Hardship & Suffering in the Depression

1. Hardship & Suffering in the Depression Chapter 22 Sect 2 Pg 678

2. Depression in Cities • People lost jobs, homes, & were left in the streets. • Shantytowns – towns consisting of shacks • Found food in the garbage & by begging. • Soup Kitchens – offered free or low-cost food. • Bread Lines – people waiting to get food from a charity organization. • Conditions for African Americans & immigrants were especially difficult b/c unemployment rates were higher. • Direct Relief – cash payments or food from the gov.

3. Depression in Rural Areas • 1 advantage…farmers could grow their own food. • Farmers lost land, turned to tenant farming. • Dust Bowl – land b/w the Dakotas & Texas received little rain. Huge dust storms blew precious top soil away.

4. Which group do you think suffered less?

5. Effects on the American Family • Americans believed in traditional values. • As money became tight, families stayed home & played board games. • Monopoly was invented in 1933 • Depression put a major strain on the family. • Making ends meet was such a struggle some families split apart.

6. Men in the Streets • Men had difficulty coping w/ unemployment b/c they were accustom to providing for the family. • Set out to walk the streets every day in search of work. • Some even abandoned their families. • 300,000 men became “hoboes” – men who wandered the country on train cars & sleeping under bridges.

7. Women Struggle to Survive • Women canned food & sewed clothes to make money. • Carefully managed family budgets. • Also worked outside the home. • Working women became targets of resentment by unemployed men. • Some cities even refused to hire married women.

8. Children Suffer Hardships • Poor diets & health care caused major physical problems among children. • Child-Welfare programs were slashed to cut city & state budgets. • Schools closed b/c of lack of funds. • Children went to work to help the family. • “Hoover tourists” – teenage boys that boarded trains to cross the country in search of work.

9. Social & Psychological Effects • People so demoralized by hard times that they lost their will to survive. • Suicide rates increased 30 % • 3 times as many people were admitted to mental hospitals. • Adults & young people gave up dreams that would cause the psychological damage for life.

10. Critical Thinking Questions Why did people in cities live in shacks and wait in bread lines? How did competition for jobs impact race relations during the Great Depression? Why did many farm families leave their land during the Great Depression? How did the Depression affect men and their families? How did the Depression affect women and children? From what long-lasting psychological consequences did Depression survivors suffer?