Great Depression in Rural America vs. Urban America
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Transcript Great Depression in Rural America vs. Urban America
Great Depression in Rural
America vs. Urban America
September 7, 2010
Great Depression affected EVERYONE!!!
25% Teens leave home
Jump freight trains
People have job one day
No job the next (constant fear)
Lose homes
Unemployment rate
1921 - 1929: avg. 3.7%
1933: 25%
Wages or hours cut
Paychecks 30% lower
Cook smaller meals/ bread lines
Water replaces milk/ no meat
People feel betrayed (soldiers)
Minorities
Great Depression hit EVERYONE
But NOT equally
African Americans
LAST to be hired; FIRST to be fired
Unemployment rate: 50%
“Born into depression…”
Mexican Americans
Competition for jobs
Discrimination
Repatriation: encourage Mexican Americans to
go back to Mexico with children
In the cities…
LOSE HOMES
Sold furniture, jewelry,
moved to cheaper homes
Evicted
Live on streets
Sleep on park benches,
empty railroad cars,
cardboard boxes
Hoovervilles
Makshift towns of tents &
shacks built on public land/
vacant lots
Largest: NYC (Central Park)
In the country…
Farmers suffered before Depression hit
Crop prices DOWN after WWI
Example: Wheat
$2.16 (1919) - 38 cents (1932)
Great Plains (drought for years)
Dust Bowl
8000 feet high/ “Black Blizzard”
Daylight to night/ blinded/ choked people
Destroy crops/ kill animals
Income NOT enough to keep farms
Can’t pay debt; buy seed; repair equipment; etc.
RESULT: Farmers lose farms
1 million farms lost (1930 - 1934)
Leave farms/ move to cities
Okies: dust bowl refugees
Government Response…
Unemployment
Homeless
Dust Storms
No crops
HOOVER FAILS
TO RESPOND
Hoover did NOT cause Great Depression
BUT Americans wanted him to solve it
HOOVER
Smart/ business savvy
Worked long hours to solve problem
Still FAILED
1.
2.
3.
Start of Great Depression
“Hands Off” policy in gov’t/ stay out of business
Natural to have UPS and DOWNS (strong survive)
Soon realized…doing NOTHING is not a good policy
Asked businesses to keep employment, wages, &
prices the SAME
Asked Congress to reduce taxes, lower interest
rates, & create public works programs
Suggest wealthy give more $$$ to charities
Good Plan
PROBLEM: too much VOLUNTEERISM
Localism: rely on local gov’t to fix economy
Doesn’t work
NEED: Federal Action!!!
Americans blame Hoover
And…Bonus Army issue
Congress promise bonuses to WWI vets
Vets want them NOW/ gov’t can’t do
Army marches to D.C.
Use tear gas & bayonets to force out
Shocks Nation
Hoover did NOT fix Great Depression
But…did ONE good thing
Hoover Dam
Increased employment
Irrigation system
1932 Election
Hoover has no chance of winning
Americans want CHANGE
More gov’t control (some think SOCIALISM)