The Great Depression, which lasted from 1929 to the late 1930s, was a severe economic downturn that affected millions of Americans. Among those who suffered were children whose lives were dramatically altered by the economic crisis. This essay explores the multifaceted experiences of children during the Great Depression, focusing on economic hardship, and the social and cultural impacts they experienced in navigating these challenging times. The economic devastation of the Great Depression led to widespread financial instability for many families. Job losses were rampant, and as a result, family incomes plummeted. With many parents unable to secure stable employment, children are often thrust into the workforce to help support their families. Child labour …show more content…
Children often had to take on adult responsibilities, such as caring for younger siblings or managing household chores, which altered traditional family roles. These added responsibilities placed a significant burden on young shoulders, leading to strained relationships within families. Psychologically, the Great Depression left deep scars on many children. Stress and anxiety caused by financial instability and the constant struggle for necessities like food and shelter took a toll on their mental health. Many children experienced heightened levels of stress and insecurity, which had lasting emotional impacts well into their adult lives. Daily life for children during the Great Depression was a constant struggle for survival. Malnutrition was widespread as families could not afford sufficient food, and diets were often lacking in essential nutrients. Children have to adapt to these harsh realities, finding ways to make do with less. Leisure activities and community interactions also changed significantly. With limited resources, children find new, often resourceful ways to entertain themselves and maintain a semblance of
No Promises In the Wind, authored by Irene Hunt, gives an excellent description of growing up in the center of the Great Depression. Chapter One begins with the alerting sound of an alarm clock going off at 4am. Josh, a fifteen year old boy, leaves his bed, and departs from his family’s home to deliver newspapers. Notwithstanding, the paper route brought very little money, but the money earned was needed. Directly after finishing his route, Josh returns home to prepare for school, where he anticipated the day’s end, knowing that Miss Crowne’s music room belonged to them after school hours.
The Great Depression is one of the worst time for America. Books, cartoons, and articles have been written about the people during the Depression and how they survived in that miserable period. For example, the book Bud not Buddy takes place in the time of the Great Depression. Bud is a ten year old orphan, who was on the run trying to find his dad. There are many feelings throughout the book like sadness and scarceness. There are many diverse tones in the book about what people were feeling at the time.
They way people interacted with others changed in the Great Depression. One of the main changes is the way the family was run. During the glutted 1920s, the father is the support of the family while the mother do the housekeeping. When the great depression struck, the men lost their jobs. They can no longer support their families. Because of self pride, many fathers left their families and never came back because felt that they lost their purpose in the
They left people without jobs, homes, and money. In the story “Digging In” by Robert J. Hastings it explains how people did anything to make money for their families even if it was only for 5 dollars. Even with these hard times some people still had hope like it showed in “Depts” by Karen Hesse. In this poem a farmer had hope that rain would come to grow his dying wheat while his wife didn’t think so. This was a very stressful time right until president Roosevelt made some changes. In the article “The New Deal” it explains how Roosevelt helped end the great depression with programs that gave millions of people jobs. The great depression was a very hard, stressful, and sad time for the american people that had many
The Great Depression often seems very distant to people of the 21st century. This article is a good reminder of potential problems that may reoccur. The article showed in a very literal way the idea that a depression can bring a growing country to its knees. The overall ramifications of the event were never discussed in detail, but the historical significance is that people's lives were put on hold while they tried to struggle through an extremely difficult time.
In conclusion, The Baker family went through a lot through the great depression, and it affected there lives in many ways that they thought it wouldn’t. This autobiography on the troubles him and his family faced during the Great Depression. During the Depression, the major problems that Baker faced through the novel were about the financial difficulties that his family endured, ending in result of his father passing away, the struggles of moving from rural life to urban life, and the lack of Medical attention around the area. During the depression, in Morrisonville there was a common occurrence as many towns people died from common illnesses like phenomena, or whooping cough. This book has much to offer to teenage readers who are interested in the story of one individual’s growth, development, and struggles of his life in the Great Depression.
