930s Many Mexicans were “encouraged” to return to their homeland As conditions deteriorated, violence against blacks increased

African Americans South – more than half had no jobs Some migrated to the North in search of jobs but had little success Political Advances:  Ralph Bunch - a Black Cabinet member who worked for the State Department  Mary McLeod Bethune – served as an advisor for the Black Cabinet

African Americans In 1939, opera singer Marian Anderson was denied permission to sing in Constitution Hall because she was black. Mrs. Roosevelt helped arrange for her to give a historic concert at the Lincoln Memorial

Native Americans  John Collier – Indian New Deal  Halted sale of reservation land  Got jobs for 77,000 Native Americans in the Civilian Conservation Corps  Obtained Public Works Administration funds to build new reservation schools  Indian Reorganization Act of 1934  Restored traditional tribal government  Provided money for land purchases to enlarge some reservations

Hispanic Americans Many emigrated into the US from Mexico Prior to the Depression, they worked as farmers, migrant workers, and laborers Americans began to resent them and demanded them to leave the US –Authorities gave many of them one-way tickets to Mexico –More than 50,000 left the US, often involuntarily

Radical Political Movements Radical Groups wanted extreme and immediate change. –Communism attracted workers, minorities rights activists, and intellectuals with promises to end economic and racial injustice –Fascism (Germany and Italy) held the individual second to the nation; dictatorship

Entertainment and the Arts Escapism –Light or romantic entertainment –Helped people forget about their problems Social Criticism –Portraits of injustice and suffering in the Depression

Radio Programs “Soap Operas” Daytime dramas sponsored by laundry detergents Adventure Programs Dick Tracy, The Lone Ranger, and Superman Variety Programs Featuring comedians George Burns and Gracie Allen

At the Movies The Grapes of WrathGone With the Wind

THE DUST BOWL A severe drought gripped the Great Plains in the early 1930s Wind scattered the topsoil, exposing sand and grit The resulting dust traveled hundreds of miles One storm in 1934 picked up millions of tons of dust from the Plains an carried it to the East Coast Kansas Farmer, 1933

Dust storm approaching Stratford, Texas

Storm approaching Elkhart, Kansas in 1937

Dust buried cars and wagons in South Dakota in 1936

HARDEST HIT REGIONS Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado were the hardest hit regions during the Dust Bowl Many farmers migrated to California and other Pacific Coast states Boy covers his mouth to avoid dust, 1935

Photographer Dorothea Lange captures a family headed west to escape the dust storms

HOBOES TRAVEL AMERICA The 1930s created the term “hoboes” to describe poor drifters 300,000 transients – or hoboes – hitched rides around the country on trains and slept under bridges (thousands were teenagers) Injuries and death was common on railroad property; over 50,000 people were hurt or killed

EFFECTS OF DEPRESSION Suicide rate rose more than 30% between Alcoholism rose sharply in urban areas Three times as many people were admitted to state mental hospitals as in normal times Many people showed great kindness to strangers Additionally, many people developed habits of savings & thriftiness