The Great Depression

Transcript

1. A SUDDEN DEPRESSION
2. Brother Can You Spare A Dime? • Written by E.Y. “Yip” Harburg and composed by Jay Gorney in 1931 • Sung by Bing Crosby • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I8-CbJYGMA • https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/eras/great- depression/brother-can-you-spare-a-dime-1932/ • Listen to the lyrics - what does the song have to say about the state of America and its people in the 1930’s?
3. The Roaring 20’s Recap • People were buying: – Automobiles – Appliances – Clothes • Fun times reigned – Dancing – Flappers – Drinking • A new, cohesive American culture and Identity • The new concept of “credit”
4. What Were the Problems? • WWI – The U.S. was a major credit loaner to other nations in need – Many of these nations could not pay us back • Credit system – People didn’t really have the money they were spending
5. Causes of Depression Buying on Credit Borrowing Money 80% of radios & 60% of cars were on credit
6. Uneven distribution of Wealth • Many Poor and Very Few Rich • Workers earn so little they can’t buy the products they produce due to inflation caused by increased spending of the upper class • Wages were as little as 20 – 25 cents per hour • Even the best employer Ford Motor Company paid only $5.00/Day for a 6AM-6PM shift
7. 1920s and 30s salaries • Bus driver: no power steering or conventional brakes • $1300 or $0.43/hr • Teacher • $1227 • Waitress • $520 or $0.20/hr • Farmhand • $216 or $0.07/hr • Highest paid production workers in the 1920’s – Ford Motor Company • $5.00/day or $0.48/hr. • Farm Prices: Potatoes, Cotton, Pork? • $0.01/pound potatoes • $0.05/pound cotton • $0.05/pound pork
8. Big Changes In Industry • No wartime economy • Sluggish postwar industry and new technologies • Changes in energy consumption • Fewer housing purchases
9. Causes of Depression Buying on Credit Borrowing Money 80% of radios & 60% of cars were on credit Uneven Distribution of Wealth Poor Industry
10. AGRICULTURAL OVERPRODUCTION • INCREASED TECHNOLOGY • GOOD GROWING CONDITIONS • SUPPLY GREATER THAN DEMAND
11. Underconsumption of Goods • Little money means less buying • Industry and agriculture hit hard by people not spending money on what they’ve produced • Farmers hurt most by this due to massive overproduction of food
12. Causes of Depression Buying on Credit Borrowing Money Uneven Distribution of Wealth Poor Industry Agriculture Overproduction Underconsumption
13. • Farmers were already feeling the effects – Prices of crops went down – Many farms foreclosed • People could not afford luxuries – Factories shut down – Businesses went out • Banks could not pay out money • People could not pay their taxes – Schools shut down due to lack of funds • Many families became homeless and had to live in shanties What about the people?
14. The Stock Market • People bought stocks on margins – If a stock is $100 you can pay $10 now and the rest later when the stock rose • Stocks fall – Now the person has less than $100 and no money to pay back
15. And then…. • With people panicking about their money investors tried to sell their stocks – This leads to a huge decline in stock value – Stocks were worthless now • People who bought on “margins” now could not pay • Investors were average people that were now broke
16. OVERSPECULATION • “GET RICH QUICK SYNDROME” • MARGIN BUYING • LACK OF GOVT. REGULATION • PANIC SELLING • 1929 STOCK MARKET CRASH
17. Black Tuesday: October, 29 1929
18. Causes of Depression Buying on Credit Borrowing Money Uneven Distribution of Wealth Poor Industry Stock Speculation •Buying on Margin •Black Tuesday Agriculture Overproduction Underconsumption
19. The New York Stock Exchange
 
