Bellringer What is a margin? What is a margin call? What is speculation?
Chapter 22 The Great Depression Begins Section 2 Life During the Depression
The Depression Worsens *Don’t Write 1 st point* By 1933 thousands of banks had closed and millions of American workers were unemployed. Unemployed workers often stood in bread lines to receive free food or at soup kitchens where private charities gave a free meal.
Bread Line in New York
Living in Makeshift Villages Americans unable to pay their mortgage or rent faced a court- ordered eviction notice delivered by a court officer or bailiff who forced the tenants out on the street.
Hoovervilles Many homeless built shacks in shantytowns, which were referred to as “Hoovervilles”.
Shantytown Shack
Homeless Hobos, or homeless Americans who wandered around hitching rides on railroad cars, searched for work or a better life.
The Dust Bowl Crop prices dropped in the 1920s, and farmers left the fields uncultivated. A terrible drought in the Great Plains, beginning in 1932, caused the region to become a “Dust Bowl.”
The Dust Bowl Many families moved west to California hoping to find a better life, but still faced poverty.
Escaping the Depression Americans escaped by going to the movies and listening to the radio. Stories tended to be about overcoming hardships.
Hollywood Marlene Dietrich – German which portrayed a range of roles with subtlety.
Hollywood Greta Garbo – Swedish, often portrayed a doomed beauty, direct and unhesitating in her speech and actions.
Hollywood Walt Disney produced the 1 st feature-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in 1937.
Other Films of Note The Wizard of Oz Mr. Smith goes to Washington Gone With the Wind All contained stories of triumph over adversity and visions of a better life.
On the Air Families gathered around the radio daily to hear news or listen to comedy shows like George Burns or the Lone Ranger. Soap operas became popular with housewives. *Don’t Write* Received their name because laundry soaps sponsored them.
The Depression in Art Homeless and unemployed Americans were the subjects of art and literature. Thomas Hart Benton & Grant Wood emphasized traditional American values in their art.
The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck’s 1939 novel told the story of an Oklahoma family fleeing the Dust Bowl to find a new life in California.
William Faulkner Literary technique, stream of consciousness, revealed characters’ thoughts and feelings before they spoke. He exposed hidden attitudes of Southern whites and African Americans in a fictional Mississippi county.
End of Section 2 Next: Section 3 Hoover Responds