1. Impact of the Great Depression on American Society
IB History of the Americas

2. Note-taking activity Use the chart provided that divides these topics.
Rural
Urban
Men
Women
African Americans
Latinos/Hispanics
Children
In the space provided, list facts regarding the impact of the Great Depression

3. RURAL LIFE DURING THE DEPRESSION
While the Depression was difficult for everyone, farmers did have one advantage; they could grow food for their families
Thousands of farmers, however, lost their land
Many turned to tenant farming and barely scraped out a living
Between almost ½ million farmers lost their land

4. Rural people (farmers)
They were also hit hard by the depression. Many lost their lands and had to become sharecroppers.
The only advantage for these people was the fact that they could grow food for themselves. If they had the land.

5. Rural Areas Some farmers could manage to grow their own food.
over 400,000 farms were lost to foreclosure.

6. Many farmers became tenant farmers.
Many people packed up and moved to California looking for agricultural work.

9. Disaster Meets Disaster!

10. Dust Bowl
The “ground zero” of the Dust Bowl included parts of Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
The effects of the Dustbowl would physically impact about 26 states.
The overall effect would be felt throughout the whole nation.

20. Great Depression in the Cities
People in the cities not only lost their jobs, they lost their homes! This led to:
Shantytowns or Hoovervilles/Hoovertowns
Soup Kitchens
Breadlines

22. In Detroit…
The Great Depression crippled the industries of Michigan as well. Henry Ford was one of the many tycoons who resisted the idea that the economy was bad. He Actually gave raises. Then a year later decreased pay.

23. Impact on Workers and Farmers
August 1931 – Ford closed its Detroit factories.
75,000 unemployed in one day.
Millions others unemployed.

24. Effect on Workers and Farmers
Because large factories closed – small businesses and restaurants began to fail too.
No customers
No merchandise
Rich people laid off staff

26. Review of Stock Market

27. Unemployment
Before the Great Depression the percentage of the nation that was unemployed was 3.2%.
By 1933, approximately 25% of the nations population was unemployed, which translates to 13 million people out of jobs.
In the cities
-Many people could not make their mortgage or rent payments and ended up being homeless.
-Many families would have to scrounge around in garbage cans for food or beg on street corners from the wealthy people that passed by.

32. BONUS ARMY A 1932 incident further damaged Hoover’s image
That spring about 15,000 World War I vets arrived in Washington to support a proposed bill
The Patman Bill would have authorized Congress to pay a bonus to WWI vets immediately
The bonus was scheduled to be paid in The Army vets wanted it NOW

33. Thousands of Bonus Army soldiers protest – Spring 1932
BONUS ARMY TURNED DOWN
Hoover called the Bonus marchers, “Communists and criminals”
On June 17, 1932 the Senate voted down the Patman Bill
Thousands of Bonus Army soldiers protest – Spring 1932

34. BONUS MARCHERS CLASH WITH SOLDIERS
Hoover told the Bonus marchers to go home– most did
2,000 refused to leave
Hoover sent a force of 1,000 soldiers under the command of General Douglas MacArthur and his aide Dwight Eisenhower

35. AMERICANS SHOCKED AT TREATMENT OF WWI VETS
MacArthur’s 12th infantry gassed more than 1,000 marchers, including an 11-month old baby, who died
Two vets were shot and scores injured
Americans were outraged and Hoover’s image suffered

36. Impact on Men
Men finding themselves out of work now had to rely on their wives and children in some cases to help make ends meet.
Many did not take this loss of power as the primary decision maker and breadwinner very well.
Some became so frustrated that they just walked out on their families completely. A 1940 survey revealed that 1.5 million married women had been abandoned by their husbands.

37. Families all over the United States faced hard times.
American families faced hard times.
Some forced to split up.
Some roamed the country trying to find work.
Children often had to drop out of school and take low-paying jobs or leave home and fend for themselves.
Many tried to stick together for moral support.
Women tried to save money by keeping an eye on the family budget: Example: groups of women would go shopping together, buy in bulk, and split the food and costs
Women would patch up old clothes instead of buying new ones

38. Impact on Family Life
Many couples delayed marriage - the divorce rate dropped sharply (it was too expensive to pay the legal fees and support two households);
and birth rates dropped below the replacement level for the first time in American history.

39. Stress on Families
Men felt like failures for not providing for families.
Women were often fired for “taking” jobs from men.
Particularly if married
Women took low-paying jobs as domestics.

40. Social & Psychological Effects
People had become so demoralized by the experience that suicides increased 30% during
Many people did not go to see a doctor or a dentist because they didn’t have the money to spare.
-People had to make tough decisions as to how to spend their money. In most cases it came down to life and death.
Women who didn’t work before took jobs to help support the family when the man was out of work

41. Social & Psychological effects cont...
Men that believed they had to provide for their family, would leave home to find work
-In order to do this they would ride the rails across the country in search of jobs and send money back home when they were employed.
Society recognized with various needs of one another and tried to help.
-People would give blankets, food and even space in their home for families that were in need.

42. Depression’s Effect on Health
“No one has starved.”
President Hoover

43. Effect on Health But some did. Thousands went hungry.
Poor, hungry and without shelter – more prone to illness.
Particularly children- suffered from poor diets and lack of health care.
Malnutrition rose from 18% in 1928 to 60% in 1931

44. Impact on Health In the country, people grew food.
Used for food and to barter for other goods.
In the cities, sold apples and pencils.
Begged for money and food.
Fought over restaurant garbage.

