1. Americans Face Hard Times

2. How did the Great Depression Affect Cities?
Even though many Americans did not fully grasp what caused the stock market crash and economic depression, they did understand the impact of it
The threat of unemployment ravaged cities and town across the United States and many workers brought home paychecks up to 30% less than their pre-depression checks

3. Many families could not afford to keep bring food into their homes, pay rent  sold most of their possessions just to stay afloat
Those who could not afford a meal ended up in bread lines where small distribution of food was provided by charities and public agencies
Many Americans who lost their home ended up grouping together in Hoovervilles  makeshift shantytowns of tents and shacks built on public land or vacant lots

4. How Was Rural America Affected?
Farmers had been suffering even before the Great Depression  prices of crops dropped and accumulation of debt
Weather and farming methods created a drought in the American Midwest in the 1930’s  the Dust Bowl
Okies were Dust Bowl refugees seeking jobs and fertile land to the east and west

5. John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath which depicted a family’s struggle out of the Dust Bowl to California
Illustrated the general difficulties of life during the Great Depression especially those affected by the Dust Bowl

6. Some Facts and Figures of the Depression
Between 1929 & 1932
Almost 6,000 banks failed
Almost 110,000 businesses closed
1 out of every 4 Americans became unemployed
Millions were underemployed
Nearly 1 million farmers lost their farm
Millions lost their life savings in the banking collapse