The Great Depression Hardship and Suffering During the

The Great Depression: Hardship and Suffering During the Depression Chapter 14, Section 2

FACTS about this decade: • • Population: 123, 188, 000 in 48 states Life Expectancy: Male, 58. 1; Female, 61. 6 Average salary: $1, 368 Car Sales: 2, 787, 400 Food Prices: Milk, 14 cents a qt. ; Bread, 9 cents a loaf; Round Steak, 42 cents a pound • Lynchings: 21

Depression in the Cities • Unemployment = 25% nationally • From 1929 to 1934, U. S. personal income plunged 44% • “Underemployment” meant that even those with jobs were not paid well.

Depression in the Cities • Jobs lost = people evicted from homes / apartments – Residential real-estate foreclosures doubled between 1926 and 1929 – before the Great Depression actually began. – Foreclosure rate jumped from 3. 6 per 1, 000 mortgages in 1926 to 13. 3 in 1933. – In 1933, 1, 000 home were being foreclosed each day. – http: //www. contrarianprofits. com/articles/study-of-great-depression-shows-postponed-foreclosures-andspikes-in-mortgage-rates/7969 • Shantytowns (Hoovervilles), settlements consisting of shacks, arise in cities • To feed themselves: – People dig through garbage, turn to begging – Soup kitchens offer free or low-cost food – Bread lines—people line up for food from charities

Minorities • African Americans and Latinos were hit especially hard by the depression • “Last hired, first fired” • Higher unemployment (50%) and lower pay when they did have a job • Many Latinos were deported (even when they were citizens) • Rise in racial violence

Depression in Rural Areas • Advantage over city life: Most farmers can grow food for their families • About 400, 000 farms lost through foreclosure – Many become tenant farmers – Many farm families migrate to Pacific Coast states - known as “Okies” • Dust Bowl – Dust Bowl: from North Dakota to Texas

Men in the Streets • Men were the primary provider – the condition of the family was dependent upon them – The divorce rate fell, for the simple reason that many couples could not afford it. – Psychological pain to not work / watch family suffer • But rates of desertion soared. – By 1940, 1. 5 million married women were living apart from husbands – As many as 300, 000 hoboes wander the country on railroad box cars

Women Struggle to Survive • Homemakers budget carefully—can food, sew clothes, buy food as group, etc. • Women work outside home—getting paid less and resented by unemployed men • Married women often denied a job (seen as taking a man’s job) • Many women suffered in silence— starving to death in cold attics and rooming houses—too ashamed to stand in bread lines

Children • Poor diets and health care lead to serious health problems in children • Lack of tax revenue leads to shortened school year, school closings • Teenagers, called “Hoover Tourists, ” left home to alleviate stress on parents “one less mouth to feed” and to look for work. – More than 200, 000 vagrant children

Social and Psychological Effects • • 1928– 1932, suicide rate rises over 30% Admissions to state mental hospitals triples People give up health care, college, put off marriage, children But: – Many show great kindness to strangers – Develop habit of saving and thriftiness