The Great Depression

1. The Great Depression "In other periods of depression, it has always been possible to see some things which were solid and upon which you could base hope, but as I look about, I now see nothing to give ground to hope—nothing of man." - Former President Calvin Coolidge, 1932

2. All types of people were affected by the Great Depression.  After the stock market crash in 1929, the country changed drastically.

3. The Five Major Causes of the Great Depression • Stock Market Crash of 1929 • Bank Failures • Reduction in purchasing • American Economic Policy • Drought

4. Stock Market Crash of 1929 The stock market crash that occurred on Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929 did not immediately cause the Great Depression Two months later, stockholders had lost more than $40 billion dollars. Even though the stock market regained some of its losses by the end of 1930, it wasn’t enough, and America truly entered the Great Depression.

5. Bank Failures Throughout the 1930’s over 9,000 banks failed. Bank deposits were uninsured and as banks failed people simply lost their savings. Surviving banks, unsure of the economic situation and concerned for their own survival, stopped making new loans.

6. Reduction in Purchasing Across the Board Individuals stopped purchasing, which led to a reductions in production and the workforce. As people lost their jobs, they were unable to pay back loans and items were repossessed. More and more inventory began to accumulate. Unemployment rose above 25% which meant even less spending.

7. American Economic Policy with Europe The Smoot- Hawley Tariff helped protect American companies by increasing income tax for imports, which lead to less trading between America and foreign countries

8. Drought Conditions While not a direct cause of the Great Depression, the drought that occurred in the Mississippi Valley was devastating to American farmers and the agricultural industry. The area where the drought took place became known as The Dust Bowl.

9. Children during the Great Depression

10. Children’s Health • Children also suffered from malnutrition, especially in rural areas   • Dietary diseases were rampant because adequate food such as milk, fruit, fresh vegetables, and eggs could not be bought with the family’s low income.  • The death rate for children suffering from undernourishment was on the rise because children were losing their stamina and were unable to fight off disease.

11. Education Many children were deprived of an education because many communities closed their schools down during the 1932-1933 term because of a lack of money.  Some children were lucky enough to be in schools where the teachers did not care that they were going to be paid next to nothing and continued educating. 

12. Teenagers During the Great Depression

13. The life of a teenager during the Great Depression Teenagers felt they were a burden to their families or were ashamed of their unemployment and poverty left home to find a life of their own.  During the height of the Depression, 250,000 teenagers were roaming around America by freight trains.  About eighty-five percent of these teenagers were in search of employment.

14. Middle Class During theGreat Depression

15. The life of the middle class during the Great Depression • The middle class accounted for 15% to 20 percent of Americans at this time.  • The collapse of the stock market and the closing of more than 5,000 banks mostly affected the middle class.  • The professional men that worked at these jobs now had to deal with a loss of income and unemployment.  • They now found themselves having a hard time supporting their families. 

16. African-Americans During the Great Depression

17. The life of African-Americans during the Great Depression Life for African-Americans in urban areas was harder.  They would do hard manual labor or worked in areas that were known for their dangerous conditions such as foundries.  Others might have worked as domestic servants for white people.  Some also worked for railroads, steel mills, and coal mines.  Still others became street vendors or peddlers.

18. The life of African-Americans during the Great Depression • During this period, most of the country’s African-American population lived in rural areas and worked on tenant farms owned by white landowners.  • Even though these rural African-Americans had known poverty most of their lives, the Great Depression was a hard hit.  Their living conditions worsened because the farmers they worked for often lost their land. 

19. Farmers During the Great Depression

20. The life of farmers during the Great Depression • Already losing money and workers because of greater industrialization in cities, the Great Depression made conditions worse.  Many of these farmers were renting their land and machinery because of foreclosures. • At the beginning of the Depression, prices on food deflated so much that the farmers were unable to make a profit, it was worth less than they paid for their seed.  As a result they refused to sell what they produced.  • If they lived in the middle portion of the country, known at this time as the Dust Bowl, they were also experiencing drought starting around 1932.  • Most were barely able to maintain their families.  • As the farmers grew deeper into debt and could no longer make payments on their land and machinery, the banks foreclosed on their land.

21. Women During theGreat Depression

22. The life of women during the Great Depression Women during the Great Depression were mostly homemakers.Some women graduated from college and, like men, had a hard time finding jobs. Women with families had to keep their family together when the man was out of work, sometimes travelling to find jobs. These women had to be creative with what food they had, not able to create elaborate meals for their families, they made do with what they had.  Some women joined the work force and would do jobs that men previously had held for lower pay.  These women worked as hard as they could to support their families during this difficult time.

23. Historical Significance of the Great Depression • The economic distress led to the election of Democrat, Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Presidency in 1932.  He introduced many changes in the structure of the American economy and implemented what was called the New Deal that began many public-works projects to decrease unemployment.  • However, despite the agencies and changes of the New Deal, mass unemployment and economic unproductivity continued.  About 15 percent of the work force were still unemployed in 1939.  • When World War II broke out in 1939, this number went down rapidly.  Workers were needed in factories to produce armaments and munitions.  The end to the Great Depression came after the United States entered the war in 1941.