History+DetectiveLMNH

The Pain of a Migrant Mother

media type="file" key="10 - Where Is the Love- - Black Eyed Peas.mp3" The Great Depression took place from 1930-1939. It all started when the stock took a big crash. Prices fell 40%, 9,000 banks went out of business, and 9 million savings accounts wiped out. 86,000 businesses failed, wages decreased by 60%, and that left 15 million jobless people. People didn’t know what to do because they had no money, so they turned to Entertainment. But this great crash didn’t only affect they U.S., it turned into a Worlwide Economic Crisis.

When the great depression hit, it striked people down like a bolt of lightning. People lost their jobs, and had no money. It was even worse for the people who had kids because they couldn't support them. Men even left their wives because they couldn't handle all the pressure on them. It also sucked for farmers too because they couldn't sell their goods, and so they lost a lot of money there. Men were desperate to find any kind of job. A good example of the great depression, is the movie Cinderella Man. This portrays a good example of what it was like during the great crash.

Since people had no jobs, or nothing to do, they turned to entertainment.More than 60 million Americans went to the movies each week. Comedies became very popular because they provided a release from daily worries. Radio was also popular because they offered information and entertainment as near as the living room. Literature and art also bloomed in the 1930's. Writers and artists tried to portray life around them, using the homeless and unemployed as their subjects in stories and pictures. Jazz music & swing dances too were popular.

We weren't the only people who was going through a crisis, no, this turned into a worldwide economic crisis. The depression hit hardest those that were most deeply indebted to the Unites States, such as Germany and Great Britain. In Germany, unemployment rose sharply. Britain was less severely affected, but its industrial remained seriously depressed, until WWII.

All in all, the great depression was like a big hell. It affected everyone and made their lives a living nightmare. This went on for almost 10 years. Hoover was the president at the beginning of the great crash, and he didn't do anything about it. So that's when Franklin D. Roosevelt stepped in and created the New Deal, which ended the Great Depression.

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