The+Great+Depression

media type="youtube" key="TCNKq0-9p3w" height="344" width="425" The Great Depression By: Hannah

“Huh?” People said after getting out of work during the Great Depression. During the great depression people were tired and were working really hard for not a lot of money. Stock markets crashed during the great depression. People also did not get a lot of sleep. They did not have good houses and had to live in hoovervilles. Hoovervilles were in the fields and homes were made of crates, card board boxes and aluminum sheets, which did not make strong houses! People were very sad and tired during the great depression. As you know the great depression was a hard time. It all began when the stock market crash happened. This was caused by people borrowing money from the bank until the bank did not have much money left. Another thing that caused the great depression was the increase in technology, which took the place of many jobs and less people were needed to complete a job. Also, many people did not save a lot of money, they were spending their money. No one saw the great depression coming. The stock market crash began October 24th. The price of stocks dropped and it continued days after days. By noon October 24th millions of shares had been sold that day. By October 29th the stock market completely crashed. People lost billions of dollars on October 29th and other days too. October 29th 16 million shares of stocks were sold that day. The market fell over 14 billion dollars on October 29-30, 1929. The stock market crash was a time when people lost money, people didn’t get paid a lot of money for working really hard at their jobs, people borrowed a lot of money from the bank before the stock market crash, banks collapsed during the stock market crash, no one was saving money before the stock market crash and many became very poor. During the stock market crash banks failed with money because people were borrowing tons of money from the bank. With the loss of money it lead to people not being able to afford things like food, people were sad during this time, many people lost a lot of money and there was not a lot of food to eat. During the great depression people who were more fortunate would open a charity for the less fortunate to give them food. As you know a lot of people during the great depression did not have a lot of jobs so some people would help set up to get money. People did not have a lot of money so they did not have a lot of food and they felt guilty to take food from the bread line and soup kitchens. They set up bread lines and soup kitchens at people’s houses and at other places in the town. The government helped some people but not everyone so not everyone got helped. 25% of people were out of work by 1932. Setting up bread lines and soup kitchens were a part time job not a full time job. Bread lines and soup kitchens were private charities to feed the needy. Even thought people were hungry, they felt ashamed standing in line to get food. During the great depression people had to do hard work. Some people worked in farms, factories, bread lines and soup kitchens. People were very tired. They did not have a lot of food because the prices went up. If people had food and drink it was not good quality. During the great depression there were few full time jobs. Since so few people worked the ones who did had to work non stop and for not a lot of money in return. People could not pay for a lot of things they needed to survive because of the high prices. People did not save money. Some people felt they needed to make more money. Everyone was tired.

During the great depression people could not afford their homes, so they became homeless. Hoovervilles were something that people lived in during the great depression The hoovervilles were not strong houses. Hoovervilles were made of crates, card board boxes and aluminum sheets and were not so strong! The hoovervilles were named after President Hoover who they believed had let them down. Hoovervilles were not a house that gave a lot of protection. They were not good houses for people. The great depression ended in 1941, in December. Franklin Roosevelt defeating Wendall Willkie in the presidential election. His reform movements helped to create jobs and improve the lives of the American people.

Bibliography Works Cited Cooper, Michael L. __Dust to eat drought and depression in the 1930's__. New York: Clarion Books, 2004. Gedney, Mona K. __Story of the Great Depression__. Hockessin, DE: Mitchell Lane, 2005. Schultz, Stanley. __Great Depression a primary source history__. Milwaukee: Gareth Stevens, 2006.