The Great Deperession
The Worst Tragedy In The 1800's
What Happened in The Great Depression?
On Tuesday, October 29, 1929, The Stock Market crashed which led to The Great Depression. Throughout The Great Depression over 15 million people were unemployed but in 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt offered Americans a "New Deal" and shortly after was elected president by a land slide. During the Four-Day bank holiday, Congress passed the Emergency Banking Act to stabilize the already unstable banking industry. During The Great Depression the percentage of women and children working increased because of the special jobs they can do. The Great Depression ended in the early 1940's.
Who was effected by The Great Depression?
The African Americans were effected the most because their jobs were often taken away from them and given to the whites. In 1930 more than 50% of African Americans were unemployed but Roosevelt created a program that prohibited discrimination. Discrimination though prohibited kept on going throughout the south so African Americans switched from voting for Republicans to Democrats. Other Minorities experienced this also but it wasn't as bad of discrimination as the African Americans. As of course the whites had easier times during The Great Depression because they got more jobs and replaced the jobs of other minorities also the children and women that started working increased throughout The Great Depression.
How is The Great Depression depicted in the book?
The Great Depression is depicted in the book as a poor environment with nothing to do and no money to spend as stated in the book " Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. ...There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County." (pg. 6) because during the great depression there were no fancy goods that were being produced and the levels of poverty were increasing and there was no money circulating.