The Great Depression

The Great Depression was a economic slump in North America, Europe , and other industrialized areas of the world that began in 1929 and ended in 1939. It was the longest and most tragic economic downfall ever experienced in the western world. Due to stock marketing investments banks were being closed , homes were taken away, and families were homeless. In the United States, the Great Depression began soon after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and cleared out millions of investors. Over the next several years, consumer spending and investment dropped, causing steep decreases in industrial output and rising levels of unemployment as failing companies laid off workers. By 1933, when the Great Depression reached its breaking point,  13 to 15 million Americans were unemployed and nearly half of the country’s banks had failed. Though the relief measures put into place by President Franklin D. Roosevelt helped lessen the worst effects of the Great Depression in the 1930s, the economy would not fully turn around until after 1939, when World War II kicked American industry into high gear.

                    Resulting from the Great Depression many families in the cities were forced upon terrible living conditions. They had to make due by finding abandoned property or trash located around textile factories , and build small shacks or shanty towns called Hoovervilles. Some people even made a living in parks, sewer pipes, and homeless shelters , while others slept in rusted out automobiles. Churches and charitable agencies opened low cost soup kitchens and breadlines for the homeless. Many people dug through trash looking for food.

                           People in the rural areas grew their own food , however falling prices and rising debt led to over 400,000 farmers losing land and property. Many farmers became tenant farmers or sharecroppers to get shelter and food. During World War I, farmers worked hard to produce record crops and livestock. When prices fell they tried to produce even more to pay their debts, taxes ,and living expenses. In the early 1930s prices dropped so low that many farmers went bankrupt and lost their farms. In some cases, the price of a bushel of corn fell to just eight or ten cents. Some farm families began burning corn rather than coal in their stoves because corn was cheaper. Some farmers became angry and wanted the government to step in to keep farm families in their homes.

                              Men used to providing and supporting their families had a difficulty coping with unemployment. Everyday they would take on the streets in search of work or food. In many ways men and women experienced the Depression differently. Men were socialized to think of themselves as breadwinners; when they lost their jobs or saw their incomes reduced, they felt like failures because they couldn’t take care of their families. Women, on the other hand, saw their roles in the household enhanced as they juggled to make ends meet. Some men were considered “dead-beat daddies” because they would just walk out of their families life to avoid reality. They would then go on search for jobs , food , and shelter. This forced mothers to take on the leadership role of the household in addition to what they were already responsible for. Suicide was another route of escape from hardship.

In the face of suffering, family stood as a source of strength or hope for most Americans. When money was tight , most families bonds became stronger than ever. Divorce and Birth rates dropped dramatically. The Great Depression also pulled many families apart, but some managed to stick together through it all