Every time period has it’s difficulties. There’s always events or people that come along that cause us to remember a certain time. The 1930’s was definitely a time we all remember. We know it as a time that was very difficult for people everywhere in America. The Great Depression greatly impacted people. It was also a time where African Americans didn't have much freedom and they were always treated more poorly than the whites. The 1930’s was a hard time period for Americans everywhere because of the Great Depression, little freedom for African Americans, and segregation. During the Great Depression, life was not as easy as it once was. Many people were out of jobs and prices on things went down, therefore making it harder for people to make money. In a poem written by Donald Justice it says, “We gathered on porches; the moon rose; we were poor.” Money was a huge struggle during this time, causing a lot of
Racism was very big in the 1930’s. In an excerpt from The Help written by Kathryn Stockett, it says “Sit down on your behind, Minney, because I'm about to tell you the rules for working for a white lady.” During this time, many white people had African Americans working for them. They would treat them unfairly and had so many harsh rules, just because they were black. “You use the same cup, same fork, same plate everyday. Keep it in a separate cupboard and tell that white woman that’s the one you'll use from here on out” (Stockett, 1). If you worked for a white person, you had to use your things everyday, and if you got caught laying a hand on a white persons things, you'd be out on the street. African Americans weren't even allowed to share the same toilet as a white person, as it says “Don't ever let that white lady find you sitting on her toilet” (Stockett, 1). In the 1930’s, African Americans were treated so unfairly and racism was a very big
The great depression was a very hard time to make money. A good example of this is in the story ¨Digging In” by Robert J. Hastings. In this story it explains how hard people had to work to make money. The dad of the family sold iron cords door to door, bought a horse to break gardens, picked peaches, raised sweet potato slips, hung wallpapers and even painted a house for 5 dollars. Their mom also tried her best to save money. She usually kept the electricity and gas bill to 1 dollar. They all tried their best to survive the great depression. Some people had actually had hope.
Society was changing in the late 1800’s. Women and children entered the work field and competition was very high to get jobs. Even though more women worked during this time than ever before companies still preferred males for most jobs of authority or higher pay. It was impossible for women and children to make anywhere near as much as males. Also, African Americans faced struggles while searching for jobs. This ethnicity was often stuck in unskilled labor tasks and women of this race had extremely limited job options, commonly domestic servants and laundresses. African Americans living in the north did indeed gain better social and economic positions compared to living in the south. The main discriminating factor during this time was white vs. blue collar jobs. White collar jobs would consist of higher class citizens who would earn higher pay and often had more education. In comparison blue collar jobs could be obtained by almos...
In the nineteenth century African-Americans were not treated as people. The white men and women treated them as pieces of property rather than people. Throughout this time those men and women fought for their own independence and freedoms. However none of these freedoms happened until the late 1800’s. The black men and women of this time never got the opportunities to earn money or have property of their own.
Degrading low paying jobs were the only jobs available for black men. Women worked as servants for whites. Men had to work in mines, clean up toilets or work as police officers abusing their own people. “Shit-men-belligerent immigrant workers who, because of what they did, were looked upon by many black people-went about the communal lavatories picking up buckets of excrement”(83). Working as servants for whites was one of the better jobs for black women. Blacks could not walk around freely in their own country without carrying a passbook. Without a passbook, blacks could not work or travel. The passbook had to be paid for by black families who did not have any money. They were arrested and put in jail if their passbooks were not in order. Blacks were trapped with no way out, not even the hope of education.
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.
Hard Times’ ‘The Dirty 30s’ ‘The Great Depression’ (Ganzel n. pag.)This quote describes so much about 1930’s especially farming. Farming was hard because there was a really bad drought. Was out they rain no crops could grow. And the crops can't hold the soil together and not blow away. Which was really bad for the soil to blow away. Also the farmers didn't know that the equipment they were using would tear up the soil too much and it would blow away. The farming in the 1930s was bad because of the dust bowl and the price of everything was low.
The social conditions throughout the era were extremely poor. Legal discrimination was around and African Americans were denied democratic rights and freedoms. The southern states would pass strict laws to normalize interactions between white people and African Americans. For example, Jim Crow signs were placed above regularly visited places by everyone, such as water fountains, public facilities, door entrances and exits, etc. Even the most basic rights such as drinking from a water fountain was taken away from African Americans. They would also have separate buildings for African
Back in the early 1800’s, America was having a hard time accepting others. The Americans did not like having immigrants living in the same area, and they really hated when immigrants took their jobs. Many Americans discriminated against African Americans even if they were only ⅛ African American. Americans were not ready to share their country and some would refuse to give people the rights they deserved. This can be seen in the Plessy vs Ferguson and Yick Wo vs Hopkins. In Plessy vs Ferguson, Plessy was asked to go to the back of the train because he was ⅛ African American.
In the 1920s and 1930s, segregation was a massive thing for everyone. Minorities were looked down upon mainly because of their different skin color and culture, as people from all over the world started to come to America because of its freedom that it offered. They did receive many of the rights that was said to be given, nor much respect, especially from caucasians. They were mostly slaves, workers or farmers for caucasians. Although they would work as hard as they can, they wouldn’t receive fair pay. In the result of that, they were never able to live the life of a middle-class citizen. They were always low on money. Also, taxes would bug them as it would rise only for the lower-class...
Discrimination and prejudice were very common acts in the early and middle 1900's. Prejudice in this book is displayed by the acts of hate and misunderstanding because of someone's color. People of color were the majority that were treated unfairly. During this time in the southern states, black people had to use separate bathrooms, drinking fountains, sections in restaurants, churches, and even go to separate schools. Although much of the discrimination was directed towards blacks, there were plenty of accounts towards impoverished families by those that had money. Discrimination is prevalent when people that are different are called names. Some people thought blacks were automatically dumb because of their color. They weren't allowed to do anything but menial tasks (such as chopping wood) and hard labor because they were thought too dumb.
Overall, life in the 1930s for the black people was very difficult as they were pressured and pushed around as if they were animals.
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.
Equality is something that should be given to every human and not earned or be taken away. However, this idea does not present itself during the 1930’s in the southern states including Alabama. African Americans faced overwhelming challenges because of the thought of race superiority. Therefore, racism in the southern states towards African Americans made their lives tough to live because of disparity and inhumane actions towards this particular group of people.
The 1930s was a time period in which racial discrimination played a vital role in the lives of minorities.
During the great depression for most families barely had enough to eat. “With half enough to eat” (Shafter 1). Even though the people did not make enough to fill their their stomachs they would still “rather not be on the rolls of relief” (Shafter 1). If a jobs opened for hardly any pay the people would run to the farmers looking for the job. “Like a swarm of bees we come” (Shafter 1). The families did not want anything special, just the necessities to survive. People wanted to work for their money even though they were about to starve. They would rather die with a job and an empty stomach then be living, and have stuff handed to them.