Black Thursday (1/5)A stock is an investment people make that represents an ownership in a company. In the early 1920s, buying stocks was increasing in popularity, thanks to a financial invention called buying ‘on margin’ which allowed people to borrow money (putting down only 10-20%) from their broker in order to buy stocks.

Black Thursday (2/5)However, in 1929, the price of stocks soared to fantastic heights (meaning their value did as well) and the public rushed to brokers to invest in stocks in order to sell these on at a profit. Because stocks were selling well, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, in August 1929, raised the interest rates for loans from 5 to 6 percent.

Black Thursday (3/5)However, if more people buy a stock then it means their overall value decreases. On October 24, 1929, as a result of the value of stocks rising and people rushing to buy stocks in order to sell these on for a profit, a record 12.9 million shares were traded. This sent the stock market into free fall.

Black Thursday (4/5)The volume of people buying and then trying to sell their stocks meant that the value of the stock declined. This led to panic selling because ordinary people not only saw the value of their stock decrease but were also conscious that they had a loan to pay off as well.

Black Thursday (5/5)

The stock market crash meant people were spending less and investing less. This caused a steep decline in industrial output which meant companies had to make people redundant. This in turn led to high levels of unemployment. 

The Great Depression (1/4)The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn, lasting from 1929 to 1939. It began after the stock market crash of October 1929. Over the next several years, consumer spending and investment dropped, causing steep declines in industrial output and employment as failing companies laid off workers.

The Great Depression (2/4)Farmers couldn’t afford to harvest their crops, and were forced to leave them rotting in the fields while people elsewhere starved.Some people starved; many others lost their farms and homes. The homeless snuck aboard the freight trains that cross the nation. Cotton farmers, the “Okies” stuffed their possession into bags and migrated to California in the false hope that the posters about plentiful jobs were true.

The Great Depression (2/4)1. Unemployment – 13 million

people were out of work2. Industrial production dropped by

45 per cent between 1929 and 1932.

3. House-building fell by 80 per cent between 1929 and 1932.

4. The entire American banking system reached the brink of collapse with 5,000 banks going out of business.

The Great Depression (4/4)The Great Depression came to an end in 1932 when Franklin D. Roosevelt came into power. He promised to create a program that would end the Great Depression. Within 100 days, he signed the New Deal which was designed to create jobs, allow unionization and provide unemployment insurance. However, the war was to stint progress for a while.

Segregation (1/4)Segregation is the practice of requiring separate housing, education and other services for people of colour. Segregation was made law during the 18th and 19th century as some people believed that black and white people were incapable of co-existing.

Segregation (2/4)The Jim Crow laws, passed in the 19th

century, dictated most aspects of black peoples’ lives including where they could work and live. Segregation existed everywhere – residential areas, public parks, theatres, schools, pools, waiting rooms and offices.

Segregation (3/4)The Great Migration was the relocation of more than 6 million African Americans from the rural south to the cities of the North from 1916 onwards. This migration occurred because of the harsh segregationist laws in the south. Instead, in the north, black people took advantage of the need for industrial workers as a result of the First World War.

Segregation (4/4)Franklin Roosevelt, who was elected president in 1933, hated segregation and appointed black people to high office. His wife invited the National Council of Negro Women to have tea. When the Daughters of America Revolution refused to allow a black opera singer to give a concert, she resigned. In 1934, the first black Democrat was elected into Congress.

Women in the 1930s (1/4)During the 1920s women made great strides with regard to equality. They were allowed to vote and enter the workforce, although most of these jobs were unskilled such as secretaries and seamstresses and women were paid half as much as men.

Women in the 1930s (2/4)With the 1929 market crash and the Great Depression, fewer jobs were available. Nearly 25% of Americans were out of work. Employers preferred to give available work to men relegating women to the domestic sphere again. It was up to the women to keep track of the money whilst providing a somewhat comfortable life for their families. Not all women saw this as a negative and worked diligently to make ends meet.

Women in the 1930s (3/4)Some women still tried to secure jobs. However, people objected to married women working because they felt as though they were taking jobs from single women who needed to support themselves. Many school boards, for instance, refused to hire married women teachers.

Women in the 1930s (4/4)When Roosevelt was elected president, his wife took a more active role than previous first ladies. Under his influence, a 1938 key women’s rights and labour rights decision found that minimum wage legislation was constitutional. Eleanor Roosevelt championed feminism and expanded opportunities for women in the workforce.

The Dust Bowl (1/4)During World War I there was a great demand for wheat to feed people. At first, wheat and other crops grew very well on the Plains. There was plenty of rain and the soil was healthy. But farmers didn’t know how to take care of the soil. They wore it out with over-farming and overgrazing by cattle. When the Great Depression began, wheat prices dropped.

The Dust Bowl (2/4)In the early 1930s, farmers faced another challenge: drought or a lack of rain. In 1932, high winds picked up the fine, dry soil left from farming and sent it flying across the land. Dust storms continued through 1933 and in May 1934, a huge storm blew for a day and a half.

The Dust Bowl (3/4)On a Sunday in April 1935, the worst storm of all sent huge black clouds of dust over the Plains and made the temperature drop by more than 50 degrees because it blocked the sun. People and animals caught in the dust couldn’t breathe, and some died. Even people who were inside their homes were battered by the storm. Dust came in through the cracks around the doors and windows. It nearly buried some homes and barns.

The Dust Bowl (4/4)Not only were the storms harmful to people and animals, but they also killed thousands of acres of corn, wheat and other crops. After losing so much to drought and depression, many farmers in the Dust Bowl were completely ruined.

The rise of Hollywood (1/4)The first film completed in Hollywood was The Count of Monte Cristo in 1908 and the original Hollywoodland appeared in 1923. The Golden Age of Hollywood began in the 1920s and was a period of great growth, experimentation and change bringing international prestige to Hollywood and its movie stars.

The rise of Hollywood (2/4)The growing film industry included many female stars who, up until the 1920s, reinforced the idea of the woman’s place being in the home. The 1920s saw a shift to a more experimental attitudes towards gender and sex. Sexually liberated women were in and family values, prudishness, religion and gender stereotypes were out.

The rise of Hollywood (3/4)By the 1930s, the movie industry was one of the largest businesses in the US. Even though America was in the midst of The Great Depression, movies were a weekly escape for people who loved trading their struggles for a fictional, often more dazzling world, if only for a couple of hours.

The rise of Hollywood (4/4)It’s estimated that up to 80 million Americans went to the movies each week during the Depression. Famous movies of the 30s include Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Gone with the wind and The Wizard of Oz.

The American Dream (1/4)The American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society where upward mobility is possible for everyone. It is argued that the American Dream is achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking and hard work rather than by chance.

The American Dream (2/4)In 1931, the historian James Truslow Adams first publicly defined the American Dream in his book The Epic of America. He said: ‘The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.’

The American Dream (3/4)James Truslow Adams argued that the American Dream is not ‘a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and should be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.

The American Dream (4/4)At the start of the 1930s, the American Dream for most consisted of three criterions: two children, a marriage and a three-bedroom house with a white picket fence. However, during the period of the Great Depression, thousands of Americans looked up to the American Dream as a goal to achieve and strive for with many hoping for survival alone.