1929 1939 Stock market crash Didnt realize the

1929 -1939 • Stock market crash • Didn’t realize the effect it would have • No money to replenish what was borrowed Many found being broke humiliating.

The Roaring 20’s • The new concept of “credit” • People were buying: – Automobiles – Appliances – Clothes • Fun times reigned – Dancing – Flappers – Drinking

Why was this bad? • Credit system – People didn’t really have the money they were spending • WWI – The U. S. was a major credit loaner to other nations in need – Many of these nations could not pay us back

• Herbert Hoover was president at the start • Philosophy: We’ll make it! • What He Did: Nothing • The poor were looking for help and no ideas on how to correct or help were coming

• Farmers were already feeling the effects – Prices of crops went down – Many farms foreclosed • People could not afford luxuries – Factories shut down – Businesses went out • Banks could not pay out money • People could not pay their taxes – Schools shut down due to lack of funds • Many families became homeless and had to live in shanties

Many waited in unemployment lines hoping for a job.

People in cities would wait in line for bread to bring to their family.

Some families were forced to relocate because they had no money.

A drought in the South lead to dust storms that destroyed crops. “The Dust Bowl”

The Midwest Was Buried • Crops turned to dust=No food to be sent out • Homes buried • Fields blown away • South in state of emergency • Dust Bowl-the #1 weather crisis of the 20 th century

Two Families During the Depression

*FDR* • When he was inaugurated, unemployment had increased by 7 million. • Poor sections (like Harlem) had 50% of the pop. unemployed • Instated the “New Deal” • Yea! Frankie!

• People everywhere were affected by the depression • It wasn’t until President Roosevelt took over and tried to put the economy back together that people even saw a glimmer of hope

Major Historical Happenings. . . • Jim Crow Laws • Scottsboro Trials • Recovering from the Great Depression • Racial Injustice • Poor South

What are Jim Crow Laws? • Series of states’ laws passed throughout the nation (most notably in the South) aimed at separating the races. • Separate facilities provided were always inferior, sometimes absolutely horrific.

Jim Crow Laws • After the American Civil War most states in the South passed anti-African American legislation. These became known as Jim Crow laws. • These laws included segregation in… – Schools -- Hospitals – Theaters -- Water fountains – Restaurants – Hotels – Public transportation – Some states forbid inter-racial marriages

Examples of Jim Crow Laws in Alabama • Nurses: No person or corporation shall require any white female nurse to nurse in wards or rooms in hospitals, either public or private, in which negro men are placed. • Buses: All passenger stations in this state operated by any motor transportation company shall have separate waiting rooms or space and separate ticket windows for the white and colored races. • Intermarriage: The marriage of a person of Caucasian blood with a Negro, Mongolian, Malay, or Hindu shall be null and void. • Toilet Facilities, Male: Every employer of white or negro males shall provide for such white or negro males reasonably accessible and separate toilet facilities.

• These laws were instituted in 1896 and were not abolished till the late 1950’s (even then still not completely).

Education

Take the Test… • Will you be granted the right to vote? • Process: 1. Take off work to go register, potentially get fired. (Bosses who did not fire were harassed) 2. Fill out an application form, oaths you had to take were four pages long. You had to swear that your answers to every single question were true under penalty of perjury…the information you entered on the form would be passed on to the KKK. 3. Pass the literacy test. 4. If you pass and make it past these levels, you will be hunted down by the KKK and often lynched.

• 9 young African. American men (1320) accused of raping 2 white girls in 1931 • Immediately sentenced to death • Trials went on for nearly 15 years before all the men were dismissed

• Started on a train bound for Memphis • Several white men boarded and picked a fight with the black men • Whites were forced off train by the 12 black men. The white men reported the black men had raped two white girls on the train to authorities • They were immediately arrested and tried in front of an all-white jury.

The trials caused a huge uproar amongst the black community.

• Wrote To Kill a Mockingbird in 1960 • Based the story on her life growing up in Monroeville, Alabama • TKAM was the only novel she ever wrote

• The character of “Dill, ” Scout and Jem’s playmate in the novel was based upon Lee’s actual neighbor, Truman Capote • Capote is famous for amongst other things, In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. • It has been said that he gave Lee Mockingbird as a gift.

• In 1962 the novel was turned into a film starring Gregory Peck. • It received a humanitarian award and several Academy Award nominations