What was the Great Depression?
The worst economic crisis of the century
Over 13 million people unemployed
“Dust bowl” as a result of drought
Farmers lost crops
Many lost their homes
Unequal Distribution of Wealth
No middle class
Supply not equal to demand
Credit cards created false demand
Stock Market Crash
Many stocks purchased
Stock prices fell
Huge sums of money lost
Thursday, October 24, 1929
Loss of homes
“Hoovervilles”
Here were all these people living in old rusted-out car bodies. ... One family ... [was] living in a piano box. This wasn't just a little section, this was maybe 10 miles wide and 10 miles long. People living in whatever they could junk together. ..."
Dustbowls
A traveler noticed a nice new hat by the side of the road, and he stopped to pick it up.
Under the hat was a man, buried up to his neck in the dust! As he dug the poor fellow out,
the traveler asked if he wanted a ride into town. "No, I'll get there myself,"
the man replied, "I'm on a horse."
(Excerpt from THE DUST BOWL by Tricia Andryszewski, p. 33.)
“The only thing we have to fear
is fear itself”
“Our greatest primary task is to put people to work”
Franklin D. Roosevelt