Research Paper: The 1930s
When the Great Depression hit its lowest point, approximately 15 million Americans were unemployed and nearly half of the nation’s banks failed says, History.com. From the music that people listened to, to the clothing they wore, the people of the 1930s were forced to change their lifestyle.
The way people lived changed dramatically during the 1930s due to the Great Depression. Many new musicians were founded during this era. There was a huge switch in the music industry and the genres that existed. For example, two of many new genres were introduced throughout the 30s. Hillbilly folk and Western. The center of this new western music was Texas, where taverns with new jukeboxes or stages entertained patrons. Musicians dressed as cowboys became legendary during this decade. By the end of this generation, western music became a lot more danceable and rowdy (Berg). Hillbilly folk first originated from the Appalachian Mountains and the Southeast. A few folk musicians that prospered this genre were, the Carter Family and the Smoky Mountain Boys. Hillbilly music benefited especially from radio programming like the National Barn Dance and the Grand Ole Opry. As mentioned in “1930s: Music”. Although there were many more genres, those two are the ones that became very popular over the course of the 30s. Not only did music provide a distraction, but it also supplied entertainment.
Due to the Great Depression bringing lots of fear and uncertainty,
The Jazz Age was a cultural movement that took place in America during the 1920 's (also known as "the Roaring Twenties") from which both jazz music and dance emerged. This movement matched with both the equally phenomenal introduction of mainstream radio and the conclusion of World War I. The 1920s was the decade that marked the beginning of the modern music era. Some of the popular music genres were Jazz, Dance Bands, Blues, and Broadway. The decade marked the beginning of independent record companies, smaller operations that weren’t afraid to take a chance on music and artists that the bigger companies shied away from.
The Great Depression was a devastating time for many Americans. From 1929 to 1932, the US experienced an economic downturn that was calamitous to the lives of many people. Millions upon millions of Americans lost everything when the stock market crashed on October 29, 1929. After exiting an era that left people living a life of luxury, the stock market crash came as a surprise. As a result of the stock market crash, many became unemployed and many families were being forced to close their businesses. Although there were many factors that contributed to the cause of the Great Depression, the three main causes were The Stock Market Crash of 1929, high unemployment, a decrease in consumer purchases due to being “stuffed with stuff” during the roaring twenties.
The Great Depression- The Great Depression was one of the worst times for the Western Industrialized World, when it came to its economy The depression originated in the U.S, after a fall in stock prices that began around September 4, 1929. Cities were hit hard, especially those dependent on heavy industry. The Great Depression affected anybody that was indebted. Some countries affected; Canada, Germany, Great Britain. Not everyone was affected in the same way during the Great Depression. Many of the rich weren't affected at all but the poor couldn't do anything about it. Thousands of homeless families camped out on the Green Law in New York City, which was an empty reservoir during the Great Depression. During the 1930s, manufacturing employees earned about $17 per week. Doctors earned around $61
The Great Depression significantly affected Americans lives, and even everyday activities. The unemployment rate reached an all time high for this time period. Instead of waking up to go to work, Americans were forced to search for jobs all day long because workplaces could not afford to to keep people employed.
The Great Depression transformed American society and the way people thought about themselves and their relationship to the country. During this horrendous time period, many people lost many important pieces in their lives like money and jobs. Millions of families lost their savings as many banks collapsed in the early 1930s. They were unable to make rent payments or mortgage and many were removed from their apartments. The Great Depression challenged American families in vital ways, placing great economic demands upon families and their members.
The 1930’s was a decade of extremely hard times, following the stock market crash and an extreme depression. In spite of the tremendous hardships in America during this decade, it also became a time of great music that is still remembered today. Jazz music was highly popular in this time, and Billie Holiday was a famous jazz performer. She stood out from many other musicians because of her intense and passionate performances. Jazz arose from “unacceptable” segments of society, but quickly grew like wildfire. We often think of the 1930’s as the decade that jazz became civilized, and famous throughout popular culture through the work of pioneering artists like Billie Holiday. People did not own televisions or cable, so radio was their main source of entertainment, and music during this decade was both up beat and a source of relaxation. “Strange Fruit” defied musical category because it was considered too artsy to be folk, and too explicitly political to fit into jazz. This is why “Strange Fruit” became such a powerful phenomenon. Many other artists later took on this song, changing the genre but still portraying the same message. Nina Simone dramatized “Strange Fruit” in the context of the Civil Rights Movement. More important artists like Jeff Buckley, Rene Marie, Labor Camp Orchestra, and many others made their own rendition on the song, still leaving all of their audiences moved by the powerful imagery of the lyrics.
