Christian Stagliola
Mod: F. History
1/12/23
5.4 Essay Rough Draft
The Great Depression of the 1930s was a significant economic and social crisis that greatly affected the American people and the government. Millions of Americans lost their jobs and savings and were forced to rely on charity or government aid to survive. Many people were forced to leave their homes and move in search of work, and the overall standard of living fell dramatically. The Depression also had a significant impact on the people, causing widespread feelings of hopelessness, despair, and helplessness. In order to address the issues of the Depression, the government implemented a combination of policies to increase job opportunities, established a fair work environment, and promoted optimism toward reconstruction.
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These programs were put in place by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and were intended to provide economic relief and recovery for all Americans. However, African Americans did not benefit from these programs to the same extent as white Americans. (Document 6) Furthermore, discriminatory practices by government officials and private employers meant that African Americans were often the last to be hired and the first to be laid off, even in New Deal-funded projects. Increasing job opportunities, in addition to establishing a fair work environment, would lower unemployment rates for African Americans and poverty rates in black communities during the Great Depression. These hardships experienced by African Americans in finding jobs during the Great Depression were similar to those experienced by young men during the same period due to the fact that both groups faced discrimination and experienced limited opportunities in the job
But unfortunately the reality was that the minorities had much harder times than white Americans. In 1933, the general unemployment rate in the United States was over 25 percent; at the same time, unemployment rates for various American minorities ranged up to 50 percent or more (“Great Depression and the New Deal Reference Library”1). Racial discrimination was high and minorities were the first to loose their jobs during the Great Depression. They were denied to work. They were often denied employment in public works programs, they were sometimes threatened at relief centers when applying for work or assistance, and even some charities refused to provide food to needy minorities, especially to blacks in the South.
Even though many federal officials understood that black sharecroppers (a resident farmer who gives a part of each crop as rent payment) were hit pretty harshly during the Great Depression, African Americans around 60 percent were denied access to unemployment insurance, government grants, social security benefits, elderly poor assistance, and so on. Administered by local politicians within the South, a large number of African Americans where basically not given any of the benefit from the New Deal relief programs. Ultimately further developing the black people’s
Great Depression DBQ Write Your Essay Here: (Be sure to BOLD your document #’s and highlight outside information) After the stock market crash of 1929, America went into a severe financial crisis known as the Great Depression. During this Great Depression, about 75% percent of American Families lived in poverty, and 25% of people lost their jobs and became unemployed. During this time, many banks went out of business too because people demanded their money back due to the Stock Market Crash. This caused a huge economic banking emergency.
Throughout the years to come, investments and consumer spending would crumble, creating a huge drop in industrial output and large numbers of unemployed workers due to the results of failing companies. As of 1933 the Great Depression hit an all-time low, 13 to 15 million Americans were unemployed and now half of the Nation’s banks had failed. With President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s policies and new deal programs, he aimed to end the Great Depression. Even though the economy would not make a full turn around until after 1939, President Roosevelt concentrated on immediate relief as well as long term, and restoring hope back into the economy.
The great depression was a very hard time for almost all Americans. In 1930 there were 5 million people unemployed and it was up to 13 million by the end of 1932 in America. Almost all of America was classified as poor and didn’t have a living wage and most of America was falling apart. The three most impactful reasons that the Great Depression happened in the United States was because of the stock market crash, unregulated banking institutions, and overextension of credit/excess consumerism.
Although white people suffered horrifically during the Great Depression, blacks suffered much worse; being kicked out of unskilled jobs that even white people had scorned even before the Depression. There was no relief,blacks were excluded and forced to organize in separate parties. Racism was central to the debate over craft vs. industrial unionism. Even in the North, Jim Crow’s company policies persisted.
By the 1930s, half of the African American population was unemployed. Race Relations in the 1930s and 1940s states, “In some Northern cities, whites called for African Americans to be fired from any jobs as long as there were whites out of work.” Unite 11 1930s: The Great Depression adds, “....in spring 1933 while the general unemployment rate was 25 percent, for blacks it was 50 percent. Also, the percentage of African Americans receiving welfare was higher than that of whites.”
During the great depression, the United States faced one of the hardest economic crises the nation has ever seen. Before this, the economy was rapidly expanding, and people all over the country were investing in the stock market. However this was not sustainable, by 1929 many investors had seen the stock market to be overvalued leading them to mass sell their shares (History.com). This resulted in an economic collapse that affected millions of Americans. First, it puts a halt to the workforce causing many people to be unemployed, and unable to put food on the table, people even lose their homes and life savings.
The Great Depression had a devastating impact on many groups and forced people to turn to crime. The crime rate increased to 24% with crimes such as bank robbery, auto-theft and drug trafficking all becoming common. Many workers were left unemployed and men returned to a scavenging lifestyle. Soup kitchens sprang up in effort to provide charity for unemployed people and homeless. President Hoover did little to help and did not involve the federal government in large scale spending as he believed that government’s involvement would harm the free market that brought prosperity in 1920.
The great depression, which occurred in the 1930s, was a major economic downturn that had a significant impact on the world. It was a revolutionary event because it resulted in significant changes in the and political systems, such as the rise of government intervention or social welfare programs. It also led a shift in societal attitudes and values, as well as changes in the global balance of power. The great depression was a revolutionary event that resulted in significant changes in economic and political systems, as well as a shift in societal attitudes and values.
The percentage of Americans that were losing jobs was outrageous “25 percent of all workers and 37 percent of all nonfarm workers were completely out of work. ”(Great Depression) and that only increased. The people moved and were kicked out of their lands feed to find work elsewhere but work was scarce and was no where to be found. The african americans also had a harder time finding work as the whites were given unfair priority. Their was a substantial gap between the rich and the poor and the poor was the lowest percentage of people in the Americas.
To begin during the Great Depression, Americans faced significant material, emotional, and psychological challenges. The consequences that reaped through the entire country included
The Great Depression was a period of an economic disaster that lasted from 1929 to 1939. The effects of the depression varied across the nation and had a significant impact on all the different classes of the society. The following investigation will explore the impacts of Great Depression on the daily lives of middle-class Americans. Middle-class Americans were severely affected by the Depression mostly because they stood in the most convenient place of the societal ladder, they were neither poor nor wealthy. So, when Depression struck, the middle-class almost disappeared from the ladder because the economic crisis was massive and affected their lifestyles drastically.
Considering the trials African Americans had to endure during the Great Depression, such as having lower wages and being chosen last for job opportunities, it is clear that they would have been the ones to receive higher grants than white Americans. While FERA was meant to provide immediate relief, it still left many African Americans in the dark, while benefiting white
The Great Depression was a time of immense hardship in America, with millions of citizens losing their jobs and homes. This economic crisis had a nationwide impact, reshaping US domestic politics and economics and leading to a dramatic shift in the American public's attitude towards the government. The economic crisis led to President Roosevelt's implementation of the New Deal policies, which dramatically increased the federal government's role in the economy and increased public support for government intervention in the economy. Additionally, the Great Depression shifted the public opinion from a preference for laissez-faire capitalism to a more pro-government stance. The effects of the Great Depression are still felt today and demonstrate