Life During the Great Depression

Chapter 9, Section 2

1933: The Great Depression Worsens

• 12 million people are out of jobs- that’s one fourth of the work force

• 9,000 banks had failed• Average family income drops by one-

third• Many lose their homes, businesses,

belongings• Migrant families and hobos

People literally go hungry and line up at soup kitchens

Families who could no longer pay rent or mortgage lost their homes. Those who refused to move out were evicted by their landlords.

Evicted and homeless, many people began to set up shacks and makeshift homes on unused land.

These communities were called shantytowns. They later began to call them Hoovervilles.

The Dust Bowl• 1932-1937, a drought occurs in the Great

Plains region

The Great Plains

• The Great Plains has always been an unpredictable farming region – Before European American people had settled

there, Indians adapted to weather changes by constantly moving

– Climates were always changing– Rain, snow, drought affected the area on a

whim

In the 1860’s, settlers adapted to the region and began to grow crops that suited the rough and rugged environment

They grew corn, oats, barley, and primarily wheat. Wheat is the most resistant to harsh weather.

Review

• 1910’s - The agricultural industry flourished before and during WW1– Mechanized Farming- plows, refrigerated

railroad cars, irrigation systems

• 1920’s- Surplus of crops and low demand for produce created the farm crisis– Farmers either sold off their farms or simply

abandoned them

Wheat Belt Farmers Learn a Lesson from Mother Nature

• Farmers messed up the crop rotation– Constant wheat farming was bad for the soil

• Mechanized farming is bad for nature– Heavy plowing uprooted the grass that once

locked the moisture into the soil

• Abandoned farms left soil to dry up to dust

Farm Foreclosure Sale

Circa 1933

Beginning in 1932 Heavy winds, drought, and dried up soil created the worst ecological disaster to ever occur in U.S. history

Dust Storm in Oklahoma circa 1935

People were forced to leave behind their farms and migrate toward urban areas to look for jobs.

During this time, many important writers and photographers documented this massive migration and destitution Photography taken in 1935 by

Dorothea Lange

“Okies”

• Many migrant farmers from Oklahoma and Kansas fled the Dust Bowl region to California in hopes of finding better jobs

• Americans called them “Okies”

Family en route to California via Route 66

These migrant farmers were unwelcome in California.

Californians were also suffering from the Great Depression and they did not want these “Okies” to steal their jobs and government grants.

Okies Create Their Own Culture

• Plain folk• Country-western

– Woodie Guthrie– Gene Autry– Bob Willis

• Rough and Rugged– Didn’t care that city

folk hated them– They believed in the

power of “kinfolk”

On a lighter note… =)

• People try to escape hard times by watching movies, listening to music, and finding other cheap forms of recreation

• In 1937, Walt Disney releases the first feature length cartoon Snow White

• Production companies release dozens of westerns, and light-hearted movies

• Radio programs and soap operas gave people something other than the depression to talk about

Depression Inspires Art

• Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood become famous for their depictions of Heartland resilience

American Gothic, 1930

Photojournalism

• Dorothea Lange’s photos of the Dust Bowl Migration and poverty capture the hearts of Americans

• Henry Luce introduces Life magazine- weekly photojournalism

A Writer Emerges

• John Steinbeck writes about the social injustice and plight of migrant farmers– The Grapes of

Wrath– Harvest Gypsies

• William Faulkner– The Sound and

the Fury