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How Did The Great Depression Affect African Americans In The 1930's

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The experience that the majority of urban and rural Americans shared together during the depression was a flat out lack of income. The differences were very few, but in the cities, the depression was more prominently visible because of a higher percentage of the population (Schultz 2014). Besides the lack of income and employment, most Americans underwent periods of time being extremely hungry. In the cities, people spent hours waiting in breadlines and were losing their homes to only end up living on the streets in communities referred to as "Hoovervilles" nicknamed after the president (Schultz 2014). In the country, families suffered because of unusual droughts of the 1930 's that caused crops to fail miserably meant the already indebted farmers commonly lost their properties. At one time in 1932, there were near to 250,000 homeless children throughout America. By far the ones who fared much worse off were African Americans owing to the fact that they were already impoverished anyway. The fact was white Americans were preferable as employees at that day and age, so black Americans were considered the first to be fired in …show more content…

Strangely enough, the hopes of Americans stayed alive primarily through the leisure activities that they had adopted so readily in the 1920 's, movies and radio. The entertainment industry made humongous strides in the 1930 's and was a place the public could escape to which allowed the "American Dream" to stay alive (Schultz 2014). The major themes of the movie industry were to either made the situation comical or to make it a story to encourage the average Joe. The American writers also saw a climb in popularity, especially when they wrote about why the country was suffering. During all of this, the political world was shifting to the left, trying to find a way to change without changing for the

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Due to the loss of their own capital in either the Stock Market Crash or bank closures, many businesses had to begin cutting back their workers' hours or wages and had to lay people off. As a result American citizens lost their jobs and money was scarce, families were starving, homes were being foreclosed on, and families lacked sufficient food and clothing due to the lack of goods. Unfortunately, during the Great Depression, the Great Plains also were hit hard with both a drought and terrible dust storms, creating what became known as the “Dust Bowl”, small farmers were hit especially as hard. While already in debt and struggling financially before the economic crisis farmers had to borrow money from banks for seeds and paid it back when their crops came in. When the dust storms damaged the crops, which meant farmers could not feed himself and his family, he also could not pay back his debt to the government and banks.

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1930’s The Great Depression The Great Depression was the largest economic depression of the 20th century, and is commonly used today as a measure of how far the world’s economy can decline. The depression started in the U.S in 1929 with the Wall Street stock market crash (known as Black Tuesday). This eventually spread globally and affected the economy of many other nations throughout the 1930s. Canada was greatly affected by this as Canadian industrial production fell to 58%, the second lowest level after the United States.

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Prior to the occurrence of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, farmers had rows of crops because of the demand. Soon after, this all failed with the onset of the Dust Bowl. The drought and wind erosion that had occurred amongst the land in the southern Great Plains region of the United States is what led many farmers to be displaced. In the Grapes of Wrath by John Steinback, he gives us the harsh reality of what occurred during the era of the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. “And then the dispossessed were drawn west—from Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico; from Nevada and Arkansas families, tribes, dusted out, tractored out.

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Great Depression The great depression has been considered one of the worst economic downfalls in history, due to many different reasons. This economic depression affected many people now in different ways but all because of the same reason. Some of the groups affected by this turmoil were the farmers, wage workers, and the labor unions. All three of these groups of people were affected by the depression in a few ways each with a negative outcome.

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In 1930’s, America encountered the worst depression. The stock market crash of 1929 was caused by the high prices leading many people to invest in stocks and take excessive loans from the banks. Many banking systems failed and people were left unemployed. Farmers lost their farms due to the Dust Bowl in the early 1930’s. In the time Herbert Hoover, the president at that time felt that the government shouldn’t interfere with such events.

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Luckily Franklin D. Roosevelt attempted to shine some light with a new deal. The Dust Bowl was what they called the Great Depression in the drought stricken areas. The condition of the areas around Oklahoma and Texas made living dangerous and futile. “When drought struck

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Life in urban America during the Great depression affected every person, every race, and every community. The number of homeless rose exponentially. The homeless formed little communities called Hoovervilles. (Shultz, 2014). They made shelters out of whatever scraps they could glean.

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Harsh Times Lives for African Americans were difficult. From separation to slavery African Americans endured a lot during the 1930s. There were people that made it either easy or hard for African Americans. There were people that stood up for African Americans. There were others who tried to make it harder on African Americans.

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The Hard Times which took place in the United States not only affected the stock market itself and the banking system but it also left its mark on the day to day lives of Americans. During the Great Depression, middle-class Americans were drastically affected in several ways. Families from different ethnic, religious, regional backgrounds reacted to the depression in various manners. In 1933, the average household income dropped to $1500 which is 40 percent less than that in 1929 family income of $2300.

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Economic involvements had a bigger impact on the great depression. The great depression was a time of need for the Americans. Due to the supplies and accessories shipped out during the war, America was low on supplies, money and control, and president Herbert Hoover did very little in an attempt to overcome this problem. Men and women were driven into what were called Hoovervilles, which was a collection of teepee huts gathered together to make a community. Just as the people thought they had hit rock bottom, a switch of presidents helped make all the difference.

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Both, urban and rural Americans suffered during the Great Depression, but not in the same way. Many urban Americans had to deal with living in large communities of homes made out of cardboard boxes due to homelessness and lack of food in the cites (Schultz, 2013). At the same time, rural Americans were losing their farms due to the crops as a result of the drought. The Great Depression was a perfect time for the Communist Party of the United States to thrive, as a large portion of Americans believed that Capitalism was the cause of the whole thing.

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In what ways did the Great Depression affect the American people? After a decade of economic prosperity, what seemed like an era that defined the concept of the American dream, quickly came to an end when the stock market on Wall Street collapsed in 1929. The aftermath of the events that occurred on Wall Street would put its heavy mark on the years to follow among the citizens of the United States. Banks closed down, unemployment rose and homelessness increased. It was a widespread national catastrophe that had its impacts on both poor and rich.

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Maybe people care a lot about what other people think; or, maybe they just do not care at all. Some people live by what other people want or think is “normal.” Other people live the way they want to live and do not care about the things other people want them to be. Women tend to struggle with this alot. Stereotypes, inequalities, and politics were not things women in the 1930s wanted to live by; although, they managed to make it better for themselves through political action over time.

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Extreme poverty was really big during the Great Depression. During the time, there weren't many nice houses like everyone would want to live in. In the second and fifth picture, it illustrates what people had to call "home". Many houses were taken away from them during the Great Depression and was never given back to them. Most of the houses that the people lived in after the Great Depession weren't safe at all.

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