Hard Times Hit America

On October 29, 1929, also known as "Black Tuesday," 16.4 million shares of stock were sold, compared to 4 to 8 million on a normal day.

Stock market collapse strains banks BANKS FAILMany people had entrusted savings in banks

Banks vulnerable to “runs”Run = when a depositor rushes to withdraw savingsRuns could drain banks of cash reserves, force it to

closeOct. 1929 –runs led to closing of hundreds of banks

By Dec. 1930 almost 350 banks had closedIncluded Bank of U.S. (400,000 depositors)

By 1933 bank failures wiped out billions of dollars in savings

Insurance from the federal government protects people’s deposits in the event of bank failure

Laws require banks to keep greater % of its assets in cash to be paid out to depositors on request

Life for farmers only got worse

Joblessness and poverty reduced American’s ability to buy food

Farmers were producing more than they could sellPrices sankFrom 1929 to 1933 –

prices down 50%+ Lower prices = lower

income

Farmers had borrowed $ for land, equipmentIncomes dropped, unable to make loan

payments1933 – 364,000 farms went bankrupt /

suffered foreclosureFORECLOSURE:

OCCURS WHEN A BANK OR OTHER LENDER TAKES OVER OWNERSHIP OF A PROPERTY FROM AN OWNER WHO HAS FAILED TO MAKE LOAN PAYMENTSRecent housing crisis

Drop in economic activity = huge rise in unemployment

By 1933 GNP dropped more than 40%

Unemployment reached 25%Over 12 millionIn Harlem

unemployment = 50%

"I remember standing in the welfare line somewhere on Michigan Avenue where they were passing out sweaters for children" -Richard Waskin

"The newspapers were full of news about bank closings, business failing, and people out of work...We were in debt with no way out" -Carmen Carter

Millions of people lost jobsHad to compete for

workSlid into poverty

Begged door to door to survive, soup kitchens, breadlines

Federal government programs to help poor didn’t existOnly 1 in 4 families

got relief

W/out jobs & money, American’s lost their homesEvicted people who couldn’t pay rentBanks foreclosed on homeowners

Neighborhoods of shacks sprang up to house the newly homelessHoovervilles – symbolized blame on Hoover

Unemployed workers sold whatever they couldPencils, apples, etc.

Hoboes = homeless wanderersMostly men

Young and unattached OR left families they couldn’t support

Hopped moving trains and traveled from town to town looking for workDangerous and ILLEGAL

Begged for foodAttempts sometimes met with violenceDeveloped sign language which indicated an

opportunity or a place to avoid

People saw their unemployment as personal failurePride, didn’t want to

accept handoutsIdleness led to deep

feelings of uselessness, despair

Suicide rates shot upAngry the nation had

failed its hardworking citizens

1931 – Great Plains region entered into droughtPeriod of below

avg. rainfall - long, severe dry spell

Lasted several years

Drove people out of the region

Careless agricultural practices and extremely dry conditions caused dust stormsBlew soil hundreds of

milesChoked cropsBlew inside homesWreaked destruction

OK, KS, CO, NM, TX became known as the DUST BOWL

Ended farmers career and means of incomeForced to move

End of 1930’s, over 2.5 million people left Great PlainsMany migrated

towards CaliforniaMigrants were

called OKIESMigrants often met

with resistance & discrimination

The plight of migrants captured attention of American artists and writersJohn SteinbeckWoody Guthrie

“It’s a might hard row my poor hands have hoed;

My poor feet have traveled this hot dusty road

Out of your dustbowl and westward we rolled

Your desert was hot and your mountains were cold.

I’ve worked in your orchards of peaches and prunes,

Slept on the ground by the light of the moon

On the edge of your city you’ve seen us and then,

We come with the dust and we’re gone with the wind.” - Woody Guthrie

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