Abigail Spiker
US History
Mr. Wicks
May 5, 2023
CBA Essay
The American Workforce, a Turning Point 12,830,000. That’s how many people were unemployed during 1933. In other words, nearly 25% of American laborers were no longer working, hindering their ability to provide for themselves and their families. This was a direct result of the Great Depression, the largest economic disaster in American history. After the stock market crashed on October 25th, 1929, the country quickly fell into an economic depression. Along with high rates of unemployment, many were left without water or heating for months on end while others weren’t even fortunate enough to have a roof over their head. As a result, president Franklin D. Roosevelt set in action the New
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For instance, “The Alabama Sharecroppers' Union was the largest Communist-organized, black-led mass organization in the Deep South during the Great Depression. Composed of African-American sharecroppers, tenant farmers, and agricultural wage laborers, the union at its peak numbered an estimated ten to twelve thousand members'' (Source A). Many unions similar to this came about in response to the Great Depression to protect each other and their rights. These unions created social gathering and meetings to maintain their rights as American workers, something that is still very prominent in today's society. Other examples of this include the ILGWU. “The ILGWU was also known for its progressive approach to issues such as education and the securing of extended health benefits for its membership. By 1940, the ILGWU was one of the most powerful American unions, with more than 300,000 members” (Source E). With the rise and growth of these unions, employed and unemployed were able to create social movements that pushed the government to give them fair pay and support them as workers. Not only are these unions and their movements still active in the 20th century, so are the laws that they helped create. With the workers unions, things would look very different today which is why the American workforce changes are …show more content…
Gale in Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A184442409/UHIC?u=both41280&sid=bookmark-UHIC&xid=f2648e78. Accessed 19 Apr. 2023.
(Source C) Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Aaron Siskind." Encyclopedia Britannica, 4 Feb. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aaron-Siskind. Accessed 14 May 2023.
This source talks about the effects of the great depression on different aspects of America. It is credible because it is a Britannica source and Brittanica is known to be reputable. This source furthers my thinking because it fills in some of the blanks for the economic impacts of the great depression and the American workforce.
(Source D) Great Depression Facts. New York City, FDR Library. Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, www.fdrlibrary.org/great-depression-facts#:~:text=throughout%20the%201920s.-,At%20the%20height%20of%20the%20Depression%20in%201933%2C%2024.9%25%20 of,economic%20 disaster%20in%20america%20 history. Accessed 19 Apr.
Great Depression DBQ Write Your Essay Here: (Be sure to BOLD your document #’s and highlight outside information) After the stock market crash of 1929, America went into a severe financial crisis known as the Great Depression. During this Great Depression, about 75% percent of American Families lived in poverty, and 25% of people lost their jobs and became unemployed. During this time, many banks went out of business too because people demanded their money back due to the Stock Market Crash. This caused a huge economic banking emergency.
The Great Depression, which set its sights upon the US in October of 1929, ravaged the American economy. High unemployment, a loss in corporate profits, along with a trend in deflation caused the longest lasting and most severe depression in US history. FDR sought to combat the depression through a program of government sponsored attempts to provide relief for the population, recovery of the economy, and reform of financial institutions so that an incident such as the depression would not repeat itself. While the expansion of the role of government initiated by the New Deal programs were effective in reforming the flawed institutions of the US economy they were only somewhat effective in providing relief for the masses while providing little
The United States entered a period of economic catastrophe known as the Great Depression following the 1929 stock market crash. The political, economic, and social institutions of the United States were terrible during this period of time .Though there is not a specific reason for the Great Depression there are obviously contributing factors such as the overproduction of goods and the 1929 Stock Market Crash which is often said to have been the main leading factor to this catastrophe. The American people and the American government looked for solutions to the issues that Americans faced throughout the 1930s. Among the solutions, President Roosevelt introduced programs known as the ‘New Deal’ which were meant to relieve the American people and get the economy back on track.
“In the United States history of unions, early workers and trade unions played an important part in the role for independence” (Union Plus). In 1866, the National Labor Union (NLU) ambitiously tried to achieve equal rights for women, African Americans, and mandate eight-hour work days. They managed to convince Congress to adopt the eight-hour work day, but only for federal employees. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) with approximately 1.4 million members was successful in wage negotiation, and enhanced work conditions for its members. “A combination of factors contributed to the debilitating Panic of 1873, which triggered what the public referred to at the time as the “Great Depression” of the 1870s” (OpenStax College, 2014).
