1. Georgia before the Great Depression

2. “The roaring 20s”
During the 1920s the United States was enjoying a lot of prosperity.
BUT NOT GEORGIA!

3. Depressing Georgia’s Agriculture Boll weevil
What: Long-snouted beetle that laid eggs in the cotton bolls
Larvae ate the cotton (the white, fluffy part)
Originally from Mexico
When: Arrived in Georgia in 1915
Immediate effects: Destroyed 1000s of acres of cotton
-Cotton production dropped
-Cotton Prices dropped

4. -Farmers diversify crops (plant different crops)
Boll Weevil
Long-term affects:
--Farms failed
-Farm-related
businesses failed
-Farmers diversify crops (plant different crops)
-Poultry becomes more important than plant crops
-Industry grows
-Georgia was already in a depression before the 1930s
-Farmers left GA for cities in the North

5. Drought 1924 What: lack of precipitation for a long time
Immediate effects:
-Loss of crops
+ Slowed down the boll weevil
-375,000 farm workers left GA
Long-term effects (similar to boll weevil effects)
-Farms failed
-Banks failed
-Businesses failed
-Depression
-Industry

6. Exodus of Farm Workers
When: 1920s-1960s
What: 1000s of southern farmers (mostly African-American) moved North to work in factories, shipyards, steel mills, meat packing plants
Immediate effects:
-Farms and farm-related businesses shut down
-Population of African-Americans decrease in the South and increase in the North

7. Exodus of Farm Workers Long-term effects: -Overcrowded cities -Poverty
-competition between blacks and whites for jobs
-KKK and racism spread throughout the U.S.