Groups that were Affected by the Depression
Three Different Groups Affected by the Depression
Even before the start of the Great Depression, Agriculture was already having a very difficult time. “In the decade prior to this period, farmers were already losing money because of greater industrialization in cities” (Life During the Great Depression). Sadly their situation went from bad to worse when the Great Plains had a severe drought that devastated their crops and caused many dust storms that became known as the Dust Bowl (Rosenberg). With prices on their products so low that they couldn’t make a profit and with the drought and Dust Bowl they couldn’t earn any profits from their lands, sinking the farmers deeper and deeper in debt “farmer grew deeper into debt and could no longer make payments on their land and machinery…banks where they loaned money…Foreclosed on their land” (Life During the Great Depression). With no way to pay their debts many were forced to move or like the small farmers who had it tougher, with his family, were left homeless and unemployed (Rosenberg). Another group that was severely hurt from the Great Depression was banks and businesses. Before the Great Depression hit there were many banks all across the U.S but by the early 1930’s things were not going so well, “Farmers had less and less money to spend in town, banks began to fail at alarming rates...In all 9,000 banks failed during the decade of the 30’s” (Ganzel). One reason for the banks failure was because of the panic people went through after the crash of the stock markets. “…many banks had…invested large portions of their clients’ savings in the stock market…force to close when the stock market crashed. Seeing a few banks close caused another panic across the country” (Rosenberg). People were already on edge and seeing that banks that invested other’s money in the market were starting to close they freaked out and according to Rosenberg they were scared that their savings would lost so they all went to the banks and withdrew all their savings but this resulted in even more banks closing. “Businesses and industry were also affected” (Rosenberg). She goes on to say that business had lost a lot in the stock market or the banks closing, so they had to cut back a lot affecting their workers. Educators also had a tough time during the Depression. “Many children were deprived of an education because many communities had to close their schools down during the 1932-1933 term because of a lack of money” (Life during the Great Depression). Money wasn’t circulating as much because people were more weary of spending what they had lift so as a result children didn’t get much of an education. “Schools, with budgets shrinking, shortened both the school day and the school year” (The Great Depression). Though the times they lived in were hard they still tried to get the kids some form of an education. At this point the chance to get a higher education was now really unlikely for many, and many males decided to stay in high school knowing that chance of getting a job weren’t really favorable (Great Depression). Everyone had their own challenges and many hardships they had to get through. The Depression wasn’t easy for any of these groups.
Even before the start of the Great Depression, Agriculture was already having a very difficult time. “In the decade prior to this period, farmers were already losing money because of greater industrialization in cities” (Life During the Great Depression). Sadly their situation went from bad to worse when the Great Plains had a severe drought that devastated their crops and caused many dust storms that became known as the Dust Bowl (Rosenberg). With prices on their products so low that they couldn’t make a profit and with the drought and Dust Bowl they couldn’t earn any profits from their lands, sinking the farmers deeper and deeper in debt “farmer grew deeper into debt and could no longer make payments on their land and machinery…banks where they loaned money…Foreclosed on their land” (Life During the Great Depression). With no way to pay their debts many were forced to move or like the small farmers who had it tougher, with his family, were left homeless and unemployed (Rosenberg). Another group that was severely hurt from the Great Depression was banks and businesses. Before the Great Depression hit there were many banks all across the U.S but by the early 1930’s things were not going so well, “Farmers had less and less money to spend in town, banks began to fail at alarming rates...In all 9,000 banks failed during the decade of the 30’s” (Ganzel). One reason for the banks failure was because of the panic people went through after the crash of the stock markets. “…many banks had…invested large portions of their clients’ savings in the stock market…force to close when the stock market crashed. Seeing a few banks close caused another panic across the country” (Rosenberg). People were already on edge and seeing that banks that invested other’s money in the market were starting to close they freaked out and according to Rosenberg they were scared that their savings would lost so they all went to the banks and withdrew all their savings but this resulted in even more banks closing. “Businesses and industry were also affected” (Rosenberg). She goes on to say that business had lost a lot in the stock market or the banks closing, so they had to cut back a lot affecting their workers. Educators also had a tough time during the Depression. “Many children were deprived of an education because many communities had to close their schools down during the 1932-1933 term because of a lack of money” (Life during the Great Depression). Money wasn’t circulating as much because people were more weary of spending what they had lift so as a result children didn’t get much of an education. “Schools, with budgets shrinking, shortened both the school day and the school year” (The Great Depression). Though the times they lived in were hard they still tried to get the kids some form of an education. At this point the chance to get a higher education was now really unlikely for many, and many males decided to stay in high school knowing that chance of getting a job weren’t really favorable (Great Depression). Everyone had their own challenges and many hardships they had to get through. The Depression wasn’t easy for any of these groups.