1. THE GREAT DEPRESSION

2. Impact of the Great Depression
Cities:
Increase in homelessness, increase in unemployment
25% unemployment across the country
50% or higher for minorities
Increase in racial violence, increase in deportations

3. Soup Kitchens and Bread lines

4. Shantytowns – “Hoovervilles”

6. Riding the Rails Men leave their families in search of work
300,000 transient “hoboes” ride the rails

8. Hoover is Blamed for Americans Misery
President Herbert Hoover is blamed for not helping or caring about Americans suffering during the depression
Newspapers used for blankets referred to as “Hoover blankets”
Empty pant pockets turned out called “Hoover Flags”

9. Hoover’s Domestic Policy
Hoover believe in limited government intervention
Supported giving money to banks and businesses so that they could create jobs (trickle-down economics)
Did not support welfare or direct relief to the poor and needy – Hoover thought this would “weaken people’s independence and make them too reliant on government hand-outs
Believed volunteer charity groups and local organizations should help the poor, not the government

10. Impact on the American People
Without financial assistance, people suffered from poor diets and lacked proper health care
School closures increased due to decrease funding – no tax base to raise money for schools
Children worked in sweatshops to help family income
Between 1928 to 1932, the suicide rate rose more than 30%
Increase in mental hospital patients

11. Depression in Rural Areas
: 400,000 farms were lost to foreclosure
Farmers unable to pay their loans due to decreasing farm prices
Farmers burned crops and fields; dumped milk to create food shortages

12. 1930s Drought in Great Plains
Dust Storms occurred from 1930 – 1936
Wind carried dust over hundreds of miles, covering homes, cattle, equipment
The Dust Bowl – Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado
Top soil pulled up and carried all the way to the Atlantic ocean
Causes:
Prairie grass was pulled out in the Great Plains
drought

15. Dust Bowl Clip

16. Farmers and Sharecroppers go West
Those effected by the dust storms migrate west, looking for work
Called “Okies” – negative term for migrant workers
Migrant workers picked fruit and vegetables; poor pay 16