The Struggle Of The 1920s

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 Dust Bowl brought about substantial negative effects on the economy and agriculture of the Great Plains and aggravated what was left of the American economy during the great Depression. The dust storms ruined everything on the Great Plains including crops and entire farms, hence ruining the careers and livelihoods of many farmers (Egan, 2). As a consequence, the American economy collapsed even more during the Great Depression. The help of the government and training on better farming techniques greatly helped the farmers to get back on their feet. A combination of human actions and environmental factors were responsible for causing the dust storms and in turn, the Dust Bowl made numerous people abandon their homes, suffer, and eventually

Lasting from 1929 to 1939, The Great Depression is the worst economic collapse in American history. Since Americans began spending less, the unemployment rate increased exponentially to over 15%. Due to the increase of unemployment, more Americans found themselves without any means to support their families, causing an abundance of poverty. Americans were left hopeless for a better future until Franklin Delano Roosevelt became president in 1933. He made a promise that he would do whatever it takes to heal Americans wounds.

During the 1930‟s and several years to follow, many people in the United States felt the struggles caused by the Great Depression. Families and individuals in the Plains, a term used when referring to the surrounding areas near Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska, were hit by the Dust Bowl, to make matters worse. Dozens of dust storms would obliterate these people‟s crops and agriculture – for some, the only source of income. Millions of acres of land became so full of dust that the soil was just not suitable for the growth of crops. This made life extremely difficult for people in this area because their homes, the only places they‟ve known for years, had become useless and torn down due to the excessive amounts of dust.

The Great Depression was a dreadful worldwide economic depression that occurred in the 1930s and it was the most profound and longest depression in the American History, which lasted from 1929-1939. Although the Great Depression began soon after the crash of the stock market in October 1929, it is too straightforward to say that that was the major cause of the Great Depression. This crash did not by itself cause the Great Depression. Even before the year 1929, signs of economic trouble had become evident. (Give Me Liberty! An American History, 5TH Edition, Eric Foner, Pg 811).

The 1930s were seasons of extensive hardship on the Great Plains. Settlers managed with the Great Depression, as well as with years of droughts that dove an already suffering society into an attack of tireless dust storms that lasted for months. The Dust bowl conveyed an enormous agrarian and monetary hit to the Great Plains and destroyed what was left of the United States Economy during the Great Depression. It continued for a decade, 1930 to 1939, and wrecked ranches and lives all over Texas, Oklahoma panhandles, Colorado, parts of New Mexico, Canada, and Kansas. Monstrous dust storms wrecked pretty much everything from harvests, overwhelming ranches, in such a way it crushed the income and careers of thousands of farmers.

In "The Dust Bowl" the author states, "Unfortunately, during the Great Depression, the Great Plains were hit hard with both a drought and horrendous dust storms, creating what became known as the Dust Bowl." Because of the drought and dust storms, farmers couldn't grow crops, meaning they couldn't make money, nor eat. According to "The Dust Bowl", "Banks would then foreclose on the small farms and the farmer's family would be both homeless and unemployed." Meaning because farmers couldn't grow crops to pay off debt, the banks would have to foreclose on the farms. So the Great Depression deeply impacted farmers in negative

In November 1933, the worst drought in the history of the United States occurred across the Great Plains. The farming economy had already been hit hard by the depression and these storms created even more devastation. This large area of the plains became tagged with the name the “Dust Bowl”. Also known as “the dirty thirties” the dust bowl affected many farmers and their families in the Southwest/Midwest. The dust clouds caused by wind erosion, drought, and hardships led to a turning point not only in the agriculture effects of the world, but also the economic views.

Between the 1930s and 1940s, the southwestern Great Plains region of America suffered a severe environmental disaster known as the Dust Bowl, that resulted from the combination of a huge water shortage and harsh farming techniques. The drought-stricken plains experienced relentless dust storms that swept through Texas to Nebraska, killing crops, livestock and people. The Dust Bowl further intensified the devastating economical impacts of the Great Depression and drove hundreds of families to migrate in search of work and better living conditions all the while capturing the nation’s artists, musicians, and writers.

The Great Depression time period took place between the years 1929 and 1939 and it affected millions of Americans through all its time. Several people like Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, and Dorothea Lange served an impact during this time. The stock crash of this time period left a decade of consequences for the lives of many Americans. The economic plumet of the 1930’s can also be related to our economic standings today.

During the 20th century, the people of America had to adjust to new desires, lifestyles, and the new materialistic economy. After entering World War I, the aftermath included false positives that in the end, turned out to be complete negatives. Citizens of America possessed materialistic beliefs that led to disappointments. African Americans were confronted by atrocious social conditions. The frustrations faced by many Americans living in the 1920s, included the desires for materialistic possessions in hopes of contentment, the aspirations for freedom and the dignified need for racial equality, are all elucidated in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story, “Winter Dreams”, and both poems, “Democracy” by Langston Hughes and “The White House” by Claude Mckay.

The Great Depression affected many Americans; Many bank failures and debt lead to the disastrous economy of the US and the globe. This was also a time of extreme prejudice, especially for black americans. People of colour were drastically punished in comparison to the white population during the Great Depression.

The Dust Bowl, battering the Midwest for nearly a decade with high winds, bad farming techniques, and drought, became a pivotal point in American history. The wind storm that seemed relentless beginning in the early 1930’s until its spell ended in 1939, affected the lives of tens of thousands of Americans and the broader agriculture industry. The catastrophic effects of the Dust Bowl took place most prominently around the Great Plains, otherwise known as the farming belt, including states such as Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas, which were hit extraordinarily hard. Millions of farming acres destroyed by poor farming techniques was a major contributor to what is considered to be one of the worst man-made environmental disasters in American history. This period resulted in almost a decade of unstable farming and economic despair. Thousands of families sought government assistance in order to survive. Luckily, government aid to farmers and new agriculture programs that were introduced to help save the nation’s agriculture industry benefited families and helped the Great Plains recover from the Dust Bowl. Furthermore, the poor conditions in the farm belt were also compounded by the Great Depression as it was in full swing as the Dust Bowl began to worsen. In addition, World War I was also underway which caused a high demand for agricultural products, such as wheat, corn, and potatoes to be at its peak, which lured many people to the farm belt with the false expectation that farming

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.

The Great Depression is one of the most misunderstood events in not only American history but also Great Britain, France, Germany, and many other industrialized nations. It also has had important consequences and was an extremely devastating event in America. It was the longest and most severe depression ever experienced by the industrialized Western world. When the New York Stock Exchange crashed in October 1929, the United States dropped sharply into a major depression. The world was in wide demand for agricultural goods during World War I, but they had rapidly decreased after the war and rural America experienced a severe depression throughout most of the 1920's and even on into the 1930's.