Great Depression Life

ByVictoria Coddington

Psychological Impact on Men and Unemployment

• Psychological Impact• Humiliation

– Assistance from wives» Relief

• Self-blame• Alcoholism

– Forget» Form of escape

• Get sick• Social Withdrawal

– Embarrassment• Tension in Family

– Men stay home

• Unemployment• Buyer’s Market

– 20yrs > 40yrs• Rise in Crime

– Steal or Take• Change in Tradition

– Roles of Men, Women, and Children were changed

– Women begged» First Family

• Clothes– Men sought jobs

» Financial Aid

Effects on Women

• Women’s Roles– Took over the family

• “women’s work”– Service jobs

• Economic Breakdown– Distribution of relief

• Could not provide clothes– Women forced to work

» More Tension

• Married Women– Often fired from work

• Respect to husband

• Pregnancies– More pregnancies

• More children more relief– Form of Escape

» Pleasure for spouse

• Discrimination in the Workplace– Women “taking” jobs

from men• Married women often

fired– Single women less pay

Effect on Children

• Unemployment Effect on Children– Anxious

• Frustration from parents– Did not go to school

• Roosevelt’s– Seen in positive light

• “Santa Claus”

• Responsibilities of Children– Look after siblings

• Find jobs if possible

• Young Adults– Not hired

• No Experience

• Is there a Future? – College out of question

• “Young adults and children during the thirties grew up against a closed door.”

How did the Roosevelt’s Handle the Great Depression

• FDR– Political Image

• New York Governor• Polio

– Ally to downtrodden

– Public Image• Religious Figure

– To children “Santa” – Moses– Jesus

• Eleanor Roosevelt– Political Image

• Niece of TR• Albany and New York

– Public Image• Letters

– Women» Clothes

– Men» Financial Aide

• Stance on Discrimination– Against discrimination

» 1934 harmony

Eleanor Roosevelt

• During New Deal– Reform Movement

• Immediate Aide / Relief– Homeless– Hungry– Unemployed

– Liaison• Citizens and Programs

– Women– African-Americans– Youth – Coal Miners

– African-Americans• Forge more race equality

– Shift to Democrat

– National Youth Admin.• Grants • Job Training

Dust Bowl• Dry Land Farming Great Plains

– Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, Arkansas

– Systematic destruction– Large areas grassland

• Overgrazing • Land laid bare

– Environmental damage» Strong Winds

– Drought 1930• Over farmed / Overgrazed• Weather

– Winds across Plains– Clouds of Dust– Dark Skies

Effects of Dust Bowl

• Farmers– Hit hardest

• After prosperity of 20s hard blow to farmers

• No Water No Crops

– Work• Farms

– Destroyed– Buried– Torn Down

– Livestock• Disease

– Dust inhalation» Death

– Blind

• Farm Life– Daily Tasks

• Masks • Wet Sheets over openings

– Disease• Inhaled sand• Coughed up dirt• Died

– “Dust Pneumonia”– 500 People

– Work• Forced to leave farms

– California– Loss of 100MM acres

Blacks and Minorities During the Great Depression

• African Americans– “Blacks are the last hired

and first fired.” • Often first get pink slips

– 1932 50% unemployed– 75% unemployed, 25%

overall• White Over Black

– White men come first» Domestic jobs

• Tension Grows– Lynchings

» From 8 in 1932 to 28, 15, and 20.

– “No Jobs for N****** Until Every White Man Has a Job”• Jobs Were maintained

– 50% drop in wages– Lack of employment

» Cut down migration to rural South

» Migration to large cities for representation

Blacks and Minorities

• National Recovery Administration (NRA)– Wages

• Regional wage differentials under which southern workers were paid less than people doing the same work elsewhere

• Minorities– Hispanic Americans

• Lowest paying jobs• Migrated to urban areas

– Representation

– Latin Americans• Children not allowed to

enroll in schools or hospitals.

– Women• African American

– Entrepreneurs» Boarding houses » Beauty Parlors

Blacks, Minorities, and FDR

• New Deal and the Election of 1936– Black Cabinet– 76% of black vote to FDR

• Political awareness by blacks and minorities – Impressed by New Deal

– Hope for Future• Drop in black illiteracy• March 1939, Marian

Anderson concert at Lincoln Memorial

• Executive Order7046– Banned discrimination

on projects of WPA(Works Progress Administration)

Primary Source• I'D RATHER NOT BE ON RELIEF • Lester Hunter

Shafter, 1938• We go around all dressed in rags

While the rest of the world goes neat,And we have to be satisfiedWith half enough to eat.We have to live in lean-tos,Or else we live in a tent,For when we buy our bread and beansThere's nothing left for rent.

• I'd rather not be on the rolls of relief,Or work on the W. P. A.,We'd rather work for the farmerIf the farmer could raise the pay;Then the farmer could plant more cottonAnd he'd get more money for spuds,Instead of wearing patches,We'd dress up in new duds.

• From the east and west and north and southLike a swarm of bees we come;The migratory workersAre worse off than a bum.We go to Mr. FarmerAnd ask him what he'll pay;He says, "You gypsy workersCan live on a buck a day.“

• I'd rather not be on the rolls of relief,Or work on the W. P. A.,We'd rather work for the farmerIf the farmer could raise the pay;Then the farmer could plant more cottonAnd he'd get more money for spuds,Instead of wearing patches,We'd dress up in new duds.

• We don't ask for luxuriesOr even a feather bed.But we're bound to raise the dickensWhile our families are underfed.Now the winter is on usAnd the cotton picking is done,What are we going to live onWhile weirs waiting for spuds to come?

• Now if you will excuse meI'll bring my song to an end.I've got to go and chuck a crackWhere the howling wind comes in.The times are going to betterAnd I guess you'd like to knowI'll tell you all about it,I've joined the C. I. O.

OPVL Primary Source

• Origin: 1938, Shafer FSA Camp, CA by Lester Hunter

• Purpose: Gives insight to the lives of people during the Great Depression and their struggle with unemployment and relief.

• Value: Gives visual aids to working conditions during the rise of unemployment.

• Limitation: Not specified if the man is married or not. Most likely not globally aware because he says, “We all go around the world dressed in rags while the rest of the world goes neat.”

Bibliography• Frederick Lewis Allen, . N.p.. Web. 4 Feb 2014.

<http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/snprelief1.htm>. • Hunter, Lester. N.d. 0. n.p. • McElvaine, Robert. The Great Depression: America, 1929-1941. New York:

Three Rivers Press, 1984. 170-195. Print. • . N.p.. Web. 3 Feb 2014.

<http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/depwwii/dustbowl/>.

• Regula, Mary. N.p.. Web. 3 Feb 2014. <http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies. aspx?biography=33>.

• West, L.. N.p.. Web. 3 Feb 2014. <http://environment.about.com/od/environmentalevents/f/dustbowl.htm>.