Historian4

The Great Depression ~ Historian Amy Martin

1929 ~ end of the Roaring Twenties. No matter how much people want peace and prosperity, the good times of the 20's ended abruptly with the crash of the stock market on October 24-29, 1929. Any amount of improvements and new inventions of the 20's could not help the disaster about to befall the U.S. Starting with Black Thursday and Black Tuesday, the country fell into despair and ruins.

1920's ~ prosperity and finacial growth There was mass production, which helped bring products down in price and helped the majority of Americans afford them. They might have been invented before WWI, but were more commonly used in everyday households when they became cheaper after the war. One such product is the automobile. Before Henry Ford's assembly line, they were a luxury item that few possessed, but after, sales rapidly increased. [|source]

Before the crash, consumerism was the main focus of the twenties. People had jobs, therefore people had money, and they spend it on the new products and good times. One of the things bought were stocks, which had a major downfall not long after. [|source] Many great advancements were in this era, including many firsts, such as the first transatlantic flight by Charles Lindberg. Movies became more popular, and even more so, the radio.

But contrasting to this good times where the issues America was having with isolation and intolerance for other races. The Red Scare and the Ku Klux Klan were main factors for these issues. [|source]

Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929 ~ Wall Street Crashes No one saw the crash coming, but when it started happening, people started panicking. A record 16 million shares where traded that day and the previous week saw the loss of $300 million. The effects were seen right away and preceedingly got worse as the 30's followed. Millions lost their jobs, houses, property, and finacial savings. Millions were devasted and thousands died of starvation, suicide, and disease. [|source] One of the main reasons for the crash was the huge evidence of profit beforehand. Everyone thought the stock market prices would continue rising and the end of good times was not in sight. Even when the market began slowly using value many didn't sell their stocks, but when the market lost more points, selling increased until it was a frenzied and panicked. [|source]

Black Sunday, April 14, 1935 ~ the worst dust storm of them all Starting as early as 1932, dust storms increased in occurance until Black Sunday and continued for the rest of the decade. Their effects were felt for much longer, however. Years of dryness and drought preceeded what became known as the Dust Bowl. Over plowing and poor agricultural practices removed the grassland on the Plains. Layers of topsoil were blown off the land and it's been estimated that 100 million acres of land had most of its topsoil were swept away by the winds. The biggest and most memorable storm occured on Sunday, April 14, with a huge cloud of dust covering the sun and sky. [|source]

What followed was a nightmare for farmers. Agriculture suffered and made food even harder to find for struggling familes, not only in the Plains, but all over America. Farmers were forced to move from their land, which meant even more people out of a job. [|source]

1920 ~ 19th Amendment passed: women had recieved the right to vote More and more women were breaking away from the job of just housewife. They were working outside the home, starting in WWI. Their style and clothing became much more dramatic and different than in decades past. They became independent. [|source] During the depression, some women were able to keep their jobs as a way to help provide for their families. It fell upon the woman's shoulders to take care of the children and families. Many families had fathers abadoning them because they felt that they couldn't provide for them, so more burdens were placed on women. After the depression, women got more jobs in WWII and their involvment in governments and politics increased.