The Thirties: A Decade of Despair Essay
In the 1930’s many horrible things happened to the economy, and all sorts of people. Many became unemployed and were struggling to get money, food, and other necessary items to survive. All of these items were hard to come by in those days because of the stock market crash. Once the stock market crashed about $140 billion just simply vanished. This caused many immigrants to be sent back home, and the buying and selling of materials very difficult.
During the 1930’s the stock market crashed and caused many to go without a job, a home, food, or other life necessities. The government refused to help the people; so most people relied heavily on the church for shelter, and food. However, after sometime passed the government started handing out Pogey. Pogey was a form of relief pay that only people with a family of five or bigger could collect, and had no other source of income. Pogey was not easy to get however, if one wished to receive Pogey they had to wait in line for hours, and once it was their turn they had to announce their financial failure. They also had to have proof of their financial problems, such as being evicted from their homes. Once Pogey was received he could not use very much of anything, you could only use about one light and one burner.
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Before the Great Depression hit, immigration was at about 169,000 people in 1926, but after the Depression immigration went down to about 12,000 people in 1935. The reason they went so low is because the government, stopped allowing so many immigrants from entering the country. Plus, since most immigrants before the depression were farmers (who went into huge debt when the market crashed), they could not afford to pay off the equipment they bought. So police officers went to the farms and evicted anyone, who could not pay off their
The Great Depression destroyed most of the “aspect of American life, and the immigration was no exception” (Daniels, 59). The Great Depression occurred in 1929 was a worldwide hopelessness. The altered conditions affected a large numbers of people to leave, some used their own resources and the others were assisted by the United States government. During this time, it caused American government to give each country a maximum number of people allowed to enter the country, it did not disturb Latin American or Canadian immigrants. The Mexican immigrants that work in the United States had become very important to the economy of the country. Later in the 1950s, there was about 200,000 Mexican crosses the border without permission. They worked hard under poor conditions and accepted lower pay than the native workers. During the 1930s, the number of people leaving the United States had outdone the number of people arriving. While the American facing tough time with Great Depression, the “LPC clause” was passed by the President Hoover to prevent the Mexican from immigrating into the country. In 1848, the 80,000 Mexicans living on what had develop American soil could either transfer to what was left of Mexico or continue to stay and automatically become a United States citizen. The Great Depression caused the Mexican workers to move from one work place to another job and budgetary losses. Robert Divine a historian, describes that when immigrant answered “that there he had been waiting for job; the anti-contract labor clause could be used to deny the permission to enter.” This means that an official would have asked an immigrant, if they are looking for a job in the United States and if the answer was yes then the person was denied to enter the
In Daily Life in the United States, 1920-1939: Decades of Promise and Pain, author David E. Kyvig, creates historical account of the Great Depression, and the events leading up to it. Kyvig’s goal in writing this book was to show how Americans had to change their daily life in order to cope with the changing times. Kyvig utilizes historical evidence and inferences from these events and developments to strengthen his point. The book is organized chronologically, recounting events and their effects on American culture. Each chapter of the book tackles a various point in American history between 1920 and1939 and events are used to comment on American life at the time. While Kyvig does not exactly have a “thesis” per se, his main point is to examine American life under a microscope, seeing how people either reacted, or were forced to react due to a wide range of specific events or developments in history, be it Prohibition, the KKK, or women’s suffrage.
During the early 1920s the Great Depression took place. The Great Depression affected many people's lives. The immigrants caught the worst of it. They had just come from another country and were trying to start their new lives when the depression hit. They had to struggle once more with poverty and desperation in taking care of their families, the main reason they had left their old countries was to escape the same epidemic that was now overtaking ?the land of the free?. Immigrants, such as the Jewish immigrants, had to live in poverty-stricken ghettos without the necessities they needed to live healthy lives. The 1920s was the time of rapid change, it was the time of risque fashion, it was the time of which that if you were rich and had all the latest fashions then you were ?in? but if you did not then you were an outcast.
Hey there grandson! I’ve noticed a lot of unusual and crazy event taking place in our society, and most of these events can be confusing to understand. I am writing you to insure that when you get older and go through society as an American citizen, you can fully understand the nation that you came from and form an economic and political opinion about your nation. And what better way to give you advice about your future than to reflect on part of our nation’s past.
The 1920s were known as carefree and relaxed. The decade after the war was one of improvement for many Americans. Industries were still standing in America; they were actually richer and more powerful than before World War I. So what was so different in the 1930’s? The Great Depression replaced those carefree years into ones of turmoil and despair.
