THE GREAT DEPRESSION

BEGINS SECTION 2:

Photos by photographer Dorothea Lange

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.

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

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

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.

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

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 1929-1932 almost ½ million farmers lost their land

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Dust storm approaching Stratford, Texas - 1934

The resulting dust traveled hundreds of miles

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

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

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 statesBoy covers his mouth to avoid

dust, 1935

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

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.

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

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.

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

EFFECTS OF DEPRESSION• Suicide rate rose more

than 30% between 1928-1932

• 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

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

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.

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.