To Kill a Mockingbird

The Great Depression

Causes of the Great Depression

High tariffs and ______ debtsUnequal distribution of wealthOverproduction in industry and agriculture______________ and financial panic

On Tuesday, ___________________, stock prices plummeted because there were no buyers for the stock offered by desperate sellers. Millions of dollars were lost that day due to the decrease in stock prices. Black Tuesday, as it was soon called, led directly to the Great Depression in the 1930s.

The Aftermath of the Crash

After the crash during the first 10 months of 1930, _____ banks failed. In all, 9,000 banks failed during the decade of the 30s. By 1933, depositors saw _______ billion disappear through bank failures.

It Get’s Worse

Perhaps ______ million people abandoned their homes in the South and the Great Plains during the Great Depression, and went on the road.

The ___________ that helped cripple agriculture during the Great Depression was the worst in the history of the country. By 1934 it had desiccated the Great Plains, from North Dakota to Texas, from the Mississippi River Valley to the Rockies. Vast ___________________ also swept the region.

How People Were Effected

• During the Great Depression, __________________ was high. During this decade, large numbers of people lived in poverty, desperately in need of food, clothing, and _____________.

• At the worst point of the Great Depression, in _________, one in four (25%) of Americans who wanted to work were unable to find a job. Further, it was not until 1941, when World War II was underway, that the official unemployment rate finally fell below 10%.

Change in American Life

Children of migrant workers typically had no way to attend _______________. By the end of 1930, 3 million children had abandoned school. Thousands of schools had closed or were operating on reduced hours. At least ________________ children took to the roads on their own. 

Without jobs, families had to move to find work. Many became ___________________________, picking up work anywhere they could to feed their starving families.

In cities, some tried apple-selling to avoid the shame of ______________.

Change in American Life (Cont.)They also constructed makeshift shacks and ______________ out of whatever was handy: scrap wood, scrap metal, cardboard, orange crates, and metal signs. On the outskirts of town, these groupings of shacks were known as __________________ and ___________________.

In cities, ________________ people slept in doorways, on park benches, under shrubbery, in large unused pipes in pipe yards, in huge ovens at closed steel plants, under viaducts and bridges, and in abandoned autos and trolleys.

Further Effects on the American Life

soup kitchensthem to a soup kitchen.

With no _______________, people simply couldn't buy food. ______________ was the most devastating result of all.

People fought each other for scraps of food in restaurant garbage cans. Men attacked trucks delivering food to hotels. In cities, thousands of people lined up at _____________________.

At an Appalachian mountain school, a girl who looked sick was told to go home and get something to eat. "I can't," she replied," It's my sister's turn to eat."

In backwoods areas, people ate _____________ and blackberries, and hunted rabbits, squirrels, possums, and ______________.