1. LIFE IN THE GREAT DEPRESSION

2. IMPACT ON AMERICA Unemployment 1929- 3 million 1930- 4 million 1931- 8 million 1932- 12.5 million ¼ of the nation’s families had no income at all Businesses 90% of businesses cut wages ¾ of worker hours were reduced to part time

3. IMPACT ON AMERICA Families o By 1933- average family income had dropped 40% from 2,300 to 1,500 o Vagrancy and Homelessness  Multiple families in small shacks, people living in caves, sewer pipes o Getting by  Planting gardens, avoid medical and dental bills, canning food, and doing without  Many delayed marriage, didn’t have kids, couldn’t afford to divorce- abandonment rates were high  Psychologically hard on men who couldn’t provide for their families  Married women entered the workforce

4. HOOVERVILLES Shanty towns/camps that littered the country during the 1930s filled with those who had nowhere else to go Name chosen intentionally as a poke at the uselessness of Hoover’s relief efforts Built out of whatever materials available One of the largest/most famous was in Central Park Central Park