Life for the People During the Great Depression

Rise in Hoovervilles People lost homes and neighborhoods turned into shacks & tents Named after President Hoover- many blamed him

Hoovervilles Hundreds of people would show up for a days work at places like construction and shipyards Others turned to selling things on streets such as apples or other small items they could get their hands on

Hoboes People who have no homes moved around the country People hopped on trains to travel place to place and job to job Illegal to ride trains

Millions of tons of topsoil were blown away in giant dust storms. The Dust Bowl Millions of tons of topsoil were blown away in giant dust storms. Farmers had dug up thick prairie grasses to plant wheat so there was nothing to hold the soil in place. 100 mile-per-hour winds blew dust clouds 8,000 feet tall in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado. Wildlife and farm animals suffocated in the choking winds.

Dust storms destroyed millions of acres of farmland. The remaining farmers on the Great Plains suffered a terrible drought, which led to the Dust Bowl. Dust storms destroyed millions of acres of farmland. 7

Minorities suffered even more during the depression. As Okies moved west to find work, Mexicans and Mexican Americans faced fierce competition for jobs. Local governments urged repatriation for Mexican Americans. Even in good times, African Americans were “last hired and first fired.” Many were thrown off southern farms where they were sharecroppers.

Herbert Hoover did not cause the Great Depression, but Americans looked to him to solve the crisis. He tried a number of different approaches, but in the end he failed to discover the right formula for stopping the crisis. 9

But volunteerism failed: Towns and states didn’t have the necessary resources to deal with the depression. Hoover did not support direct federal aid to individuals. Hoover put his faith in localism, a policy whereby problems are best solved at the local and state levels. 10

One policy that did succeed was the construction of Boulder Dam (later renamed Hoover Dam) across the Colorado River. Started in 1930, the huge dam provided power for millions and irrigation for farm land, and put thousands to work.

Great Depression in Dubuque, Iowa http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/S?ammem/fsaall:@FILREQ%28@field%28SUBJ+@od1%28Iowa--Dubuque+%29%29+@FIELD%28COLLID+fsa%29%29

Dubuque Pictures What’s going on in your picture? What do you see? What does this tell you about life in the Great Depression? Do you see anything like this today? How would these images compare to images of the 1920s?

Concerns for Today??? http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2011 /11/17/explain-it-to-me-occupy- movement.cnn