1. The Great Depression
Migrant Farm Workers

2. Before the Great Depression
1920’s – America was in a time of great prosperity/excess
Credit cards (Charga-Plate)
People spending more than they made
Automobiles, refrigerators, radios, etc…

3. Crumbling Economy “Black Thursday”
The stock market began to crash on October 24, 1929
The value of money lost its worth
Hundreds of thousands laid off
Banks cannot pay out
People declared bankruptcy and could not make house payments, buy food, etc…

4. 1920’s Problems BANKS Have NO $$ PEOPLE LOST SAVINGS & JOBS
Factories making Too Much, Farms growing too much
BANKS Have NO $$
PEOPLE LOST SAVINGS & JOBS
NO ONE TO HELP!
Factories Fire Workers (Don’t need them)
Farm Prices fall (Farmers can’t make $$)
Banks Close because they have no money: Loans have not been paid back, can’t give people their savings
Farmers & Factory Workers can’t pay back loans to Banks

5. The Dust Bowl Dust storms across US Farms destroyed
Followed by severe drought
Farms destroyed
Farmers head out West

6. Agriculture during the Great Depression
Roaming men followed harvests
Rail and empty boxcars
Paid $2.50--$3.00/day plus room and board—often a tent

7. Jobless Men

8. Agriculture during the Great Depression
Traveling from Minnesota to CA/WA
Growers wouldn’t pay all year
Steady work impossible
Steinbeck wrote Of Mice and Men when becoming involved in CA’s social and economic problems

9. The American Dream