1929-1939• Stock market

crash

• Didn’t realize the effect it would have

• No money to replenish what was borrowed

Many found being broke humiliating.

The Roaring 20’s• The new concept of

“credit” • People were buying:

– Automobiles

– Appliances

– Clothes

• Fun times reigned– Dancing

– Flappers

– Drinking

Why was this bad?• Credit system

– People didn’t really have the money they were spending

• WWI– The U.S. was a major

credit loaner to other nations in need

– Many of these nations could not pay us back

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

And then….

• With people panicking about their money, investors tried to sell their stocks– This led to a huge decline in

stocks– Stocks were worthless now

• People who bought on “margins,” could not pay

• Investors were average people who were now broke

• Herbert Hoover was president at the start

• Philosophy: We’ll make it!

• What He Did: Nothing

• The poor were looking for help, and no ideas or help was coming

• Farmers were already feeling the effects– Prices of crops decreased– Many farms foreclosed

• People could not afford luxuries– Factories shut down– Businesses closed

• 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

Many waited in unemployment lines hoping for a job.

People in cities would wait in line for bread to bring to their families.

Some families were forced to relocate because they had no money.

“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.

A drought in the South led to dust storms that destroyed crops.

“The Dust Bowl”

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

Two Families During the Depression

A Farm Foreclosure

Some families tried to make money by selling useful crafts like baskets.

*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!

• People everywhere were affected by the Depression

• It wasn’t until President Roosevelt took over and tried to put the economy back together that people even saw a glimmer of hope

Major Historical Happenings...

• Jim Crow Laws

• Scottsboro Trials

• Recovering from the Great Depression

• Racial Injustice

• Poor South

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

• These laws were instituted in 1896 and were not abolished until the late 1950’s (even then, still not completely).

• 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 acquitted

• 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.

The trials caused a huge uproar amongst the black community.