THE GREAT DEPRESSION

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THE GREAT DEPRESSION

• A Pre-Study to
• No Promises in the Wind

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WHAT WAS THE GREAT DEPRESSION?

• The Great Depression was a time between 1929
  through the 1930s when the entire world suffered
  from a poor economy. (This means that people
  were having a hard time finding jobs, making
  money, and paying for the things they needed.)

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SO WHAT? LOTS OF PEOPLE DONT HAVE MONEY
TODAY. WHAT MADE THE GREAT DEPRESSION SO
DIFFERENT?
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THE GREAT DEPRESSION WAS MUCH BIGGER!

• Millions of people in the United States (and
  around the world) had no jobs.
• Countless people became homeless.
• Families were separated as parents and older
  children tried to find work.
• The depression lasted for more than a decade.

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HERE ARE THE FACTS.

• In the early years of the depression in the
  United States, over 250,000 children were
  homeless.
• About 90 of these children were malnourished,
  meaning they were unhealthy because they didnt
  have enough food / vitamins.
• Nearly 3 million children had to drop out of
  school because their families needed them to work
  OR because their schools closed down.
• In some cases, children were paid barely more
  than 50 cents a week. Wages were as low as 2
  cents an hour.

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HERE ARE THE FACTS.

• Families were separated as people tried to find
  jobs. Many fathers moved to the other side of
  the country and were away from their families for
  years.
• One out of EVERY 4 PEOPLE in the country had no
  job.
• The depression lasted for more than a decade.

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HOW DID IT HAPPEN?
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• Because of the Great Depression, businesses could
  not afford to pay their workers, so they had to
  fire people.

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• Normally when people lose a job, they get another
  one. During the Great Depression, however, there
  were no other jobs because almost all businesses
  were firing people, and NO businesses were
  hiring. Thus, people couldnt find work, and
  they couldnt make money.

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• Since people didnt have money, they couldnt
  afford to buy things. This made businesses even
  more broke.

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• When the businesses became even more broke, they
  had to fire even more people, so everything
  started all over again.

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SO WHAT HAPPENED TO THE COUNTRY?
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• People lost their homes. Many lived in shacks
  like this.

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• Some lived in tents. (Notice that this family is
  living in their car, as well.)

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• This is a picture of New York. Look at the
  make-shift shacks people lived in through the
  winter. Do you think these shacks had heat?

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• This is a REAL school during the depression.
  Notice the students are sitting on logs and that
  a garbage can is helping to support the ceiling.

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• People without money cant buy food. Here are
  some men at a soup kitchen for a free meal.
  Remember--these men might have owned homes before
  this.

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• Heres another food line picture.

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• This is another food line. Look at how many
  people have to rely on free food to survive.

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• Heres a picture of people looking for a job.
  Jobs were rare, and many people would be after
  the same position. Most would go away
  empty-handed.

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• Many people left their hometowns to try and find
  work. Many traveled across the country.

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• Heres a family that couldnt afford a car, so
  they walked from town to town looking for work.

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• Some people hopped on freight trains to get from
  town to town--a terribly dangerous way to travel.

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• Look at this billboard. Many towns would not
  allow travelers to stay because they didnt even
  have enough jobs for their own citizens.

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• Heres a picture of a homeless man resting.
  Remember--this man might have been living in his
  own house only months earlier.

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• Here are three homeless children. You should
  note that children often tried to find work
  during the Great Depression, too. Many traveled
  across the country and away from their families.

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• Here is another picture of some young children
  during the depression. Look at how dirty they
  are.

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AS IF THINGS WERENT BAD ENOUGH, ALONG CAME THE
GREAT DUST BOWL.
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WHAT WAS THE DUST BOWL?

• The Dust Bowl was a group of dust storms in the
  central United States and Canada from 1934 to
  1939. (A dust storm occurs when huge amounts of
  dust and sand rise into the air, blocking out the
  sun.)
• The Dust Bowl storms were so big that they
  stretched from Oklahoma to Texas, to Arkansas, to
  Illinois.

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WHY WAS THE DUST BOWL SUCH A BIG DEAL?

• Since the dust storms of the Dust Bowl were so
  huge--and since they lasted so long--they
  destroyed many plants and crops. Lots of farmers
  lost their farms, causing EVEN MORE people to be
  out of work during the Great Depression.
• Many of these farmers moved west in search of
  jobs--just like everyone else--but there werent
  many jobs to be found.

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• Heres a picture of a dust storm approaching a
  small town in Texas. Look at how big it is.

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• Heres another picture--this time in South
  Dakota. Look at the size of the storm! Imagine
  the damage it would cause!

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FINALLY--A TURNING POINT

• When did things finally start to get better?
• How did America survive the Great Depression?

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THE NEW DEAL

• The New Deal was a bunch of government programs
  started in 1933 by President Franklin D.
  Roosevelt. These programs were made to give
  people jobs and to help improve the economy.
• Some New Deal programs were as follows Civilian
  Conservation Corps (CCC), the Civil Works
  Administration (CWA), the Federal Emergency
  Relief Administration (FERA), the National Youth
  Administration (NYA), and above all, the Works
  Progress Administration (WPA).

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• Here are some men who were given jobs by one of
  these government programs--the WPA.

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• The WPA employed workers in construction projects
  across the country. Workers built and fixed
  highways, streets, public buildings, airports,
  utilities, small dams, sewers, parks, libraries,
  and recreational fields.
• Many of the structures you see today were built
  by the WPA. For example, they created 650,000
  miles of roads, 78,000 bridges, 125,000
  buildings, and seven hundred miles of airport
  runways.
• In addition to building things, they also created
  art. They had 225,000 concerts to audiences
  totaling 150 million people, and they produced
  almost 475,000 artworks. They employed artists,
  musicians, photographers, and writers on
  smaller-scale projects, and they even ran a
  circus.

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• This picture shows WPA workers fixing a canal.

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• This picture shows WPA workers building an
  airport.

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• This picture shows artwork created by a WPA
  artist.

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• The CCC was another New Deal program. Like the
  WPA, this one focused on hard, physical labor.
• In this picture, two men are moving a boulder to
  help create a park.

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• In this picture, two CCC men are cutting down a
  tree.

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• Here, a group of CCC men are putting plants and
  shrubs along the roadside to beautify the
  highways.

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• In this picture, several CCC men are fighting a
  forest fire.

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HOW DID THE NEW DEAL HELP AMERICA GET BETTER?
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There were lots of factors, but for one thing,
the New Deal gave people jobs again.
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Of course, this meant money for people--money
they could spend on food, clothes, medicine, and
shelter.
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Since people were spending more money, businesses
became more successful, and they started hiring
more people.
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DID THE NEW DEAL FIX EVERYTHING RIGHT AWAY?
No! It took years and years for the country to
get back on its feet again. Thats why the Great
Depression was such a difficult time for the
country and the world.