The Salvation of America in the Darkest Times The Great Depression was a dark period in U.S. History where many Americans were hopeless and unemployed; it ended and was solved by the New Deal. Some of the main problems that came up during the Great Depression were crime rate increase, unemployment, and suicide rates rising (Social and Cultural Effects of the Depression). Many of these problems were inspired by hopelessness. Most American’s could only dream of having a higher education (Social and Cultural Effects of the Depression). By 1933, thirteen to fifteen million Americans were unemployed (About the Great Depression).
Christian Stagliola Mod: F. History 1/12/23 5.4 Essay Rough Draft The Great Depression of the 1930s was a significant economic and social crisis that greatly affected the American people and the government. Millions of Americans lost their jobs and savings and were forced to rely on charity or government aid to survive.
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 1930s, America experienced one of the worst 10 years in history; the Great Depression. During this time, many citizens struggled with many problems, including extreme poverty. This resulted into people changing their lifestyle to adapt to the failing economy. As he was President, Franklin D. Roosevelt felt as if he failed the American people and created programs to help these people. The Great Depression had a terrible effect on people, such as changing a person’s lifestyle, people having feelings of hopelessness, and the President feeling as if he failed the American people.
Organized workers, trade unions, began to fight back pressure conditions and low wages. Roosevelt did not come into office as a pro-union political leader and did not have a coherent plan to restructure the economy during that time. Nonetheless, Roosevelt administration clearly that must do something to make the economy moving again. Initially,
The 1929 Great Depression was one of the most severe time in American history. As Unemployment reached uncontrolable heights and millions of people lost their funds and savings, Franklin Delano Roosevelt granted aspirations to the American citizens in their time of need. FRD’s administration and his New Deal provided a broad government that entirely changed the role of the US government. Even with everything FDR did, the United States economy never liberated itself to completeness and certainly not from the Depression. One thing that could be said about the New Deal was its influential power on the involvement of gvernment in
The feeling, shown in Nast's illustration after the railroad strike of 1877, that amalgamations simply lead to more " communistic values" and general uniformity made it very arduous to genuinely get anything done. Samuel Gompers, progenitor of the American Federation of Labor, argued that the right to strike was absolutely obligatory if any reforms were going to be made and not even this right had been officially granted to the people by regime (Document I). Gompers made it very pellucid that not even the very substratum of organized labor had been established and so up until this point the advances that had been made, were virtually frivolous. In conclusion, from 1875-1900 very few advances were made through organized labor in achieving better working conditions for workers.
The late 19th and early 20th centuries were a pivotal time in American labor history, marked by profound transformation and upheaval. The rise of industrialization brought with it a multitude of challenges for workers, who were forced to contend with a range of issues including hazardous working conditions, low wages, grueling hours, and a lack of job security. These struggles were compounded for marginalized groups such as immigrants and African Americans, who faced discrimination not only in the workplace, but in society at large. Various labor unions emerged in response to these challenges, but many fell short in their efforts to represent all workers. Skilled laborers were often the primary focus, leaving behind unskilled workers who were
In 1929, the U.S. was hit with the worst economic crisis in the history of the country, the Great Depression. The Great Depression left millions of people unemployed and cost millions their life's savings. The Depression lasted for ten long years for the American people. Since the Great Depression ended, people have studied it, trying to figure out what happened that started it all. The problem was, in fact, the poor economic habits of the people at the time, such as speculation, income maldistribution, and overproduction.
During the Great Depression, there was a dramatic decrease in labor union members as unemployment rates rose notably. Although it seemed like the labor movement was over, the movement would soon strengthen and expand in numbers and power with the start of the Roosevelt administration and legislations from the New Deal. Ever since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution era, there had always been conflict between the working class and employers as workers suffered poor wages, bad working conditions, and long hours. Labor unions, such as the Industrial Workers of the World believed “The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life”.
From 1929 to 1941 the United States suffered its worst economic crisis. At the height of the Great Depression over 25% of the population was out of work and many others were struggling to simply survive. It was “hard times”, indeed. Still, many economists argue about what caused the Great Depression.