Hardships of the

Great Depressi

on

Family Life in the 1930s

• Housing: more than one family living under one roof

• Marriage rates declined• Birthrate rates declined• Women struggle: soap,

bread, milk, etc.

“I figured every which way I could to make ends meet…but some of [those] ends just wouldn’t meet.”

Women in the Depression“I’ve lived in cities for many months broke, without help, too timid to get in bread lines. I’ve known many women to live like this this until they simply faint on the street from privations, without saying a word to anyone. A woman will shut herself up in a room until it is taken away from her, and eat a cracker a day and be as quiet as a mouse so there are no social statistics concerning her. I don’t know why it is, but a woman will do this unless she has dependents, will go for weeks, verging on starvation, crawling in some hole, going through the streets ashamed.” According to the statement above, how might women have responded to aid offers? Do you think that this response was different from that of men?

Children Suffer HardshipsDO NOT copy down everything that is

on the PowerPoint word for word! Think about the main ideas to answer

the question below.

•Overall, how were children affected by the Great Depression?

Oklahoma, 1936

Effects on Minorities• Conditions for African

Americans and Latinos times were especially difficult.

• Relief programs largely discriminated against African Americans. However, some black organizations, like the National Urban League, were able to give private help.

• Information from movie, Hard Times– Effects on African Americans, Mexican

Americans, and Asian Americans

Social and Psychological Effects• People lost their will to survive• The suicide rate climbed 30%

– More than 20,000 Americans committed suicide in 1932

• More people were admitted to state mental hospitals

• People stopped going to the doctor, raising large families, going to college because they couldn’t afford it

• People developed habits of thriftiness that would see them through the dark days ahead

Movie, Hard Times• Movie Viewing Guide available on

School Wires under US History II Resources