 Black Friday, October 24, 1929
20. Run on Banks • The crisis in confidence frightened depositors who feared for their money. • Millions tried to withdraw their money because they feared the banks losing it. • 1929- 641 banks failed • 1930- 1350 banks failed • 1931- 1700 banks failed
22. Causes of Depression Buying on Credit Borrowing Money Uneven Distribution of Wealth Poor Industry Stock Speculation •Buying on Margin •Black Tuesday Agriculture Overproduction Banks Collapse “Runs” on banks Underconsumption
23. • Herbert Hoover, 31st President elected in 1929 • Philosophy: We’ll make it through the Depression if we wait President Hoover
24. What Is A “Depression”? • RECESSION = TWO SUCCESSIVE QUARTERS (3 MONTH PERIODS) OF DECLINING GDP (GOVT, CONSUMER AND BUSINESS SPENDING) • DEPRESSION = UNEMPLOYMENT GREATER THAN 12%
25. HIGH TARIFFS • SOMETHING HAD TO CHANGE • WE TAXED FOREIGN IMPORTS TO PROTECT OUR PRODUCTS • UNDER HOOVER THE HAWLEY SMOOT TARIFF IS PASSED IN 1930 – THE HIGHEST PROTECTIVE TARIFF IN AMERICAN HISTORY! • FOREIGN NATIONS TAXED IMPORTS FROM THE U.S. IN RETALIATION • HIGHER PRICES FED UNDERCONSUMPTION • NATIONS STOPPED PAYING WWI DEBTS TO THE U.S.
26. Causes of Depression Buying on Credit Borrowing Money Uneven Distribution of Wealth Poor Industry Stock Speculation •Buying on Margin •Black Tuesday Agriculture Overproduction Banks Collapse “Runs” on banks Tariffs Hawley-Smoot Tariff
28. Whose Fault Was It?
30. Christmas Day Breadlines in New York City, 1931
31. Police stand guard outside the entrance to New York's closed World Exchange Bank, March 20, 1931
32. Unemployed men vying for jobs at the American Legion Employment Bureau in Los Angeles during the Great Depression.
33. Unemployed workers in front of a shack with Christmas tree, East 12th Street, New York City. December 1937
34. Man in hobo jungle killing turtle to make soup, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Sept. 1939. Hard Times Unemployment
 · By the early 1930’s, approximately 25% of the nation was unemployed.
35. · Fathers and some children left home to find work. Families in Crisis · Marriage and birth rates dropped.
36. Evicted family with belongings on street, December 14, 1929.
37. · These shacks were known as Hoovervilles. Seattle, Washington Homelessness · Homeless families build shacks out of wooden crates and scrap metal.
38. Central Park, New York City
40. “Hooverville," New York City, December 8 1930 [Sign on shack reads: "House of Unemployed"]
41. Hoover Takes Action • At first, President Hoover was against offering direct government relief. • Instead, he asked private charities, such as the YMCA, to help.
42. Many waited in unemployment lines hoping for a job.
43. People in cities would wait in line for bread to bring to their family.
45. Some families were forced to relocate because they had no money.
46. “Hooverville” • Some families were forced to live in shanty towns – A grouping of shacks and tents in vacant lots • They were referred to as “Hooverville” because of President Hoover’s lack of help during the depression.
47. Hooverville
48. Out of the Dust: The South and the Dust Bowl
49. A drought in the South lead to dust storms that destroyed crops. “The Dust Bowl”
50. The South Was Buried • Crops turned to dust=No food to be sent out • Homes buried • Fields blown away • South in state of emergency • Dust Bowl the #1 weather crisis of the 20th century
52. Two Families During the Depression
53. A Farm Foreclosure
54. Some families tried to make money by selling useful crafts like baskets.
55. *FDR* • When he was inaugurated unemployment had increased by 7 million. • Poor sections (like Harlem) had 50% of the pop. unemployed • Instated the “New Deal” • Yea! Frankie!
56. • People everywhere were effected by the depression • It wasn’t till President Roosevelt took over and tried to put the economy back together that people even saw a glimmer of hope
57. To Kill a Mockingbird
58. Major Historical Happenings... • Jim Crow Laws • Scottsboro Trials • Recovering from the Great Depression • Racial Injustice • Poor South
59. Jim Crow Laws • After the American Civil War most states in the South passed anti-African American legislation. These became known as Jim Crow laws. • These laws included segregation in… – Schools -- Hospitals – Theaters -- Water fountains – Restaurants – Hotels – Public transportation – Some states forbid inter-racial marriages
60. • These laws were instituted in 1896 and were not abolished till the late 1950’s (even then still not completely).
61. • 9 young African- American men (13-20) accused of raping 2 white girls in 1931 • Immediately sentenced to death • Trials went on for nearly 15 years before all the men were dismissed Scottsboro Boys Trial
62. • Started on a train bound for Memphis • Several white men boarded and picked a fight with the black men • Whites were forced off train by the 12 black men. The white men reported the the black men had raped two white girls on the train to authorities • They were immediately arrested and tried in front of an all-white jury.
63. The trials caused a huge uproar amongst the black community.
64. Harper Lee
65. • Wrote To Kill a Mockingbird in 1960 • Based the story on her life growing up in Monroeville, Alabama • TKAM was the only novel she ever wrote
66. • The character of “Dill,” Scout and Jem’s playmate in the novel was based upon Lee’s actual neighbor, Truman Capote • Capote is famous for amongst other things, In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. • It has been said that he gave Lee Mockingbird as a gift.
67. • In 1962 the novel was turned into a film starring Gregory Peck. • It received a humanitarian award and several Academy Award nominations
68. The End