Reflection Black Thursday

Imagine this. You wake up one morning in the year 1929, in your luxurious, pricey mansion. You then make your way downstairs to eat that nice big breakfast. Then you kiss your family good bye and head off to your fancy job. You come home that evening and suddenly you’re flat broke. Meaning all your money and life’s savings vanished. Unreal right? Well it was real for hundreds of families on October 29, 1929. The day the stock market crashed and when America’s confidence was challenged greatly.

“Thousands of people lost their jobs in factories and businesses” that had gone under. (Morain 1) Many people sold eggs and had to wear potato sack dresses to save every penny. People in the middle class who had college degrees were even out of work. Banks all over the country were shut down which caused people to lose jobs and others to lose money. Families who could not pay for their houses were evicted. All of their belongings were thrown out to the street and they were forced out. Those who lived in bigger houses in the cities took in boarders to help pay the

This only deteriorated as businesses would suffer financially and unemployment was at an all the time high. Although President Franklin D. Roosevelt came up with tactics and strategies to lessen the effects of the damage done, the economy wouldn’t fully overcome until after 1939 as World War II shifted America. For a little over a decade, businesses would go through financial turmoil and people would have to find other ways to bring in revenue. During the late summer of the 1929, the American economy entered into a recession. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a recession is defined as a period of reduced economic activity. Investors had traded some 16 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day. That day in history was formally known as “Black Tuesday”. Those same shares had ended up being worthless with no monetary value. The investors who bought them with borrowed money, suffered an excessive lost. Consumer reliability was gone as spending was nonexistent which resulted in factories being closed down. The lack of consumerism also impacted those who had invested in mass production. The consumers who still felt a need to spend, were forced to use credit cards and evidently fell into major debt; foreclosures on homes and repossessions climbed rapidly as people tried their best to live again and have that

The stock market crash, called Black Tuesday. Unequal distribution of wealth was a key factor during the time period as well. The day know as “Black Tuesday” was the day the stock market crashed. This led to the fall of stock prices, in fear, people sold their stocks and gathered the money they could. The people who didn’t, lost all of their stocks. Those who bought them on credit, they were now in debt. Investors lost a collective amount equal to the amount spent in WWI, that’s billions of dollars gone, approximately thirty-two billion dollars (32,000,000,000). As bad as the crash was, unequal distribution of wealth did not help. The rich saw an income increase of 70%, and the poor saw an increase of 9%. More than 70% of families earned less than $2500/year. Many of these families couldn't afford household products, such as the flood of overproduced goods. Only one out of ten families owned an electric refrigerator. One thing many people overlook when on the subject of the Great Depression is the president's influence on the situation. The two presidents during this time were Herbet Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Hoover was in office during the collapse of the economy, he didn’t believe in national relief, he believed in self-prevalence and self-help. His beliefs didn’t get the confidence of the people, in 1933, a fourth of working American’s were out of a job, that’s more than fifteen million people unemployed. Many people disliked Hoover, so when they needed to make a home out of paper, glass, tin, or whatever they could find, they named the towns constructed from these items “Hoovervilles”. They were found mostly on the outside of cities. Hoover's idea of self-reliance didn’t get him reelected, he lost to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933. Roosevelt brought forward a new strategy to take on the economic problems, it was called the New Deal. The New Deal was a series of actions him and his

As the Great Depression rolled in, a cry for the involvement of government in matters of the economy was sent out as the United States reached an all time low. When Wall Street crashed, millions of

In 1912, the stock market took one of the biggest crashes ever. Document four shows how all stock markets were hit, including the wealthy ones. Bank failure, buying on the margin, and underconsumption, just to name a few, are all economic causes of this. Due to this, everyone lost their money no matter who they were or how they managed their money. The people who did not go through the depression were very judgemental during during this time period. This is explained by the political cartoon in document three. This impacted society because people who had their own money in the bank though they were protected, but it hit them just as bad as it hit everyone else. The dust bowl was another impact on society during the Great

The Great Depression was a time of great economic tragedy during the 1930’s. October 24, 1929 was the day of the stock market crash, causing economical shortage everywhere, even globally, and this scared everyone, including the rich. This day was/ is known as “Black Thursday”, where over 2.9 million shares were traded. On “Black Tuesday”, five days later, more than 16 million more shares were traded in another wave of panic. Many investors then lost confidence in their banks and demanded deposits in cash which forced the banks to liquidate loans in order to supplement their on hand cash reserves. By 1933, around 15 million Americans were unemployed and nearly half of the country’s banks had failed. This stopped Americans from purchasing which then led to less production of goods and decreased the amount of needed human labor. In the end, millions of shares ended up worthless, and those investors who had bought stocks with borrowed money were wiped out completely.

