The Great Depression was the worst and longest economic collapse in the history of the modern industrial world, lasting from the end of 1929 until the early 1940s. This was the influence for Karen Hesse's visionary work, Out of The Dust. Beginning in the United States, the depression spread to most of the world’s industrial countries, which in the 20th century had become economically dependent on one another.

Dorothea Lange, Photographer of the Great Depression

The Great Depression saw rapid declines in the production and sale of goods and a sudden, severe rise in unemployment. Businesses and banks closed their doors. People lost their jobs, homes, and savings, and many depended on charity to survive. More than 15 million Americans, one-quarter of the nation’s workforce, were unemployed.

The depression was caused by a number of serious weaknesses in the economy. The stock market creashed and the post World War I. Although the 1920s appeared on the surface to be a prosperous time, income was unevenly distributed. The wealthy made large profits, but more and more Americans spent more than they earned, and farmers faced low prices and heavy debt.

The Great Depression had a substantial and varied impact on the lives of Americans. Physically and psychologically, it was devastating to many people, who not only lacked adequate food, shelter, and clothing but felt they were to blame for their desperate state.

The Breadline

This photo was taken from the Franklin Deleno Roosevelt  Library at http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/.

Although few people died from starvation, many did not have enough to eat. Some people searched garbage dumps for food or ate weeds. Malnutrition took a toll: A study conducted in eight American cities found that families that had a member working full time experienced 66 percent less illness than those in which everyone was unemployed.

American farmers, who represented one-quarter of the economy, were already in an economic depression during the 1920s, which made it difficult for them to take part in the consumer buying spree. Farmers had expanded their output during World War I, when demand for farm goods was high and production in Europe was cut sharply. But after the war, farmers found themselves competing in an over-supplied international market. Prices fell, and farmers were often unable to sell their products for a profit.

The plight of farmers, who had been in a depression since 1920, worsened. Already low prices for their goods fell by 50 percent between 1929 and 1932. While many people went hungry, surplus crops couldn’t be sold for a profit.

Homeless Farm Family

This photo was taken from the Franklin Deleno Roosevelt Library at http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/.

Natural forces inflicted another blow on farmers. Beginning in Arkansas in 1930, a severe drought spread across the Great Plains through the middle of the decade. Once-productive topsoil turned to dust that was carried away by strong winds, piling up in drifts against houses and barns.

Dust Bowl Film

http://www.weru.ksu.edu/vids/dust002.mpg

Parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado became known as the Dust Bowl, as the drought destroyed the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of small farmers. Oklahoma is the setting of the novel, Out of the Dust, that desrcibed the struggles of a farm family.

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This map shows the states that were considered dust bowl states and the areas affected by dust storms. Notice that many states not considered dust bowl states were still damaged by dust storms. The whole middle of the United States was literally blowing away.

Although economic conditions improved by the late 1930s, unemployment in 1939 was still about 15 percent. However, with the outbreak of World War II in Europe in September 1939, the U.S. government began expanding the national defense system, spending large amounts of money to produce ships, aircraft, weapons, and other war material. This stimulated industrial growth, and unemployment declined rapidly. After the United States entered the war in December 1941, all sectors of the economy were mobilized to support the war effort. Industry greatly expanded, and unemployment was replaced by a shortage of workers.

Women’s Clothes	The Great Depression	2005
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Leather Bag	.25	.00-.00
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