Download The Great Depression

The Great Depression
The 1930s were marred by the worst economic depression in the history of
the United States. The Stock Market Crash in 1929 is often used as a benchmark
for the start of the Great Depression. Between "Black Thursday" (October 24,
1929) and "Black Tuesday" (October 29, 1929) stock prices plummeted and
billions of dollars were lost by investors. Most people, however, did not have their
life savings tied up in the stock market. The fallout from the crash, however,
devastated the economy and drove thousands of banks into bankruptcy. The
nation's economic system was trapped in a rapid downward spiral.
Nationwide the average unemployment reached nearly 25%, but was much
higher in some areas and demographics. Politically the nation was transformed
dramatically, leaving behind a much different federal government and a much
stronger executive branch. The most fundamental change, however, was the
social and psychological impact that the Great Depression had on people. Not
everyone lost their farm in the Dust Bowl and not everyone lost their life savings
following the stock market crash; the Great Depression did, however, touch
everyone's life. For many, the Great Depression challenged their faith in the
American Dream and created a sense of helplessness that affected them deeply.
For farmers, the Great Depression had been creeping up on them for most
of the 1920s. In the early 1930s, their struggle was made worse by a devastating
series of long droughts. The extra dry conditions killed off much of the crops
planted by farmers, leaving insufficient vegetation to hold the soil in place. Native
grasses had developed long roots to seek out water in times of drought, roots
which also served to hold the soil in place. With those grasses gone, crops dying,
and the topsoil lying exposed in long furrows, strong winds were able to easily
erode the land.
The Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl was the name given to the Great Plains region devastated
by drought in 1930s depression-ridden America. The 150,000-square-mile area,
encompassing the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles and neighboring sections of
Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico, has little rainfall, light soil, and high winds, a
potentially destructive combination. When drought struck from 1934 to 1937, the
soil lacked the stronger root system of grass as an anchor, so the winds easily
picked up the loose topsoil and swirled it into dense dust clouds, called “black
blizzards.” Recurrent dust storms wreaked havoc, choking cattle and pasture
lands and driving 60 percent of the population from the region. Most of these
“exodusters” went to agricultural areas first and then to cities, especially in the
Far West.
In response, the federal government mobilized several New Deal agencies,
principally the Soil Conservation Service formed in 1935, to promote farm
rehabilitation. Working on the local level, the government instructed farmers to
plant trees and grass to anchor the soil, to plow and terrace in contour patterns
to hold rainwater, and to allow portions of farmland to lie fallow each year so the
soil could regenerate. The government also purchased 11.3 million acres of
unworkable land to keep it out of production. By 1941 much of the land was
rehabilitated, but the region repeated its mistakes during World War II as farmers
again plowed up grassland to plant wheat when grain prices rose. Drought
threatened another disaster in the 1950s, prompting Congress to subsidize
farmers in restoring millions of acres of wheat back to grassland.
The Dust Bowl prompted a cultural response from artists like Dorothea
Lange, Woody Guthrie, and John Steinbeck, who lamented the American
economic attitude that had created the disaster. To them, the Dust Bowl signified
the final destruction of the old Jeffersonian ideal of agricultural harmony with
nature.
Migrant Workers
Life for migrant farmers was very hard during the Great Depression.
Farmers struggled with low prices for the crops they produced all through the
1920s, but after 1929 things began to really downhill. During WWI farmers worked
hard to produce record crops and livestock, but after the war, when demand fell,
the prices fell, so farmers tried to produce even more to pay their debts. In the
early 1930s prices dropped so low that many farmers either couldn't pay rent on
their land or went bankrupt and lost their farms. Farmers looked to the
government to step in to keep farm families in their homes, but little was done.
