1. THE GREAT DEPRESSION BEGINS SECTION 2:
THE GREAT DEPRESSION BEGINS SECTION 2:
Photos by photographer Dorothea Lange

2. Learning Objectives: Section 2 - Hardship and Suffering During the Great Depression
1. Describe how people struggled to survive during the Depression. 2. Explain how the Depression affected men, women, and children.

3. HARDSHIPS DURING DEPRESSION
HARDSHIPS DURING DEPRESSION
The Great Depression brought hardship, homelessness, and hunger to millions
Across the country, people lost their jobs, and their homes
Some built makeshifts shacks out of scrap material –called shantytowns
shantytowns sprung up in the outskirts of most cities

4. CONDITIONS FOR MINORITIES
Conditions for African Americans and Latinos were especially difficult
Unemployment was the highest among minorities and their pay was the lowest
Increased violence (24 lynchings in 1933 alone) marred the 1930s
Many Mexicans were “encouraged” to return to their homeland
As conditions deteriorated, violence against blacks increased

5. Chapter 14: Section 2 MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS
A – How did the Great Depression affect minorities?
African Americans and Latinos suffered from unemployment, low pay, and racial violence.

7. SOUP KITCHENS
One of the common features of urban areas during the era were soup kitchens and bread lines
Soup kitchens and bread lines offered free or low-cost food for people
Unemployed men wait in line for food – this particular soup kitchen was sponsored by Al Capone

8. RURAL LIFE DURING THE DEPRESSION
While the Depression was difficult for everyone, farmers did have one advantage; they could grow food for their families
Thousands of farmers, however, lost their land
Many turned to tenant farming and barely scraped out a living
Between almost ½ million farmers lost their land

9. Chapter 14: Section 2 MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS
B – Why did so many men leave their homes during the Depression?
Many men were disheartened by their inability to support their families and so abandoned them.
Others hoped to find work and send money home to their families.

11. Chapter 14: Section 2 MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS
Chapter 14: Section 2 MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS
C – How did the Great Depression affect women and children?
Women: many had to manage tight household budgets;
Encountered opposition at holding jobs outside the home.
Children: suffered from poor diets and inadequate health care;
Child welfare programs and schools shut down.

12. Chapter 14: Section 2 Guided Reading Questions
How did people coped with the problem they faced regarding employment, summarize the Great Depression’s effects on American life.
Women, African-American men, and Mexican-American men were discriminated against in the workplace and became targets of hostility.
Many people found themselves out of jobs for years.

13. Chapter 14: Section 2 Guided Reading Questions
How did people coped with the problem they faced regarding Housing, summarize the Great Depression’s effects on American life.
Many unemployed people lost their homes;
Many homeless lived in the streets or in shantytowns;
Many farmers lost their farms

14. THE DUST BOWL
CAUSES:
A severe drought gripped the Great Plains in the early 1930s
Wind scattered the topsoil, exposing sand and grit
Over production of crops
Kansas Farmer, 1933

15. Dust storm approaching Stratford, Texas - 1934

16. The resulting dust traveled hundreds of miles

17. Dust buried cars and wagons in South Dakota in 1936
One storm in 1934 picked up millions of tons of dust from the Plains an carried it to the East Coast
Dust buried cars and wagons in South Dakota in 1936

21. Chapter 14: Section 2 Guided Reading Questions
How did people coped with the problem they faced regarding Farming, summarize the Great Depression’s effects on American life.
Farmland already exhausted through overproduction was hit with drought and winds, turning the plains into the Dust Bowl;
Dramatic decreases in farm prices and income;
Many farmers lost ownership of their farms and were forced to become tenant farmers or farm laborers

22. Boy covers his mouth to avoid dust, 1935
HARDEST HIT REGIONS
Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado were the hardest hit regions during the Dust Bowl
Many farmers migrated to California and other Pacific Coast states
Boy covers his mouth to avoid dust, 1935

23. Photographer Dorothea Lange captures a family headed west to escape the dust storms

25. Chapter 14: Section 2 Guided Reading Questions
How did people coped with the problem they faced regarding Race relations, summarize the Great Depression’s effects on American life.
Intense competition for jobs sparked existing racial resentments into open hostility and violence;
In 1933, 24 African-Americans were lynched;
Thousands of Mexican-Americans left the U.S. voluntarily or were deported.

26. HOBOES TRAVEL AMERICA
The 1930s created the term “hoboes” to describe poor drifters
300,000 transients – or hoboes – hitched rides around the country on trains and slept under bridges (thousands were teenagers)
Injuries and death was common on railroad property; over 50,000 people were hurt or killed

27. Chapter 14: Section 2 Guided Reading Questions
How did people coped with the problem they faced regarding Family LIFE, summarize the Great Depression’s effects on American life.
The Depression strengthened family ties, but also increased family tensions;
Some men abandoned their families, discouraged by their inability to provide for themselves and their families.

28. Chapter 14: Section 2 Guided Reading Questions
How did people coped with the problem they faced regarding Physical HEALTH, summarize the Great Depression’s effects on American life.
Poor and homeless people scavenged or begged for food or turned to soup kitchens and bread lines;
Poor diet and lack of health care increased rates of serious health problems;
Malnutrition and starvation grew more common

29. EFFECTS OF DEPRESSION
Suicide rate rose more than 30% between
Alcoholism rose sharply in urban areas
Three times as many people were admitted to state mental hospitals as in normal times
Many people showed great kindness to strangers
Additionally, many people developed habits of savings & thriftiness

30. Chapter 14: Section 2 Guided Reading Questions
How did people coped with the problem they faced regarding emotional health, summarize the Great Depression’s effects on American life.
Many people became demoralized;
Suicides and admissions to mental hospitals increased dramatically;
People were forced to accept compromises that would affect them the rest of their lives;
Some people came to want financial security more than anything else in life

31. Chapter 14: Section 2 Questions
How were shantytowns, soup kitchens, and bread lines a response to the Depression?
They helped to home and feed the needy.

32. Chapter 14: Section 2 Questions
Why did minorities often experience an increase in discrimination during the Great Depression?
Because it was harder for everyone to find jobs.
White people were often considered first for employment.