1. Underlying Causes of the Great Depression over-production and over- expansion high tariffs killed international trade dependence on too few primary products only natural resources for export

2. Underlying Causes continued Low standard of living for many – not everyone prospered in the 1920’s Canadians and businesses overly optimistic about the future Overuse of credit – buy now, pay later Stocks bought on margin (credit) <>

3. Immediate Causes - Stock Market Crash

4. Immediate Causes – Drought/Dustbowl On top of dropping prices and increasing costs, farmers faced droughts for 10 years which resulted in dustbowl storms This is one of the reasons for the decade being called “The Dirty Thirties”

5. Dustbowl Storm Day turned to night

6. Dustbowls Not rotating crops also contributed to dustbowls Farmers only planted wheat because that was what earned them the most But, Wheat erodes the top of the soil and in dry conditions, the soil blows away in a dust storm

7. After the Storm

8. It finally rained, no soil left to hold the moisture – too late for this farmer

9. Impact of Great Depression This iconic image is of a migrant farm worker and mother in the U.S. What is the impact of the Great Depression on her and her family?

10. Preparing a Meal

11. No where to go Not necessarily 1930’s Can be seen any day in downtown Toronto, 2009

12. Where to go?

13. What about impact on Immigrants? “In my search for employment I was free to range the whole of commercial Winnipeg and nobody denied me a job from any ulterior motive. This did not hold for the Ukrainians, Poles, and Jews. … As much as two-thirds of it (Winnipeg) was barred and bolted against them.”

14. Cinderella Man Hooverville – Central Park - NYC