depression effects

depression effects - Transcript

Objective To examine the effects of the Great Depression Do Now Write a reaction to the photo Migrant Mother by Dorothea Lange For example what emotions does it elicit Why

pea pickers camp Nipomo CA 1936

The photograph that has become known as Migrant Mother is one of a series of photographs that Dorothea Lange made of Florence Owens Thompson and her children in February or March of 1936 in Nipomo California In 1960 Lange gave this account of the experience

I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother as if drawn by a magnet I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her but I do remember she asked me no questions I did not ask her name or her history She told me her age that she was thirtytwo She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the

surrounding fields and birds that the children killed She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food There she sat in that lean to tent with her children huddled around her and seemed to know that my pictures might help her and so she helped me There was a sort of equality about it
From Popular Photography Feb 1960

Police stand guard outside the entrance to New York s closed World Exchange Bank March 20 1931

Unemployed men vying for jobs at the American Legion Employment Bureau in Los Angeles during the Great Depression

Unemployed workers in front of a shack with Christmas tree East 12th Street New York City December 1937

Hard Times Unemployment By the early 1930 s approximately 25 of the nation was unemployed

Man in hobo jungle killing turtle to make soup Minneapolis Minnesota Sept 1939

Families in Crisis Marriage and birth rates dropped Fathers and some children left home to find work

Evicted family with belongings on street December 14 1929

Homelessness Homeless families build shacks out of wooden crates and scrap metal These shacks were known as Hoovervilles

Seattle Washington

Central Park New York City

Hooverville New York City December 8 1930 Sign on shack reads House of Unemployed

Brother Can You Spare a Dime 1932 They used to tell me I was building a dream And so I followed the mob When there was earth to plow or guns to bear I was always there right on the job They used to tell me I was building a dream With peace and glory ahead Why should I be standing in line just waiting for bread Once I built a railroad I made it run Made it race against time Once I built a railroad now it s done Brother can you spare a dime Once I built a tower up to the sun brick and rivet and lime Once I built a tower now it s done Brother can you spare a dime

Once in khaki suits gee we looked swell Full of that Yankee Doodlede dum Half a million boots went slogging through hell And I was the kid with the drum Say don t you remember they called me Al It was Al all the time Why don t you remember I m your pal Say buddy can you spare a dime

Hoover Takes Action

At first President Hoover was against offering direct government relief Instead he asked private charities such as the YMCA to help

Christmas Day Breadlines in New York City 1931

Hoover eventually set up public works programs where the government hired people to construct schools dams and highways

The Hoover Dam

Hoover also approved the Reconstruction Finance Co RFC which loaned money to railroads banks and insurance companies

Des Moines Register April 5 1930

The Bonus Army World War I veterans were due to be paid a bonus in 1945 In 1932 over 20 000 jobless veterans protested in Washington D C demanding immediate payment

Handpainted sign on Bonus Army truck states We Done a Good Job in France Now You Do a Good Job in America

Tanks and cavalry prepare to evacuate the Bonus Army July 28 1932

The United States Army burned this and similar camps to the ground after routing the many thousands of protestors that were camped out in the national capital with tanks tear gas and troops of armed soldiers July 28 1932

In clashes with police four veterans were killed Hoover ordered General Douglas MacArthur to clear out the veterans using cavalry tanks tear gas and machine guns The brutal treatment of the Bonus Army lowered Hoover s popularity even further The nation was poised for a new leader to lead them out of the depression

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