The 1920s were a time of leisure and carelessness. The Great War had ended in 1918 and everyone was eager to return to some semblance of normalcy. The end of the war and the horrors and atrocities that it resulted in now faced millions of people. Easily obtainable credit and rapidly rising stock prices prompted many to invest, resulting in big payoffs and newfound wealth for many. However, overproduction and inflated stock prices increased by corrupt industrialists culminat...
In Alabama between 1932 and 2003 many things have changed. The book "To Kill A Mockingbird",was set in the 1930's.I can see many changes in the culture and the general way of life.
The United States had an open door policy on immigration from the nations beginning until 1921. During that time, between 1790 and 1920, the population grew by 102 million. That’s about one million new immigrants each year for 130 years. Most of these immigrants were from European countries. In 1921 Congress passed the Quota Act which put a cap of 360,000 new immigrants per year. Congress did this because the public was concerned about the number of new immigrants and how it would affect the country. This act also favored immigrants from England, Germany, France, and Scandinavia over those from Asia, Africa, and southern Europe.
An overview of the 1930's and how many Americans' lives were adversely impacted by the New Deal.
The 1920’s was a period of extremely economic growth and personal wealth. America was a striving nation and the American people had the potential to access products never manufactured before. Automobile were being made on an assembly line and were priced so that not just the rich had access to these vehicles, as well as, payment plans were made which gave the American people to purchase over time if they couldn't pay it all up front. Women during the First World War went to work in place of the men who went off to fight. When the men return the women did not give up their positions in the work force. Women being giving the responsibility outside the home gave them a more independent mindset, including the change of women's wardrobe, mainly in the shortening of their skirts.
The 1920s were a time of leisure and carelessness. The Great War had ended in 1918 and everyone was eager to return to some semblance of normalcy. The end of the war and the horrors and atrocities that it resulted in now faced millions of people. This caused a backlash against traditional values and morals as people began to denounce the complex for a return to simplicity and minimalism. Easily obtainable credit and rapidly rising stock prices prompted many to invest, resulting in big payoffs and newfound wealth for many. However, overproduction and inflated stock prices increased by corrupt industrialists culminated until the inevitable collapse of the stock market in 1929.
The 1930’s were a decade plagued by the colossus economic downturn known as the Great Depression. With unemployment levels surpassing 20%, people did anything to earn money. This included riding the rail lines in order to look for work in other cities. In the American South, the problems of economic downturn and the problems of racial tension met in 1931 during the court case of the Scottsboro Boys.
The 1920's was a time of change in the United States. “The Roaring Twenties” had an outstanding impact on the economy, social standards and everyday life. It was a time for positive results in the industry of consumer goods and American families, because of higher wages, shorter working hours, and manufacturing was up 60% in consumer goods. But it was also a time of adversity and opposition for others, such as immigrants and farmers. Immigrants had lots of competition when they were looking for work and they weren't treated fairly by Americans, depending on where they came from and what they believed. Farmers were paid very little because the price of food kept going down, they also had the Dust Bowl to worry about. African Americans became further infused with mainstream America during the Harlem Renaissance. They were also able to organize and elect officials who would make life better for them. The Roaring Twenties was a very exciting time to live in and we can all learn what the real world is like, and how we can prepare to be ready for it, today and in the future.
October 29th, 1929 marked the beginning of the Great Depression, a depression that forever changed the United States of America. The Stock Market collapse was unavoidable considering the lavish life style of the 1920’s. Some of the ominous signs leading up to the crash was that there was a high unemployment rate, automobile sales were down, and many farms were failing. Consumerism played a key role in the Stock Market Crash of 1929 because Americans speculated on the stocks hoping they would grow in their favor. They would invest in these stocks at a low rate which gave them a false sense of wealth causing them to invest in even more stocks at the same low rate. When they purchased these stocks at this low rate they never made enough money to pay it all back, therefore contributing to the crash of 1929. Also contributing to the crash was the over production of consumer goods. When companies began to mass produce goods they did not not need as many workers so they fired them. Even though there was an abundance of goods mass produced and at a cheap price because of that, so many people now had no jobs so the goods were not being purchased. Even though, from 1920 to 1929, consumerism and overproduction partially caused the Great Depression, the unequal distribution of wealth and income was the most significant catalyst.
The Roaring Twenties was America’s golden age. F. Scott Fitzgerald once said,“The parties were bigger, the pace was faster, the shows were broader, the buildings were higher, the morals were looser, and the liquor was cheaper” (“People” PBS). The cultural undertone of the twenties was very different from the times before and during World War I. “ For the first time, more Americans lived in cities than on farms…people from coast to coast bought the same goods…listened to the same music, did the same dances, and even used the same slang” (“Roaring” History). The Twenties was a time of social and cultural change. During this time, things like the automobile and jazz became more popular and mainstream. These things were possible because America