Agriculture in the United States was crippled due to the ongoing Dust Bowl
drought in the Midwest, while California was relatively untouched. During the
1930s, some 1.3 million displaced farmers moved to California from Oklahoma,
Arkansas, and Texas. They joined many other migrant workers already there such
as Mexican-Americans and Filipino-Americans that were working on the "factory
ranches" in California. As the Depression got worse, the growers lowered that
wages of workers and laid some off. This hurt the migrant farmers because they
were already being paid very little. Between 1929 and 1933, wages went from
$3.50 per day to $1.90 a day. Most of these migrant farmworkers did not qualify
for government aid because a three year residency was required. With little
income, poor living conditions, and no other options, these migrant workers
arguably saw the worst of the Great Depression.
Since, economic exploitation of farm workers of all races has continued
California and across the United States. Farm owners continue to pay migrant
workers as little as possible and offer them very poor living conditions. Anywhere
between 1 and 3 million migrant farm workers plant, cultivate, harvest, and pack
fruits, vegetables and nuts in the U.S. every year. Although invisible to most
people, there are many migrant farm workers rural communities throughout the
nation.
Since so many migrant farm workers are in America illegally, they are often
unable to protest inadequate conditions or report employer’s violation of labor,
health or safety laws to the authorities for fear of displacement and deportation.
Furthermore, farm workers lack political leverage, and so they remain a
disenfranchised part of the American work-force. This lack of legal status sets the
stage for farm workers’ lack of voice and power in essence making them
invisible. Like in the Great Depression, theses migrant farm workers have no
choice and the government has not little for them.
Women in the 1930s
During the 1930s, women had already gained rights that they had not previously
had, but they still did not have the same rights as men. For example, in 1920, the
19th Amendment of the Constitution was put in place which gave women the right to
vote. However, there were many other areas in which women did not have equal
rights, such as the work force and in the home.
When women could find jobs, they tended to be low level, low paying jobs; nearly
all management roles were filled by men. Census reports at the time show that three
in 10 working women were in domestic or personal service roles, such as cooks and
maids. Of those women working outside personal service fully three quarters were
school teachers or nurses. There were no protections at the time for women in the
workplace, meaning they could be fired simply for being a woman without
unemployment or severance. Working women also had no guarantee of equal wages
or treatment. For example, “in 1939, the median salary of a male teacher was $1,953
a year, while female teachers received only $1,394.”
If women sought work during the depression they were frequently scorned for
taking jobs and money away from men. In large segments of society, women were
still thought to belong in the home.Women who had jobs were often pressured to
give up their jobs for 'family men.' Some even blamed women for the depression
itself, claiming that if women would give up their jobs unemployment would be
nearly eliminated. Many women had no choice but to work, providing the sole source
of support for themselves or their families.
Although many did their best to keep women out of the workplace, single women
during the depression had few options. Women were still actively discouraged from
seeking higher education in many places and were not allowed in some schools.
When they could go to school it was rarely for professional degrees. In addition to
women who were not married, many women were temporarily single because of the
depression. Many men traveled seeking work and many of those did not find it or
were unable to send money home. There were also no real social programs until
Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal programs began to be passed in the mid to late
1930s.
Issues of Race in the 1930's
The Great Depression of the 1930s was catastrophic for all workers. But as
usual, Blacks suffered worse, pushed out of unskilled jobs previously scorned by
whites before the depression. Blacks faced unemployment of 50 percent or more,
compared with about 30 percent for whites. Black wages were at least 30 percent
below those of white workers, who themselves were barely at subsistence level.
As the number of rural blacks seeking jobs in cities escalated, urban black
workers experienced increasing difficulties. Black urban unemployment reached
well over 50 percent, more than twice the rate of whites. In southern cities, white
workers rallied around such slogans as, "No Jobs for Niggers Until Every White
Man Has a Job" and "Niggers, back to the cotton fields—city jobs are for white
folks." The most violent episodes took place on southern railroads, as unionized
white workers and the railroad brotherhoods intimidated, attacked, and murdered
black firemen in order to take their jobs. Nearly a dozen black firemen lost their
jobs in various parts of the South. As one contemporary observer succinctly
stated, "The shotgun, the whip, the noose, and Ku Klux Klan practices were being
resumed in the certainty that dead men not only tell no tales, but create
vacancies."
