Great Depression Thesis

Many consider the Great Depression a tragedy but few actually know the ways in which it actually affected the people who lived through it. One way it affected the people of the time is the hopelessness it brought. During the early 1920's many men returned from the "Great War" jaded and angry. The same effect was seen in most people during the depression. It was this hopelessness that spawned modernist literature and thought. Another way the depression affected the everyday man was the loss of homes. Many homes were foreclosed during the depression and this left many homeless. In fact the "Okies" were people left homeless after farm foreclosures. The last way the depression affected people was the broken homes it caused. The number of father's leaving their families rose dramatically during

The Great Depression was an economic downturn in America that lasted from 1929 until about 1939, making it the longest lasting depression ever experienced by the industrialized world. The stock market crash caused a chain reaction that involved problems such as unemployment, deflation, an increase in debt, and general poverty for lower class citizens. Attempts at escaping the depression weren’t altogether successful. In fact, most of the efforts resulted in high consumer debt as well as over optimistic loans given to the public by banks and business investors. The Depression caused severe political changes in the US as well as its obvious economic failures. After three years of the depression, Herbert Hoover lost the presidential election

Everyone scrounged about for small, labor intensive jobs at low wages. Even women and children had to work to subsidize the family income. The recently homeless lived in shantytowns nicknamed “Hoovervilles” after President Hoover who was moving slowly and ineffectually to deal with the Depression (Wikipedia). Little food was available and many had to search garbage heaps and other such locations for any kind of sustenance. The economic crisis had ushered in a decade of unprecedented mass poverty and poor living conditions.

The Great Depression affected Americans no matter their educational stance or social class. For example, a college educated woman named Vera had extreme problems with acquiring a job. Due to her inexperience, no one would hire her. The didn’t care if she had a college

The source "Remembering the Great Depression" gave a picture of what it was like to live and try to survive the Great Depression. The source talked about banks closing, the stock market closing, and many people lost everything they had worked so hard for in their lives. Many people and business were still suffering from the Great Depression into the 1940s. The source stated, " At the worst point of the Depression, nearly one in four workers was jobless.

The Great Depression had tremendous effects on people who lived during the depression. Franklin D Roosevelt once said “ We are stricken by no plague of locust” (Roosevelt , First Inaugural Address 12) . There were many problems like drought , the economy failed and many people went without food and had to be but on relief programs. But like the quote they did not let the depression tempt them to give up.

The Great Depression was a time of tragedy and despair. There are several factors, which have contributed to the health of the nation during the Great Depression. While there were setbacks, there were also improvements during this time. Disabling diseases were more common in low-income families. However, cures for diseases were also found. Studies have found that the life expectancy increased during and after the great depression.

At the worst point of the Great Depression there were million people unemployed in the U.S. Unemployment rates for African Americans and Latinos were higher than most americans. Without jobs there was no money coming into the households and for this reason many people could not pay their mortgage, some were enticed from their homes and lived on the street, in their cars, or in hoovervilles. Inside the home family life was bleak, many people put off getting married, raising large families, or having families at all. Thousands of people held off going to college and almost all women were ashamed to reveal their hardship. The physical and emotional health of the people was shattered, adults stopped going to the dentist and doctors because they couldn’t afford it. Poor diets and lack of milk consumption led to malnutrition, diet related diseases and other serious health problems. Some people even lost the will to survive, the suicide rate rose 50%. The stigma of poverty never left some people and habits of saving everything developed. Racial violence increased by unemployed whites looking for the same jobs, huge numbers of people with Mexican descent were deported. For the farmers it wasn’t any better, most could manage to still feed their families, but crop prices kept falling and farmers kept losing their land. They couldn’t pay their debts and in turn 400,000 farms were foreclosed between

It is difficult to imagine the horrors of the Great Depression. Many people had to live with nothing for at least 10 years. Parents had to do all they can to support their families. This Depression affected the whole world, yet it had a greater effect on the U.S. During this time the Great Depression had a great effect on Americans.During these times, many could not buy their daily items, many had to live with never using these items again. They had to get rid of clothes, sweets, electricity and got their water from wells. “ People began to cut down on their expenses and to go without new clothes, furniture and other goods” (Hayes). Cutting down these expenses caused businesses to fail. After cutting back on items and items used daily, people learned to live without these items, “ Looking back, I find it amazing what we went without”

The Great Depression was one of the lowest times in American history. Although this depression brought great poverty to some areas, most were not even phased by it. For some it brought extreme poverty for others who had little money invested in banks or into the stock market, nothing really changed. It even seemed that those who were impacted the least, their changes would not occur until after the Depression was over. In fact some never even knew that there was a depression going on until it filtered down through the tabloids. This economic tragedy was forever changed by the Election of 1932 which eventually brought on the New Deal of legislative programs which would forever change America.

     By 1933 millions of Americans were out of work. Bread lines were a common sight in most cities. Hundreds of thousands of people scoured the country in search of food, work, or a roof. There was a popular song from this era known as “Brother, can you spare a dime (Modern)?” A big step that happened for the unemployed were the Civilian Conservation Corps, a government program that brought relief to men between the ages of 18 and 25. The Conservation Corps gave jobs to young men in work camps across the country for about $30 per month. There were about 2 million men that took advantage of these jobs (The Great Depression). These men took part in a variety a jobs that included: planting trees, elimination stream pollution, creating game and bird sanctuaries, and conserving natural gases. For the other part of society work relief came in the form of the Civil Works Administration. These jobs consisted of ditch digging to highway repairs to teaching. Civil Works Administration was created in November 1933 and was ceased in the spring of 1934. Roosevelt continued to offer unemployment programs that offered pay (America).

he Great Depression was a hard time period in history. Twenty- five percent of America’s workers were left unemployed. No work left many people without proper food, water, clothing, and shelter. Children living in time of the Great Depression often had no schooling, and many had to work if there was any work available. In the early Depression, 20 percent of young people were homeless.

Growing Up As a Child during the Great Depression Life during the Great Depression was very rough on the people that were affected. Living during the Great Depression was not fun at all. Finding work during the this time was a very difficult task. Growing up as a child during the Great Depression, made it harder on the people who were affected further in life. LIFE BEFORE THE GREAT DEPRESSION People during this time thought that everything was going to be alright and nothing horrible would happen.

Imagine that you are working hard all day, but can’t get a job. You have sweat dripping from your face from turning over fields, because it hasn't rained. You are trying to support other family members to do their best, but it does no good. This is how most people were during the Great Depression. The Great Depression hurt the men, women, and children of the time.

The Great Depression unemployed thousands of people and made people have to move once every three months cause they couldn't pay rent. The Great Depression affected people who were living through it because they didn't have jobs and they were stacking up nickles hoping for even food. For instance, in the video Growing Up in the Great Depression consider these examples many things that show how much the great depression effected people. Struggles happened when someone says, "We lived three different places in one year" (Video)