Life During the Life During the Great DepressionGreat Depression

Of the 6000 people hoping to get jobs on this day in Of the 6000 people hoping to get jobs on this day in New York, 135 were hired. New York, 135 were hired.

• Reaches all time Reaches all time high of 25%high of 25%

• In Harlem it was In Harlem it was 50%50%

• Unemployment Unemployment lines growlines grow

UnemploymentUnemployment

Breadlines and Breadlines and Soup KitchensSoup Kitchens

Breadline: A line of people waiting to receive food given by a Breadline: A line of people waiting to receive food given by a charitable organization or public agency.charitable organization or public agency.

“I was walking along the street at that time, and you'd see the bread lines. The biggest one in New York City was owned by William Randolph Hearst. He had a big truck with several people on it, and big cauldrons of hot soup, bread. Fellows with burlap on their shoes were lined up all around Columbus Circle, and went for blocks and blocks around the park, waiting.”

- Yip Harburg in Studs Terkel’s Hard Times

Limited Work“I’d get up at five in the morning and head for the waterfront. Outside the Spreckles Sugar Refinery, outside the gates, there would be a thousand men. You know dang well there’s only three or four jobs. The guy would come out…’I need two guys for the bull gang. Two guys to go into the hole.’ A thousand guys would fight like a pack of Alaskan dogs to get through there.”- Ed Paulson, quoted in Studs Terkel’s Hard Times

HoovervilleHooverville• Sprawling Sprawling

neighborhoods neighborhoods of shacksof shacks

• ShantytownsShantytowns

• Named after Named after Pres. HooverPres. Hoover

• People blamed People blamed him for the him for the Great Great DepressionDepression

““We thought American business was We thought American business was the Rock of Gibraltar. We were the the Rock of Gibraltar. We were the

prosperous nation, and nothing could prosperous nation, and nothing could stop us now. A brownstone house was stop us now. A brownstone house was forever. You gave it to your kids and forever. You gave it to your kids and they put marble fronts on it. There they put marble fronts on it. There was a feeling of continuity. If you was a feeling of continuity. If you

made it, it was there forever. Suddenly made it, it was there forever. Suddenly the big dream exploded. The impact the big dream exploded. The impact

was unbelievable.”was unbelievable.”Yip Harburg in Studs Terkel Yip Harburg in Studs Terkel Hard TimesHard Times

“There is not a garbage-dump in Chicago which is not diligently haunted by the hungry. Last summer the hot weather when the smell was sickening and the flies were thick, there were a hundred people a day coming to one of the dumps. A widow who used to do housework and laundry, but now had no work at all, fed herself and her fourteen year old son on garbage. Before she picked up the meat, she would always take off her glasses so that she couldn't see the maggots.” -Edmund Wilson, New Republic (February, 1933)

In Search of Work• Some

- begged

- relied on bread lines

- sold apples

• Others took to the road

- known as hoboes

- some fathers left and

never came back

Women and Children left to Fend for themselvesthemselves

Life of a HoboLife of a Hobo

A Hobo is a person that travels to work. A Hobo is a person that travels to work. A tramp is a person that travels and won’t work. A tramp is a person that travels and won’t work. A bum is a person that will neither travel or work.A bum is a person that will neither travel or work.

Men Wanted Men Wanted Jobs not Jobs not

HandoutsHandouts

Can the American Can the American Dream Survive?Dream Survive?