Standard 17

The student will analyze the causes and

consequences of the Great Depression.

A

These factors - uneven wealth,

rising debt, stock speculation,

overproduction, and the

hardships of farmers and

workers - clearly signaled

trouble in the economy

Uneven Prosperity

It was mainly the rich

who got richer with

the stock market.

Only a small

population held most

of the nation’s wealth

Buying on Credit

Another sign of danger

was an increase in

personal debt.

Playing the Stock Market

Because of the rapid rise of the stock market, speculation became very popular.

Speculation — making high-risk investments in hopes of getting a high gain.

Overspeculation

During the 1920s,

speculators bought stocks

with borrowed money, then

pledged those stocks as

collateral to buy more

stocks.

The stock market boom

was based on borrowed

money and optimism

instead of real value.

Too Many Goods, Too Little Demand

By the late 1920s, the country’s warehouses held

piles of unbought consumers goods

Trouble for Farmers

Falling farm prices

made farmers unable to

repay their debts for

land and machinery.

Trouble for Workers

Industrial workers

were still making very

little money for the

long number of hours

that they were

working.

Ex.: Women worked

56-hour weeks,

earning 16 to 18 cents

an hour.

The Stock Market Crashes: Black Tuesday

B

The Dust Bowl

It was a region in the

Great Plains where

drought and dust

storms took place for

much of the 1930s.

It devastated the farms

and economies of the

Midwest.

Caused by over

farming and drought.

The Dust Bowl

Dust Bowl Video

Hoovervilles

Hoovervilles were

shanty towns, with

shacks of tar paper,

cardboard, or scrap

metal.

The name mocked

President Hoover,

whom many people

blamed for the

depression.

The Great Depression

Migrant Mother

She told me her age, that she was 32. She

said that they had been living on frozen

vegetables from the surrounding fields, and

birds that the children killed. She had just

sold the tires from her car to buy food. There

she sat in that lean-to tent with her children

huddled around her, and seem to know that

my pictures might help her, and so she helped

me. There was a sort of equality about it.

Florence Thompson Says years

later…. “I didn’t get anything out of it. I wish she

hadn’t of taken my picture.… She didn’t ask

my name. She said she wouldn’t sell the

pictures. She said she’d send me a copy. She

never did.” Admitting some pride in being the

subject of a famous photograph, she

concluded, “But what good’s it doing me?”

Intense Drought

Contributed to

the

Dust Bowl

Hard Times for

Everyone

Be prepared to answer the

following questions….

How did the Great Depression affect their childhood?

Where were they from? How was their area affected by the Depression?

What did they do for entertainment?

How did living through the Great Depression continue to affect them?