The Great Depression - Hardships & Suffering (Pg. 104)

The Great Depression (TGD) was an incredibly difficult economic time for many Americans. The citizens had a lot of problems to deal with, one in particular was the Dust Bowl.

http://goo.gl/a4EoQ

(1.) The Dust Bowl took place in the middle of the United States, and it occurred when farmers over-planted crops that eventually failed because of a drought that lasted for seven years. Because of the drought, the land and dirt was exposed to the wind, which blew the dirt into the air, causing an environmental disaster, causing a lot of people to get sick and/or die because of the dirty air. Instead of planting just a portion of the land, the greedy farmers chose to plant cash crops and remove the prairie grasses, which had the ability to survive droughts, and hold the dirt down.

(2.) (a.) TGD affected children because they were malnourished--not enough to eat--and contracted diseases related to diet. They also couldn't go to school because the state did not have enough to keep schools open.
(b.) Families were affected by TGD because daily living was a struggle with little or no money to buy the most basic of needs.
(c.) Women had to get job, and they faced sexism because many people at the time felt that with husbands unemployed, moms should not be out of the house at work.
(d.) Men were affected by TGD because they couldn't support their families. There were very little jobs, and if a dad couldn't support his family, he would feel useless. Many left home to become hoboes.
(e.) People of color (Mexicans and African-Americans) experienced racism from whites.

http://goo.gl/BGC24

(3.) Hoboes were men who wandered around the country, jobless. They got around on train boxcars.

(4.) An enduring effect of TGD was that people saved, saved, saved. They didn't every want to be poor again.