Economic laws suggested that the market worked in waves and the upward spiral could not continue. A wave of panic gripped investors. On October 23, 1929, investors dumped their stocks loosing more than four billion dollars in the market. The next day, known as Black Tuesday, the market lost another nine billion dollars. Without a money supply, no new jobs were created and many were lost. Corporations cut production, slashed wages, and reduced jobs. By 1932, more than one million people were homeless in America and by 1933 almost twenty-five percent of the work force was unemployed. Unable to pay rents or mortgages, eventually nearly six hundred thousand people lost their property. Many took to living in caves, sewer pipes, with relatives, or joined the sea of homeless people. Some sold apples on street corners - some dug through garbage bans - and others begged. Shanty towns, called Hoovervilles sprang up on abandoned land and in parks. Breadlines formed in cities. Many children had nothing to eat.

In October 1929, the stock market crashed causing thousands of people to lose their jobs.

During this time, many women and men experienced homelessness, unemployment and when they looked for work, it was an extraordinary amount of labor that was involved (At Work: The Art of California Labor, Mark Johnson, Page 21). During the stock market crash in October of 1929, the depression shock took over. The economy fell during this time because of allowing wages to lag behind production causing the Great Depression. Images of unemployment began to rise.

During the Great Depression in 1929, there was Fernando Francisco the farmer with his only alluring and style 16 year old daughter Nancy Francisco at their barn. On a Tuesday morning in October 29, 1929, Fernando rocked back and forth, while glimpsing through the newspaper. Something caught his eye, it was this “The stock market has just crashed today, Wall street is in a panic and wiped out millions of investors.” After reading, Fernando went straight to the front of the entrance, and started to make billboards.

Parts of the 1930’s were economically challenged. In September and early October prices began to decline. On October 18th the market went into a free fall. Black Thursday came about because of this, then was later turned into Black Friday (Stock market crash). Individuals had to borrow money from banks. By the 29th more than 16 million shares were traded. Things were going down hill at a rapid pace. For example, the unemployment rate was extremely high, there was the stock market crash, and the Great Depression. While all of this continues, stock prices rose. Unemployment was a huge part of this time more than 13 million Americans have lost their jobs for a year and 11% of americans were jobless for four years (Stock market crash of 1929).

People across the nation were starving and in need of help. Americans were scared, wondering if they would be eating today. Citizens would do all they could to be able to support their families, but all they had from working wasn’t enough. With banks all across the nation closing, the stock market crash, and a president that didn’t help they were stuck in a crisis. President Franklin Roosevelt helped the people find jobs and services to help them make money.

When the citizens had bought all that they could buy, there was a decrease in demand. Suddenly, the industries had an excess of goods and no one to sell it to. At this point, the Fordney-McCumber Act began to cripple the economy of America. Other nations introduced high tariffs to boost their revenue and to spite the United States. Sadly for the United States, these high tariffs and low demand were instrumental in the depression that America experienced. When the stock market crashed on October 29th, 1929 or “Black Tuesday”, the united states, along with other nations were in economic turmoil and the widespread prosperity of the 1920s ended abruptly. The depression threatened people's jobs, savings, and even their homes and farms. During the heart of the depression, over one-quarter of the American population was out of work. For many Americans, these were extremely hard times. When Roosevelt was voted into office, he introduced the New Deal. While this plan tried to help the united states out of it’s isolationist rut, the second world war was the final solution. Mobilizing the economy for world war finally cured the depression. Millions of men and women joined the armed forces, and even larger numbers went to work in well-paying defence jobs.

     With the continually worsening conditions, and the stock market crash on Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929, the United States was thrown into the biggest economical disaster of our history. Everyone, excluding the rich upper class, became poor and most unemployed. The majority of the American populace found themselves living in ‘shantytowns’ or ‘Hoovervilles’ as they later became to be known, which consisted of many cramped shacks constructed from whatever was available. This meant old burnt-out cars, cardboard boxes, random pieces of lumber, and anything else that people could find. Times truly were tough. It was a daily