The Great Depression: How People Were Affected Everyone was affected during The Great Depression, however not everyone was affected the same way. Many of the rich felt no impact and were oblivious to the sufferings of others around them. Forty percent of the country never faced any hardship and the unemployment rate fell below fourteen percent in 1941 and in 1933, Toledo, Ohio’s had reached 80 percent, and nearly ninety percent of Lowell, Massachusetts was unemployed. Marriage was greatly impacted during The Great Depression. Couples delayed marriage and the divorce rate dropped due to the legal fees being too expensive and the fact that it was too expensive to support two households. Income decreased dramatically. This also affected marriages by bringing a great financial burden into the already stressful situation. Almost all families were affected in some way. With the unemployment rate below fourteen percent and the decrease in income, families were faced with great financial hardship. Birth rates dropped to the lowest in American history. Traditional roles in the family changed due to men being out of work. Families relied on children and wives to help out with things that the father would usually do. There was a significant amount of men who walked out on their families and as of 1940, 1.5 million married women had been abandoned by their …show more content…
“First of all,” he said, “let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” He promised that he would act quickly to deal with the “dark realities of the moment” and guaranteed Americans that he would “wage a war against the emergency” just as if “we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.” His speech gave many people assurance that they had elected a man who was not scared of taking brave steps to solve the nation’s
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 United States Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, making it impossible for the United States to join the League of Nations.
Families found themselves setting up in a way unfamiliar before. The Depression bombarded families who lost everything in their saving accounts and were suddenly facing poverty. Around nine million families lost everything they had in the banks creating two kinds of poor; the poor who were already suffering to make a living and new the “new poor ,” middle class Americans losing their homes left and right. Men and women’s roles
During the Great Depression, the American birth rate had fallen to an all-time low due to delayed marriages and parenthood. In the 1940's, there was a population growth of 19 million, which doubled the rise of
The great depression was the deepest and long-lasting economic in the united states. There was a rapid decrease in marriage and birth rate during this time period. Divorce rate increased rapidly because no one would hire a woman who was married. Utah's gross income decreased almost 60% every year farmers prices would drop and drop almost until they were nothing. Suicide rate was high during the great depression with no money to buy food and no job. Leonard J. Arrington Said, ‘’ In 1933 Utah's unemployment rate was 35.8 percent, the fourth highest in the nation, and for the decade as a whole it averaged 26 percent.
Americans felt desperation during the time of great economic shortage. If they were to survive this era, they needed to condition themselves mentally and psychologically for the tougher times that might stretch on for years on end. Millions of families lost their savings as numerous banks collapsed in the early 1930’s. Incapable of making mortgage or rent payments, many were deprived of their homes or were evicted from their apartments. Working and middle class families were immensely affected by the Depression. The cultural change that happened in America during the Great Depression can be divided into two types: one was type of culture that accepting and embracing the extreme poverty and by finding logical ways to stay alive. The other
Living during the Great Depression was very challenging for many people. There was a definite difference in how people lived. Some were struggling to survive during the difficult time of hardship in their lives. Others were forced to survive on their own and often separated from others with feelings of loneliness. In addition many others were afraid of the unknown circumstances revolving around the economic during the depression.
Because of the stock market crash in the late 1920’s, it strongly affected families in the 1930’s in many ways. Everyday life was profoundly affected by the hard times. Marriages were delayed; birth rates dropped, contraceptive sales soared, and divorce rates were down (Reeves 115). Families at this time knew that money was not readily available, so getting married or having more children was not
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration states that during the Great Depression era, “...the federal government did prohibit a married couple from both holding government jobs, and as late as 1939, legislatures in 26 states considered laws limiting married women's work. Both men and women believed that married women should give up their jobs if their husbands wanted them to. In the Depression decade, those wives who worked outside the home were viewed as selfish, greedy women who took jobs away from male breadwinners.” (Grice) Historians have documented that the role of women as a minority in 1930s America was largely to remain as a man’s inferior and serve as a servant in the household as they were shamed if they chose to get
During this time period of the Great Depression the U.S went through many social and economic changes. From 1929-1939 people suffered the effects of the stock market crash, business failures and bank collapses. People took their money out of banks which made the economy worse and put us deeper into a depression. There was an increase in unemployment and many families lost their jobs which caused them to lose their homes and savings. Many husbands abandoned their wives and many people starved. The streets were filled with garbage and filth. Throughout the depression woman were largely effected in many ways.
Between 1929 and 1939 there was an economic downfall know better was the Great Depression. According to the Family and Home, Impact of the Great Depression article on encyclopedia.com, The Great Depression challenged American families in major ways, placing great economic, social, and psychological strains and demands on families and their members. Families of various class, ethnic, racial, and regional backgrounds, various styles of marital and familial relationships, responded in different ways to the stresses and demands that they had to deal with. In 1933, the average family income had dropped to $1,500, 40 percent less than the 1929 average family income of $2,300. Millions of families lost their savings when many banks collapsed in the
Long long ago , there was a time period called the Great Depression. The Great Depression was a time zone when many people didn’t have a lot, and people lost their jobs and didn’t have a lot of money. The Depression affected people’s lives in many ways. Some the Great Depression affected people’s lives were , it made people cut back on a lot of resources , made people go into debt and take out loans , and it the president pass new bills and laws.
Family pressure during the great depression was unlike any the U.S. has ever seen. Everything about families changed in the 1930s. Couples during the depression delayed marriage, and at the same time the divorce rates dropped because people could not afford to pay for two households. Birthrates also dropped and for the first time in American history below the replacement level. Income was closed to none in all families; regular income had dropped by 35% just in the years Hoover was in office. Families had a lot of stress; some pulled together and made do with what they had others pushed away. People turned to who ever they had, family, friends, and after all else the government. Although there were rich people in the depression as well
“During the Depression, unemployment, lower wages, and the demands of needy relatives tore at the fabric of family life. Many Americans were forced to share living quarter with relatives, delay marriage, and postpone having children”(Digital History). People will lose their jobs during the bad economic period, but they still need money to live. They need money to pay children’s tuition, insurance, and daily fees. If they don’t have money, the economic stress will lead depression and conflicts, and arguing will be around families.
However, during the Great Depression, there was increased unemployment, as well as decreased wages, getting married and having children during this time was difficult, the divorce rated declined due to the expense, not many people could afford it (The Evolution of American Family, 2015). By 1940, due to the Great Depression, about two million married couples were separated and living in different households. Women had to start working to provide income for their newly adjusted family life. By the time the 1950’s got here the divorce rate leveled off, and only about sixty percent of children lived in an environment where the man was the breadwinner and the females were the homemakers. During this time, there was a large economic growth in manufacturing and consumer goods, new homes were built and families moved to the suburbs to be able to develop close relationships within their families, something that their parents we not able to do. The main structure of the American family was still the husband being the main provider, and the women performing all the chores and tending to the children, however, families began eating meals together, and going out socially. The girls in the family usually lived with their parents until they were married, children became socialized so as they entered adulthood, they would be successful. Women during this time were not allowed a higher education. Family structure in the 1950’s was based on security. In the 1960’s due to