For their part, in the North and South, black women were forced into the
notorious Depression era "slave market," where even working-class white women
employed black women at starvation wages, as little as $5 per week for full-time
laborers in northern cities. In their studies of the market in Bronx, New York, two
black women compared the practice to the treatment of slaves in Harriet Beecher
Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. Despite mass suffering, the Republican
administration of Herbert Hoover did little to aid the poor and destitute.
There was no relief from the liberal Roosevelt administration, who’s
National Recovery Act (NRA) of 1933 was soon referred to by Blacks as the
“Negro Removal Act.” Although its stated goal was nondiscriminatory hiring and
an equal minimum wage for whites and Blacks, NRA public works projects rarely
employed Blacks and maintained racist wage differentials when they did. Nor did
traditional organized labor offer any alternative. Blacks were either excluded or
forced to organize in separate unions. Black workers who tried to organize often
found themselves a target of lynch mobs, in both the North and South.
Treatment of Special Populations
Mentally handicapped people in the 1930's were looked down upon by the
members of society. They were simply considered to be 'stupid' or ‘crazy’. During
the 1930's, many mentally handicapped individuals had a life expectancy of only
20 years; they weren't taken care of as they are today, so they were unable to live
for very long. Mentally handicapped people were often tied down to beds and
kept from interacting with other individuals. They weren't considered to be worth
much, so they were treated poorly.
During this time, these populations weren't given any rights. Times have
changed since then, but during the 1930's, mentally handicapped people
struggled beyond their mental vulnerabilities, because society gave up on them
and they were put into institutes like animals in cages.
A lack of research made it almost impossible for mentally handicapped
people to get any better or for their conditions to improve. The longing to help
them was often not present, so many of these people were locked up in institutes
until they passed on.
Mental hospital abuse increased during the great depression, there was a
sudden rapid flow of patients coming into the hospitals for many reasons. Some
were homeless and some families could not afford to take care of their children.
Many people felt that mental hospitals in the 1930's were a sort of a “hell.” Due to
many hospitals being under-staffed and not having many ways for the staff to
protect themselves from their patients, many patients were forced to stay in
straight jackets for long periods of time; some of the more abusive staff members
who worked in the hospitals would beat the patients into submission.
Some doctors did experimentation with medication and 'lobotomies',
however, most of the time they were unsuccessful. Many patients were given
drugs that left them in a zombie like state. There were also a few different types of
shock therapy: insulin, Metrazol and electroconvulsive therapy. All of these
therapies induced seizures in patients. Many psychiatrists claimed that these
therapies worked by "shocking" patients out of their illness.
The families of mentally handicapped individuals were also shunned. They
weren't treated right because of the conditions that their family members
possessed. It was unfair and unfortunate.
To add to this problem, hospitals in the United States were overcrowded -by 1940, there were around 1 million patients, and the population was growing by
80% per year. Conditions were also deteriorating due to a lack of funding during
the Great Depression.
Ranching Life
The families living on these hill ranches were very resourceful. Though
raising cattle was their main source of income, they would also engage in a great
amount of subsistence farming in order to put food on their tables. These families
usually had their own blacksmith shop to shoe horses, fix wagons, and fabricate
random necessary parts around the ranch. Many of them also had a milk cow or
two, some chickens and hens for eggs, pigs for pork, and a small vegetable
garden. These were all things that would minimize the need for traveling into
town for supplies, tools and other necessities. In fact, someone living on a hill
ranch in the 1920s might not make the journey into town more than once a month
since the trip would take the entire day. A hill-rancher would need to begin the
journey at 5 a.m. just to make it back home by 10 p.m. Families living on hill
ranches were reliant on supplies that could only be acquired in town, so they had
to carefully plan what items to buy—and when—in order to make ends meet and
maximize their infrequent journeys into town.