The Great Depression started in 1929 and lasted up until 1939. It happens to be the worst economic downturn for the United States and the the rest of the world. It caused companies and corporations to eventually go bankrupt as well as workers to be laid off. Another effect of The Great Depression is that factory production was reduced, and the banks started to shut down. In the lowest point of The Great Depression in 1933 nearly 15 million workers in America were unemployed and one half of the banks started shutting down.
Franklin D. Roosevelt stated in his second inaugural address that “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” The Great Depression was the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world. In the United States, the Great Depression began soon after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors. The U.S. could not emerge from the pit of a national crisis without profound social and cultural changes. This era affected people through spending cutbacks and unemployment, but also brought the American people closer to their
Research paper Thesis : The 1920's brought much advancement to today's society especially in technology the most important of which were music . be music important to you ? Music doesn't repel to everyone . Music has a huge impact on society even beginning of the Harlem Renaissance to today . Music has an immense impact on society even beginning of the Harlem Renaissance to today . Music is important to adolescents as well as adults . It is a way to run away from their problems . There are many styles of music . The 20's was known as the " Jazz Age " . This decade was known as the " Jazz Age " because jazz was very popular and just set out showing off the skills in jazz music . Jazz is a popular term to be described as miscellaneous events in life . In the 1920's jazz was entertainment . Jazz also represents rebellious behavior and biracial culture . The 1920's was the time of Prohibition . The Prohibition Amendment of the 1920's was ineffective because it was unenforceable , it caused the explosive growth of crime , and it increased the amount of alcohol ingestion . The crime rate increased because the Prohibition destroyed legal jobs , created black market violence , diverted resources from enforcement of other laws and increased prices people had to pay for prohibited goods . Jazz was not just music ; it was a pattern of communal expression . Jazz was different because revealed the rules-musical and social . It featured improvisation over a traditional structure . The
Music producers where surprised to find that this Appalachian music, they termed “Old Time Music” had become economically viable. Musicians from the Appalachian region were now able to quit their day jobs and earn a living from touring and shows. However, the songs they played tended to be covers of popular songs in the style of “Old Time” as opposed to the traditional Appalachian tunes. The Great Depression of the 1930s put an end to the commercial viability of old-time music, it would be out of the “Old-Time” tradition that modern commercial country-western music would
A national disaster in American history, the Great Depression of the 1930s had an enormous effect on the entirety of the United States population, and was not specific to any race or gender. The Great Depression, as its title suggests, was a long period of economic struggle in America, lasting from 1929 to 1933, caused by numerous factors such as the crashing of the stock market and the end of technological
The Great Depression was a very influential era in American history, affecting many future generations. One of the most prevalent impacts it had on society was the extreme poverty that swept across the nation, affecting both people in cities and in the country. The main cause for this poverty was the mass loss of jobs among the middle class. Millions lost their jobs and consequently their homes. Families lived out of tents and cars in shanty towns or Hoovervilles. In these camps, many people didn’t have their basic human needs met, children and adults alike starved. They lived in clothes that were caked in dirt and tattered, too small for growing children and too cold for the frail elderly. Government relief programs attempted to help but offered little support to the now impoverished families of the millions that lost everything.
The Great Depression of the 1930s was the economic event of the 20th century. The Great Depression began in 1929 when the entire world suffered an enormous drop in output and an unprecedented rise in unemployment. World economic output continued to decline until 1932 when it clinked bottom at 50% of its 1929 level. Unemployment soared, in the United States it peaked at 24.9% in 1933. Real economic output (real GDP) fell by 29% from 1929 to 1933 and the US stock market lost 89.5% of its value. Another unusual aspect of the Great Depression was deflation. Prices fell 25%, 30%, 30%, and 40% in the UK, Germany, the US, and France respectively from 1929 to 1933. These were the four largest economies in
The thousands of people trying to get their money back at the same time caused the banks to malfunction resulting in the closing of many banks. The result of closing banks causing a chain of reactions from people losing their money to factories overproducing. In addition, it also cause an huge increase in unemployment percentage shown in the bar graph in document 1, a primary source, Historical Statistics of the United States. As the years progressed after 1929, the percent of unemployment increased from 3 to high as 24 percent. The problems got worse as more problems began to built such as the election of the Herbert Hoover. Herbert Hoover did very little to help Americans because he thought they would get better just like his childhood. Another problem during the Great Depression is personally explained in document 3, a secondary source, an excerpt about Vera’s life during the Great Depression. Vera faced the problems of the typical American during the Great Depression, which were getting kicked out of her apartment to the inability to afford food. This excerpt describes the life of the average American during the Great Depression. Many
A.Attention Getter: The 1930’s is a decade that will always be remembered as one of the worst times in American history, but the genre of music that began to flourish during these difficult times will forever be influential. Many turned to music as a coping mechanism during the Great Depression. Jazz became an outlet of expression for the many artists experiencing hardships and it also let countless people forget about their troubles for at least one night by dancing and having a good time.