However, for the worst affected, the most difficult effect on morale must have been the lifelong memory of seeing their children and family suffer, and having no power to change this. For the lack of power to change the future is the exact opposite of the ‘American Dream’. References: Prosperity, Depression and The New Deal, Peter Clements, 2001, Hodder and Stoughton, London Letters To The Roosevelts, various authors, date and publisher unknown An Editor Loses His Job In The Great Depression, Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression, Studs Terkel, 1978, Pantheon Books. Brother, Can You Spare A Dime? , Jay Gorney, 1932, Warner Bros. Music The Great Depression, Mc Elvaine R., 1984, Times Books, New York
The Great Depression, beginning in the last few months of 1929, impacted the vast majority of people nationwide and worldwide. With millions of Americans unemployed and many in danger of losing their homes, they could no longer support their families. Children, if they were lucky, wore torn up ragged clothing to school and those who were not lucky remained without clothes. The food supply was scarce, and bread was the most that families could afford. Households would receive very limited rations of food, or small amounts of money to buy food. This led to the starvation of families, including children. African-americans faced tougher challenges than most during the Depression due to discrimination. The classes hit hardest were middle-class
Palladino creates a historical background of the thirties in order to show how history related to and effected the personal experiences early teenagers were having. When Palladino wanted to talk about the challenges and repercussions faced by teens of the 1930s, how they were beginning to go to high school and develop a social group of their own, she first had to explain the historical context teens of the thirties were living in which was the Great Depression. Describing the historical context without directly bringing in teenagedom shows Palladino uses sociological imagination by implying a relationship between the Great Depression and the personal experiences of early teenagers. Palladino explains, “But the realities of economic depression, severe and unrelenting by the mid 1930s, altered their plans. Between 1929 and 1933, professional incomes dropped 40 percent, and the supply of white-collar workers dangerously exceeded demand...During the great depression there were 4 million young Americans sixteen to twenty-four who were looking for work, and about 40 percent of them--1 million boys and 750,000 girls--were high school age” (Palladino, 35-36). Later she elaborates to explain that much of teenage life was affected by this historical occurrence, showing that she understands history connects to the personal lives of the early teenage societal group. Palladino does this again when analyzing teens of the forties, “Although the nation had been gearing up for war ever since the fall of France in 1940…” (Palladino, 63), Palladino creates a fuller awareness of the historical context teenagers were living in, in order to examine the group by showing their relation to societal forces as a whole and the history being made around
During the 1920’s, America was a prosperous nation going through the “Big Boom” and loving every second of it. However, this fortune didn’t last long, because with the 1930’s came a period of serious economic recession, a period called the Great Depression. By 1933, a quarter of the nation’s workers (about 40 million) were without jobs. The weekly income rate dropped from $24.76 per week in 1929 to $16.65 per week in 1933 (McElvaine, 8). After President Hoover failed to rectify the recession situation, Franklin D. Roosevelt began his term with the hopeful New Deal. In two installments, Roosevelt hoped to relieve short term suffering with the first, and redistribution of money amongst the poor with the second. Throughout these years of the depression, many Americans spoke their minds through pen and paper. Many criticized Hoover’s policies of the early Depression and praised the Roosevelts’ efforts. Each opinion about the causes and solutions of the Great Depression are based upon economic, racial and social standing in America.
Sadly, the children had no choice but to work for very little pay. Their mothers and fathers made so little money in the factory system that they couldn’t afford to let their children enjoy their childhood: “Other working children were indentured—their parents sold their labor to the mill owner for a period of years. Others lived with their families and worked for wages as adults did, for long hours and under hard conditions” (Cleland). The child had no other choice, but to work for these big businesses.
Diary Of Man During Great Depression Dear Diary I am 29 years old and I come from a lower middle class family. My ancestors came from England, but I was born in Australia. I haven't got married because I am having a hard time supporting myself let alone have a family of a few. I lost my job when the Great Depression began and I got one. about three years later.
The Great Depression was felt worldwide, some countries more than others. During this time many Americans had to live in poor conditions. In the United states, 25 percent of the workers and 37 percent of all nonfarm workers lost their job(Smiley 1). Unemployment rates had increased to a 24.9 percent during 1933(Shmoop 1). Unable to pay mortgages, many families lost their homes. The cause of this was the Stock Market crash in 1929. Many investors of the stock market panicked and sold all their stocks. The results of this include frightened Americans withdrawing all their saving causing and hoarding it in their homes many banks to shut down and less money to circulate in the economy. Although the economy had taken a dramatic blow, there was hope. A new program was administered by the government to help people suffering from the depression. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) program helped improve lives of Americans affected by the Great Depression.
In American society today, childhood is considered a time for learning, exploration, and a chance for a child to make his or her mark on the world. Leading up to the Great Depression, however, childhood for working class children was seen in a different light. Working class children felt pressure to provide for their family, which inhibited them from getting an education and branching out on their own, while middle class children had a greater prospect for education because of the difference in wealth. The Great Depression brought hard times for all Americans and expanded the working class while shrinking the middle class. Because the working class children held close ties and responsibilities to their families and faced more poverty than the middle class, they had a lesser chance to move out of the working class as they had a commitment to work to support their families, or children without families had to support themselves, and had dimmer opportunities for education.
The Great Depression caused a great deal of impacts on society but by far the workforce took the hardest hit. Through this economic downturn, there was a drastic shift, the traditional aspects that were once reflected in society were now slowly fading away. Male dominated jobs were decreasing because of the emergence of industrialization. Many workers were now out of a job, because companies could now make more money using machinery and cutting back on workers (Saskatchewan History, 211). The stress of not being able to find work forced men to abandon their families. Many lived the life of a “hobo”, missioning around Canada to find work and having a heavy reliance on refuge camps and soup kitche...