45. Closeness in a Time of Need
The Great Depression brought communities back together.
-People would go out of their way for others.
-The old habits of our nation had returned and would shape a new generation of people that lived through one of America’s hardest times.
The Great Depression would also change people’s lifestyles from spending money freely to saving and thriftiness.

46. Women
The majority of women found themselves struggling to get by with less.
The typical American woman had a husband still employed, although not working full time and taking a pay cut.
Most women experienced the Depression in terms increased domestic labor as wage cuts and unemployment or partial employment sharply reduced household budgets

47. Eleanor Roosevelt’s It’s Up to the Women (1933)
Book aimed at showing women how to pull country through economic crisis:–
"The women know that life must go on and that the needs of life must be met and it is their courage and determination which, time and again, have pulled us through worse crises than the present one.”
•Women's daily lives summarized by E.R. as "endless little economies and constant anxiety for fear of some catastrophe such as accident or illness which may completely swamp the family budget."

48. Household Incomes
Over half of families in the 1930s had incomes between $500 and $1,500 a year.–Median income for was $1,160.
This meant families had to make do on $20-25 a week
With care, a woman could feed a family of six on $5 a week:
–milk at l0c a quart,
–a loaf of bread at 7c,
–butter 23c a pound,
–two pounds hamburger for 25c
Women's Bureau, Betty Crocker, home economists across country developed recipes for women using cheaper and fewer ingredients with which to stretch their budgets and feed their families.

49. Domestic Violence
•Tension of this arrangement visible in sharp rise in domestic violence reports.
•As domestic violence epidemic is noted by government agencies
.•Women are officially told that domestic violence is the result of men’s depression and women’s lack of sympathy.
•Women are advised to return home and make their men feel more like men.

50. Effects on Women and Children
it was believed that if all married women left the workforce then there would be enough jobs for men-1931
Working women became targets of resentment.
Some people believed women had no right to work while men were unemployed.

52. Impact on Children: Education
2,600 schools shut down.
300,000 students out of school.
Many went to work instead.

53. Discrimination Increases
Times created hostilities against minorities.
Whites were willing to take the low wages of Asian-Americans, Hispanics and African-Americans.
Mass deportation of Mexican-Americans – even though they were born in the USA!

54. Minority Groups and the Depression
Mexican-Americans
As white families moved west, it became harder for Mexican Americans to find work.
In California, local leaders and unions convinced government to deport many Mexican-born workers and their children, many of whom were U.S. citizens.
A shortage of jobs in the Southwest led to the illegal deportation of 500,000 Mexican-Americans so that whites could get more jobs or government relief. (Mexican Repatriation)
African Americans
Faced discrimination
Many lost jobs to unemployed white workers.
Many able to find work through relief programs.
African American leaders acted as advisors to Roosevelt.
Mary McLeod Bethune was an educator appointed to Roosevelt’s cabinet.
African Americans appointed to Roosevelt’s cabinet were known as the Black Cabinet.

55. Notable African American Women
Mary McLeod Bethune: helped establish “the black cabinet,” headed up the National Youth Association, and advised Roosevelt on racial issues
Marion Anderson: performed at Lincoln Memorial which was arranged by Eleanor Roosevelt

56. Impact on African Americans
Many African American teenage boys ages didn’t want to be a burden so they left their families to ride the rails and look for work.
African Americans suffered more than whites, since their jobs were often taken away from them and given to whites. In 1930, 50 percent of blacks were unemployed.
Children took on more responsibilities, sometimes finding work
By 1932, 40 to 50 percent of black workers in Chicago were unemployed.

58. Impact on Mexicans
High unemployment rates led to hostility towards Mexican immigrants
Deportation – but situation is Mexico is worse
Migrant work camps established by U.S. Farm Security Administration
Provided necessities
Protection
Sense of community

59. Mexican Repatriation
The Mexican Repatriation refers to a mass migration that took place between 1929 and 1939, when as many as 500,000 people of Mexican descent were forced or pressured to leave the US.
50% were American Citizens (children of illegal immigrants)
The Immigration and Naturalization Service targeted Mexicans because of "the proximity of the Mexican border and easily identifiable barrios."
The Repatriation is not widely discussed in American history textbooks
These actions were authorized by President Herbert Hoover and targeted areas with large Hispanic populations, mostly in California, Texas, Colorado, Illinois and Michigan.

60. Deportation of Mexican Americans at Union Station

62. Depression-era culture helped lift people’s spirits.
Works Progress Administration– put artists to work and helped to create a record of life during the Depression
WPA
Writers like John Steinbeck explored the theme of Depression life in his writings.
Literature
Some musicians, like folk singer Woody Guthrie, expressed themes of loss and struggle, reflecting the American Depression experience.
Swing music helped people forget their troubles and lifted spirits.
Music
Radios provided inexpensive entertainment with music and popular radio shows.
Radio
Movies offered Americans another way to escape from reality.
Film

63. The New Deal had lasting effects on American society.
The New Deal has had long-reaching effects:
Gave Americans help and hope in a time of severe crisis
Expanded the role of federal government
Some agencies and programs still exist today and remain an important part of American society.
Social Security still provides economic relief to the elderly, children, and those with disabilities.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation protects the savings of bank customers.

64. Ending activity…
In one paragraph: REFLECT ON what you thought about the different troubles each sex/race/age had to go through.
In one paragraph: ANSWER
Which race/age/sex would be the best to be during the Great Depression? The worst? PROVIDE EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT YOUR CLAIMS