American History Chapter 21-2

1. American History Chapter 21-2 Americans Face Hard Times

2. Effects of the Stock Market Crash • Great Depression: A severe economic crisis. • Runs on banks caused thousands of banks to shut down.

3. Effects on farmers: • Increased poverty meant Americans were buying less food. • High supply/low demand led to lower prices. • Hundreds of thousands of farm foreclosures occurred. unemployment foreclosures

4. Unemployment rose dramatically. • 25% of American workers were unemployed by 1933. • Places like Harlem were at 50% unemployment. Irony?

5. Impact on Those Hit Hardest • Increased poverty due to lost jobs. • People begged, went to soup kitchens, or went without. • Hoovervilles: The homeless developed shantytowns.

6. People coped in different ways: • Hoboes: Jobless wanderers hopping trains looking for work. • Millions were teenagers.

7. Emotional stress: • Many felt personal failure & shame. • Total despair. • Anger. • Suicide rates increased.

8. Nature & carelessness add to the problems. • Great Plains was hit by a severe drought or dry period. • The careless practice of plowing up all of the land led to catastrophic dust storms. • Hardest hit area known as the Dust Bowl. • People, known as Okies, fled the Great Plains to seek out jobs elsewhere. • Woody Guthrie wrote songs about the Dust Bowl.

9. The Dust Bowl

10. Bye Bye Birdie