Feature Article: America in Crisis
America In Crisis
by Alysha Scott, Editor
The Great Depression began in October 1929 because the stock market crashed rapidly and without warning. Thousands of people lost large sums of money and many lost everything they owned. The stock market crash led the United States into a long period of uncertainty, which would later become known as The Great Depression. The period is marked as the longest and worst period of unemployment and low business activity. Banks, stores, and factories were closed and millions of Americans were jobless, homeless, and penniless.
Farmers perhaps faced the worst
conditions during the great depression. As the depression began, farmers
produced a surplus
of
wheat and other crops, making them cheap enough for the average person to buy,
however it was still too expensive, and the overproduction pushed the farmers
even further into debt. As the depression roared on farmers started to lose
sight of what was important, as they waited for help that would take years to
arrive. A farmer found themselves unable to pay their employees, their
equipment was repossessed, and their land was reclaimed. Although few people
died from starvation, many could not afford food and did not have enough to eat.
Some people were forced to search garbage dumps for food or ate weeds.
Family life during the depression was also profoundly impacted. Many children took on greater responsibilities at an earlier age, teenagers found jobs when their parents could not, reversing the normal roles of provider and dependent. Sometimes children even had to comfort their despairing parents. The average income of a family declined drastically over during this period to $1,500 a year. And families were force to pass the time playing homemade games, or played with items that did not require a lot of money. Families also delayed marriages, having children and getting divorced, because they simply could not afford it.
The
impact that the depression had was less dramatic, but ultimately more damaging,
for minorities in America than for whites. A few years into the Depression about
fifty percent of the nation's African American workers were unemployed. African
Americans were frequently forced out of jobs in order to give them to unemployed
whites.
As a result of The Great Depression daily life for many Americans changed. Life was tough but they remained optimistic that help was on the way and with the election of Franklin Roosevelt they finally got the help they had been longing for.