The most prominent danger came from farm machinery. The 1930s was a
time of agricultural mechanization. Labor that had previously been completed by
horses or laboring men was becoming the job of machines. Tractors, grain drills,
and combines provided greater efficiency but also new dangers.The most
notoriously dangerous machine was the threshing machine. Invented by Scottish
mechanical engineer Andrew Meikle in the late 18th century, the machine used a
series of teeth and rotating blades to separate the grain from the straw. The
danger came from the “pinch points,” where the belt and gear drives came
together. A hand caught in a pinch point was easily severed. Clothing caught in a
pinch point could drag other body parts or the entire body into the machinery.
Pit silos and manure sheds presented another danger: deadly gasses. Pit
silos were used to store silage (cut cornstalks and other organic waste), and they
could be as large as 24 feet across and about 60 feet deep. Delbert Apetz, a
laborer, remembers, "That silage formed a gas and usually you let the lantern
down [to check for gas before entering the silo]. And if it went out, why you knew
there was gas down there." A dangerous mixture of hydrogen sulfide, carbon
dioxide, and methane inside a pit silo or manure shed could suck the oxygen out
of the lungs and suffocate an unlucky laborer.There were a host of other dangers
for laborers on large farms. Blacksmiths were often victims of mule kicks (mules
generally do not appreciate the process of being re-shoed). Horses presented the
possibility of being trampled. There were several outbreaks of staph food
poisoning in the 1930s. Staphylococci, which could cause severe diarrhea and
vomiting, could turn up in milk, eggs, meats, and some baked goods.
Censorship
What would you do if you went to the library to check out a book, only to find it
wasn’t there? Not because it was already checked out, but because someone else
disapproved of its content and had it removed from library shelves?
Not likely to happen? Think again.
Despite the perception that censorship no longer occurs in the United States,
attempts to ban books frequently take place in our schools and libraries. A challenge is
a formal, written complaint requesting a book be removed from library shelves or
banned from the school curriculum.
According to the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual
Freedom (OIF), there were 464 reported attempts to remove or restrict materials from
schools and libraries in 2012 and more than 17,700 attempts since 1990, when the ALA
began to record book challenges.
While not every book is intended for every reader, each of us has the right to
choose for ourselves what to read, listen to or view. It is thanks to the commitment of
librarians, teachers, parents and students that most challenges are unsuccessful and
national awareness campaigns such as Banned Books Week, Sept. 22 - 28, which
stresses the importance of preventing censorship and ensuring everyone’s freedom to
read any book, no matter how unorthodox or unpopular.
Book challenges to school library materials are not the only threat to students’
freedom of inquiry. Online resources, including legitimate educational websites and
academically useful social networking tools, are being blocked and filtered in school
libraries. In an effort to raise awareness, the American Association of School Librarians
(AASL), a division of the ALA, has designated one day during Banned Books Week, as
Banned Websites Awareness Day - Wednesday, Sept. 25 - and is asking school
librarians and other educators to promote an awareness of how excessive filtering
affects student achievement.
For more than 30 years, libraries and bookstores have celebrated Banned Books
Week by hosting special events and exhibits on the power of literature and the harms of
censorship. Readers from across the United States and around the world will
demonstrate their support for free speech by participating in a Virtual Read-Out on
YouTube where participants will read from their favorite banned books. More than 1,500
videos have been submitted since the read-out began in 2011, including many by
bestselling authors and celebrities such as Sherman Alexie, Laurie Halse Anderson,
Khaled Hosseini, Judy Blume, Chris Crutcher, Whoopi Goldberg, Lauren Myracle and
many others.
We must keep in mind that even if the motivation to ban or challenge a book is
well intentioned, the outcome is detrimental. Censorship denies our freedom as
individuals to choose and think for ourselves. Young people especially deserve our
trust. Reading literature that challenges them and encourages them to think about
others and their own place in the world does no harm and can only spur them to
become better students and better persons.
Danger does not arise from viewpoints other than our own; the danger lies in
allowing others to decide for us and our communities which reading materials are
appropriate!