Black Tuesday Research Paper

756 Words4 Pages

The Great Depression is considered the worst financial crisis in the history of the industrialised world, lasting from 1929 to 1939. It started in the United States after the stock market crash, which caused millions of investments to fail, causing a world-wide panic of bankruptcy. In the following years consumer spending and investment rates significantly dropped, which disturbed the production output of industries, resulting in leaving millions of American citizens unemployed. By 1933, approximately 15 million Americans were unemployed and due to poor policy decisions and large amount of excess loans, nearly half of the nation’s banks had failed. In many countries the causes of the great depression left negative effects that lasted until …show more content…

During the 1920’s the U.S stock markets experienced rapid growth, reaching its peak in August 1929. By October, stock prices were dropping at a increasingly high rate due to overproduction of goods in certain industries. Many investors were selling their shares due to falling prices of stocks which triggered a wave of nationwide panic, resulting in majority of American Citizens selling their shares. On October 24th (known as black Thursday), nearly 13 million shares were traded. The wave of fear continued till Black Tuesday on October 29th when over 16 millions shares were traded, resulting in crashing the New York stock exchange and wiping out billions of dollars worth of investments. Stock began to recover in the succeeding weeks, however, overall stocks continued the drop as the United States slumped into the great depression. By 1933 stocks were only worth around 20% of their original price. The Stock market crash of 1929 wasn't the only cause of the Great Depression, however it accelerated the economic crash to impact …show more content…

The rate of unemployment compounded during the early 1930’s and by 1933 nearly 15 million americans were unemployed and the rate of unemployment was at an astonishing 25%. African americans suffered significantly higher levels of unemployment compared to whites due to pervasive racism. Those with surviving jobs experienced significant pay cuts of up to a third or more. A state of despair spread nationwide with americans waiting in long breadlines, begging for food and selling fruits on street corners. Families were forced to sell their houses and descend into apartments because of the inability to pay rent. Men who lost their jobs felt ashamed to even walk on streets and often stayed home, as a result women and children were compelled to find a job and contribute their income to