The Great Depression
A major economic crisis devastating the entire American population
The Great Depression was the first major industrial economic crisis starting in 1929 In the United States, with overproduction, over-speculation and the weakness of the US economy. It led to the collapse of the stock exchange on the 24th of October 1929, also known as black Tuesday. During this period of great distress which lasted a decade, shares lost their value, banks and factories shut down and production dropped by 25 percent.
Throughout the Great Depression, unemployment rates increased drastically while wages dropped. Between 1929 and 1933, the number of unemployed went from 1550 to 12830. In fact, jobs were scarce due to the lack of public demand and the closing of shops and factories. For example, the Encyclopedia of Chicago states that “Only 50 percent of the Chicagoans who had worked in the manufacturing sector in 1927 were still working there in 1933.” In terms of percentage, the unemployment rate increased by 22 percent, representing a quarter of the labor force, as more and more people searched for jobs. The average weekly earnings suffered an important decrease in all industries. For example, the manufacturing sector was hit particularly hard as the wages dropped by 33.6 percent in 3 years. It is equally important to note that African Americans and Mexicans were particularly struck by unemployment. For instance, by 1932, 40 to 50 percent of black workers in Chicago were unemployed. The crisis worsened the already bleak economic situation of African Americans as they were the first to be laid off from their jobs and received fewer financial aids than others. This unfair treatment impacted African Americans and Mexicans for decades to come.
Furthermore, the living conditions for most Americans during the Great Depression worsened, as the poverty rates increased. On the other hand, the social inequalities escalated as some Americans were able to turn the situation to their advantage. Shacktowns and homeless encampments multiplied all across the country as less and less people could afford to live in houses. When people couldn’t even find a shack, they found shelter wherever they could, sometimes even sleeping under bridges or culverts. "Hooverville” became a common term for these accommodations because Americans blamed President Hervert Hoover for their misery. According to Donald Roy, a sociologist on the faculty of Duke University, “in Seattle, by 1934 nearly 500 self-built one-room domiciles were scattered over the terrain in insane disorder.” In order to help those in need, soup kitchens held by charities as well as cheap restaurants opened all across the United States. As a result, huge lines of hungry families waited outside of these facilities to obtain their daily dose of bread. In contrast to this poverty, American dynastic families held parties to “escape the reality”, even though they weren’t as badly affected by the crisis. For example, the extract from PBS 1930s high states that “While storefronts stood empty, the 47-storey Waldorf-Astoria Hotel opened in 1931 at a cost of $42 million ($600million today)” This shows how the economic disparities between the working classes and upper classes intensified.
A migrant worker family living in squalor – Oakland Museum of California
Finally, the crisis had a dreadful impact on farmers and the extreme dust storms made the situation even worse. The overworking of the land in hope to increase production, led to the drop of wheat prices and the “land of agricultural opportunity went bust.” The drought and other harsh weather conditions resulted in the Dustbowl, a period of severe dust storms. The extract from lumen learning explains that “In 1935 alone, over 850 million tons of topsoil blew away”. The dust created a new illness called “dust pneumonia” and destroyed many acres of crops. Farmers were forced to sell their farms and land at low prices and migrate to California, where they hoped to find new jobs. Unfortunately biased, the Great Depression made it hard for them to find work anywhere, and many of them ended up poor.
A dust bowl farmer raises a fence to keep it from being buried under drifting sand in Cimarron County, Oklahoma, 1936.
VOCABULARY
Over-speculation: to assume an excessive amount of business risk in speculating on something.
Shacktown: A settlement made up of shacks; a shanty town.
Culvert: a tunnel carrying a stream or open drain under a road or railway