1. Americans Face Hard Times
Chapter 21 section 2 notes

2. The Development of the Great Depression
Most severe economic downturn in the history of the U.S.

3. Bank Failures Banks failed Most had their savings in banks
There was no deposit insurance
Today there is FDIC insurance
Banks were vulnerable to runs- people would withdraw their savings leaving no money at the bank forcing it to close

4. Farm Failures
Joblessness and poverty reduced people’s ability to buy food
Farmers prices were down 50%
Lower prices meant lower income for farmers

5. Farms cont. Farmers had to borrow money for land and equipment
They were unable to make their payments
,000 farms went bankrupt

6. Unemployment
By 1933 unemployment was 25%
In Harlem, it was 50%

7. Hoovervilles and Hoboes
Millions were out of work
Some begged door to door for food
Others relied on soup kitchens or bread lines
There was no federal government programs that provided food or money for the poor

8. Hoovervilles and Hoboes cont.
People lost their homes because they couldn’t make the payments
Neighborhoods of shacks sprang up
These shantytowns became known as Hoovervilles
They were named after Hoover who many blamed for the depression

9. Hoboes Hopped trains to travel to find work
This was dangerous and illegal
They would beg or steal
They came up with a system of sign language to alert each other to good opportunities
Most hoboes were men
They left their families because they couldn’t take care of them anymore

11. Emotional Toll Millions shared the same fate
They felt like it was a personal failure
There was a rise in suicide rates in the 1930’s

12. Dust Bowl Much of the Great Plains suffered a drought
Millions left the area
There was no vegetation to hold the dirt down
When the windstorms came, it blew dirt for hundreds of miles
This became known as the dust bowl
It hit Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas the hardest

13. Dust Bowl

14. Fleeing the Plains 2.5 million left the Great Plains
Many headed west on Route 66 to California