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Great Depression Impact

Decent Essays

The Impact of the Great Depression The Great Depression was a very influential era in American history, affecting many future generations. One of the most prevalent impacts it had on society was the extreme poverty that swept across the nation, affecting both people in cities and in the country. The main cause for this poverty was the mass loss of jobs among the middle class. Millions lost their jobs and consequently their homes. Families lived out of tents and cars in shanty towns or Hoovervilles. In these camps, many people didn’t have their basic human needs met, children and adults alike starved. They lived in clothes that were caked in dirt and tattered, too small for growing children and too cold for the frail elderly. Government relief programs attempted to help but offered little support to the now impoverished families of the millions that lost everything. The spread of poverty began with the loss of jobs. Companies could no longer afford to keep their employees and many Americans were laid off as businesses went under. Once someone lost their job, it was near impossible to find a new one. Some government programs attempted to provide jobs for people, but they only had a limited number of spots and they …show more content…

People lost the ability to pay for things they once owned. People bought many things on margin in the years before the depression, they soon found this to be a rather unwise practice as they could no longer afford these purchases once the depression hit. Millions were out a job, and soon their homes followed; foreclosed on by the banks, the items they once purchased sold back. This left many families with little possessions and even fewer places to turn to and many ended up in shanty towns and Hoovervilles. There they lived out of cars and in makeshift tents like the family in picture 5. These places were overrun with undernourished people that rarely had their basic human needs

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