Chapter 14 Part 2 Pages 472 477 Terms

Chapter 14 Part 2 Pages 472 -477

Terms to Know • • • Shantytown Soup Kitchen Bread Line Dust Bowl Direct Relief

The Depression in the Cities • People lost: • Jobs • Their homes (evictions) • Lived in Boxes, rusted out cars, tin shacks • Slept on park benches or in sewer pipes • Used newspaper to keep warm

Shantytowns • Often in parks or on public land • Little towns of shacks • As time went on and people blamed Hoover for the depression the shantytowns were called… • Hoovervilles

Relief • Soup kitchens • Bread lines • Provided free food • Through charities, churches and public agencies

Most went hungry • Many tried to find food in dumpsters • Many ate out of garbage cans

Minorities • Were paid less to begin with • Were often the first to be let go • Competition for jobs caused racial tension and often violence • Blacks sometimes lynched • Mexicans sometimes deported

In the Countryside • If a farmer could hang on to his land he could at least feed his family • But falling prices and rising debt • Many lost their land • Between 1929 -1932 over 400, 000 foreclosures • Often resorted to tenant farming

The Dust Bowl • Between 1920 -1930 land in the Plains had been exhausted by overproduction • In the early 30’s drought • Then winds • There were no roots to hold the soil down • 10 tons of top soil blew to the East coast

Bowl. The Dust • • • Texas Kansas Oklahoma New Mexico Colorado

Many went to California • To find work • They were called Okies

The American Family • • • Rarely went out Stayed home with the radio, board games No waste Saved and reused foil, wrapping paper, etc. Divorce rate fell • Men who could not find jobs could not face their families and often just left • No one could afford divorce

Hobos • Men who traveled the country looking for work • Often hitched rides on freight trains

No federal relief • Sometimes cities or churches or charities did hand out money but not nearly enough

Women • Often sold baked goods or home canned goods • Sometimes found jobs • Women were poorly paid • Women were seen as unpatriotic if they worked as many believed they took jobs away from the head of a household

Children • Poor diets, milk consumption down • Many malnourished (during WWII the draft will turn many away due to prolonged malnourishment and its effects) • Poor diets made them more vulnerable to disease but few could afford doctors or dentists

Schools • Most supported by taxes so not much money coming in • Many schools shortened the school year • Some schools closed • By 1933 2600 schools had closed • Those that remained opened would nothire women

Youth • Many young men (11 -17) and some young women left home • They sometimes felt guilty about eating the family’s food when the younger kids were hungry • Some, though, left to find jobs or to travel the country like hobos and have an adventure • Was pretty dangerous

High School Graduation Rates Dropped • Often young people left school to find jobs to help their families

Social and Psychological impact • Some lost the will to live • Between 1928 -1932 the suicide rate was up 30% • Admission to mental hospitals was 3 times the normal rate

Many gave up • On marriage • On having children