The Great Depression was the collapse and fall of many banks and economies across the world. The Great Depression created damage to not only finances but also social growth. Its effects on minorities were tremendous across the globe. People had to live with almost no money and learn to adapt to the new life made for them. “... it brought unprecedented economic despair to the United States” (Brinkley 566) People had a challenging time holding on to their faith, beliefs, and social adaptations during this tough time. Some of the highest of highs ended in the lowest of lows.
The Great Depression was a traumatic time for many Americans, and even others from countries globally. Right before the depression was a stock jump, when the stock market rose and held steady for a short while. Until they were not holding as good and it suddenly plummeted. “On October 29, “Black Tuesday,” after a week of growing instability, all efforts to save the market had failed.” (Brinkley 562). The stocks created a large dent in the country's economy to the point people were fearing for their money and began doing bank runs that ended in banks not having enough funding to support such events. People ended up not having funds to support their families and lives, which created
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American banks could not withstand so much demand with no money to provide. America quickly asked for loans from allied countries, but they already had their own dues to pay to others. Many countries relied on America and when we did not have the needs supplied other countries began to fall. Specifically in America the African Americans were last on the list, “Many left the land either by choice or because they had been evicted by landlords...” (Brinkley 567). Hispanics got most of their jobs taken by whites because they believed they deserved more. The Asian Americans worked for their family-owned businesses or fruit
The Great Depression was a worldwide economic slump that affected people of all sorts. In the United States, the unemployment rose to an all time high of 25% in 1933. These were desperate times, and desperate measures were taken just so you could get by. Because of these desperate measures, the culture of the country changed. As Lawrence Friedman put it, “Poverty and social disorganization were eating away at the country’s social fabric.”.
The stock market that had for long been viewed as a path to wealth and richness was now a sure path to bankruptcy. The stock market was not the only one that was affected; actually, that was just but the beginning of the Great Depression. In effect, it was unfavorable for the clients whose money was already in the markets for investment: many banks had done that and that meant a huge loss to the clients. It was also a double loss in that though the clients lost their money, the banks were forced to close down. This is because the banks at the time depended completely on the stock market.
The problem was that many people that bought stock bought their shares on a type of credit in which they paid part of the amount required and planned on paying the rest after they sold their share. When the stock market crashed, shares were worth nothing and the investors could not afford to pay the remaining balance of the original purchase price. Moreover it was common for people to borrow money from banks to buy stock so it became a problem for the banks when the population could not pay back their
They were very upset that the bank lost all their money so the people lost trust in the bank. The stock market crash of 1929 was what started the Great depression. Things just got worse and worse since then. With people losing their money companies lost their money along with it. Companies could not afford to keep and pay all their workers.
Because the stock market was in such a great state, too many people started to borrow money from banks. The banks lent money recklessly, so they were not fully reimbursed because of all the money lost in the stocks. Banks started to shut down, so if any money was invested into that bank, it was gone forever. Along with the amount of borrowed money, when stocks began to fall, a mass panic occurred throughout the country. When the stock market initially started to fall, many people tried to get rid of the stocks that they had.
The Great Depression was the most longest-lasting economic downturn in history that happened during the 1930’s. African Americans, Native Americans, and women went through the most difficult times during the Great Depression. Many families were affected by it in many ways, fathers would leave their families and others didn’t have the money to purchase what was needed to survive. During this period of time, people had trouble with money and were going insane to find someone who would help them. People, especially in the South, would lose their jobs and not get money to help their family out.
The African American community faced many hardships; some might say, even worse then those faced by the rest of America. They found it harder to get jobs, and were fired before the Caucasian workers. Additionally, most new deal reparations didn’t apply to African Americans, so they did not get the jobs administered by the state to the unemployed. In order to be able to cope, the African Americans made their own charities, and their leaders urged them to unite for civil rights. Along side them helping each other, the government also tried to improve the poverty in African American communities.
The Great Depression is the worst economic downturn that America has ever experienced. Over a ten year period lasting from 1929 through 1939, America witnessed hardships like no other. At the lowest point in the Great Depression nearly 25% of Americans were out of work, and that rate increasing by twelve thousand every day. The Great Depression made many people question the “American Dream” and people were weary of the future. Many effects came out of the Great Depression, one being more government programing.
Because they could no longer continue to expand, a slowdown was inevitable. While profits went up, wages increased – which widened the distribution of wealth. Because banks didn’t have guarantees with their customers, a situation was created causing most people to panic when times got hard. Very few regulations were placed on banks, enabling people to spend money recklessly in the stock markets. This series of events set off the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world (History.com, par.
It is clear that the ramifications of the Great Depression before the enactment of the New Deal went far beyond just economic consequences. To illustrate this racial divide that existed in parts of America, the accounts of Jerome Zerbe can be looked at. In the interview with Zerbe, he goes on to describe the “Negros” by saying: “Let’s not forget they’re only one tenth of the country, and what they’re putting on, this act- someday they’re going to be stepped on like vermin. There’s too much. I’m starting a thing: equal rights for whites” (Terkel 192).
The Great Depression was an impactful tragedy in the United States of America that was responsible in taking millions of citizens from work, bankrupting small businesses to large corporations, and leading to decreased consumer spending and investments. It brought may citizens onto the street and singled out the very few of the rich. The Depression was a result of the stock market crash, billions of dollars in value were completely wiped out in less than one day, and investors lost the life time’s worth of money. In the very beginning of this period President Herbert Hoover and his administration attempted to lower the impact of the depression on the citizens of America, but they had failed to do so, and in fact made it even worse on the
During the great depression, the United States faced one of the hardest economic crises the nation has ever seen. Before this, the economy was rapidly expanding, and people all over the country were investing in the stock market. However this was not sustainable, by 1929 many investors had seen the stock market to be overvalued leading them to mass sell their shares (History.com). This resulted in an economic collapse that affected millions of Americans. First, it puts a halt to the workforce causing many people to be unemployed, and unable to put food on the table, people even lose their homes and life savings.
The Great Depression is viewed as one of the most notable economic crashes in the history of the United States, and due to the United States’ global influence, the Great Depression is studied by economists in all corners of the world. Between 1929 and 1939, the Great Depression held its grip the tightest on every US citizen, regardless of race, gender, or economic standing. The lower class increased its size dramatically as middle-class citizen lost most of their income, and the upper-class citizens suffered losses in their stock. Every person experienced a dwindling of their personal savings as banks failed across the country, workplaces went bankrupt, and farmlands diminished. With that being said, the Great Depression is notorious for weakening
The Roaring Twenties were drawing to an end when the Great Depression began in August of 1929. The Roaring Twenties were a time of profound social, economic, and political transformation in American history. For the first time, there were more urban residents than rural ones in America. From 1920 and 1929, the overall wealth of the country more than doubled. The Great Depression saw a rapid rise in crime as many unemployed workers turned to petty theft to put food on the table.
The great depression made a major impact on the lives of the people that lived through it. One group of people that is often overlooked are children that lived during that time period. When the parents lost their jobs the responsibility the parent once held was put on the children of the families to contribute to the income of the home. Because of this in the great depression “two-fifths of children were employed in part time jobs” (Elder 65). In Glen Elder’s book Children of the Great Depression: Social Change in Life Experience he discusses how the depression affected those children in their later lives.