1. The Great Depression

2. Many found being broke humiliating.
Stock market crash
Didn’t realize the effect it would have
No money to replenish what was borrowed
Many found being broke humiliating.

3. The Roaring 20’s The new concept of “credit” People were buying:
Automobiles
Appliances
Clothes
Fun times reigned
Dancing
Flappers
Drinking

4. Why was this bad? Credit system WWI
People didn’t really have the money they were spending
WWI
The U.S. was a major credit loaner to other nations in need
Many of these nations could not pay us back

5. The Stock Market People bought stocks on margins Stocks fall
If a stock is $100 you can pay $10 now and the rest later when the stock rose.
Stocks fall
Now the person has less than $100 and no money to pay back.

6. Photograph of a Group of People Outside a Bank During the Great Depression

7. With people panicking about their money investors tried to sell their stocks
This leads to a huge decline in stocks.
Stocks were worthless now.
People who bought on “margins” now could not pay.
Investors were average people that were now broke.
And then….

8. President Hoover Herbert Hoover was president at the start.
Philosophy: We’ll make it!
The poor were looking for help and no ideas on how to correct or help were coming.

9. What about the people? Farmers were already feeling the effects.
Prices of crops went down
Many farms foreclosed
People could not afford luxuries.
Factories shut down
Businesses went out
Banks could not pay out money.
People could not pay their taxes.
Schools shut down due to lack of funds
Many families became homeless and had to live in shanties.

10. Great Depression
25% of the nation’s workers-one out of four- were unemployed.
No job meant no money to pay the mortgage or buy food and clothes for the family.

11. Many waited in unemployment lines hoping for a job.

12. People in cities would wait in line for bread to bring to their family.

13. Some families were forced to relocate because they had no money.

14. “Hooverville” Some families were forced to live in shanty towns.
A grouping of shacks and tents in vacant lots
They were referred to as “Hooverville” because of President Hoover’s lack of help during the depression.

15. Out of the Dust:
The South
and the
Dust Bowl

16. A drought in the South lead to dust storms that destroyed crops.
“The Dust Bowl”

17. The South Was Buried Crops turned to dust=No food to be sent out
Homes buried
Fields blown away
South in state of emergency
Dust Bowl the #1 weather crisis of the 20th century

19. Some families tried to make money by selling useful crafts like baskets.

20. *FDR* When he was inaugurated unemployment had increased by 7 million.
Poor sections (like Harlem) had 50% of the pop. unemployed
Instated the “New Deal”
Yea! Frankie!

21. Farm Security Administration: School in Alabama. (Circa 1935)

22. Alarming Statistics
In some coal mining regions, the percentage of malnourished children reached as high as 90%
Children went without shoes and warm clothes in the winter.
About 3 million children between 7 and 17 had to leave school.
40% of young people from age 16 to 24 were neither in school nor working.