Life in the Depression

From Where Did the Problems in the Depression Come? No jobs No happy No mone y

Unemployment Unemployment reached 28% by More than 1 in 4 families had no one working. Many out of work for years. Men stood in long employment office lines to try and get any job, even for a day. Women and racial minorities - more difficult time finding work because of discrimination.

Housing Many were out of work so long they could not pay their bills – were evicted as banks took over their homes. People lived where they could and made homes out of whatever material was available. Collections of these homes, usually on the outskirts of cities, were known as shanty towns or Hoovervilles.

Farming Farm prices dropped dramatically after WWI and continued to drop into the 1930s. Farmers couldn’t sell their crops, make a profit or pay their bills. They were evicted or became tenant farmers. Exhausted farmland caused by nutrient depletion, too much plowing, deforestation and several years of drought caused the Dust Bowl. Many farmers moved West. (Okies)

Discrimination Intense competition for jobs made racial resentments rise to the surface – open hostility and violence resulted. Lynching increased (24 reported in 1933.) Thousands of Mexican Americans left the US voluntarily or were deported by the US government.

Family Issues Some families relied more on one another (example: the dropping rate of divorce.) Some families broke apart under the pressure. Many men left their wives and took to the road becoming hobos. Women had great difficulties meeting necessities at home with no husband, as they were discriminated against in the workplace.

Physical Health Nutrition became very bad as people did not have access to money to buy food. Malnutrition and starvation, especially in children, increased. People scavenged for food, eating wild plants or rummaging in trash cans. Most Americans could not afford health care – no doctor’s visits when ill, dental care, eye glasses, etc.

Emotional Health “Demoralized” – common description of Americans during the Depression. Suicides increased dramatically and admissions to mental hospitals rose 3x. People made difficult choices (such as not having children, waiting to marry, or dropping out of school to work.) These decisions influenced people for the rest of their lives. Many people wanted financial security more than anything else (think of your grandparent’s attitudes toward money.)