-Depression in the Cities
* In cities across the country, people lost their jobs, were evicted from their homes and ended up in the streets. Others built makeshift shacks out of scrap materials. People were living in whatever they could junk together.
* Soup kitchens offering free or low-cost food and bread lines, or lines of people waiting to receive food provided by charitable organizations or public agencies, became a common sight.
* Conditions for African Americans and Latinos were especially difficult. Their unemployment rates were higher, and they were the lowest paid.
* Latinos were also targets. Whites demanded that Latinos be deported, or expelled from the country, even though many had been born in America. By the late 1930s, hundreds of thousands of people of Mexican descent relocated to Mexico. Some left voluntarily; others were deported by the federal government.
1. Causes of the Stock Market Crash
The stock crash started with investments during 1920. The investors started bought borrowed money from their brokers, who went to banks for that money. When stocks failed and investors needed to default, the money was permanently lost. And if the investors’ didn’t have the money they couldn’t pay back for their brokers and neither for the banks. With the banks out and business failuring, U.S. was broke. The desire for consumer durables like expensive items and automobiles went down as Americans became satisfied with what they had. A downward spiral was set in motion.
2. Causes of the Great Depression
After the stock market crash of 1929 and about 9,000 banks failed, and the fears of further economic woes, individuals from all classes stopped purchasing items. As people lost their jobs, they were unable to keep up with paying for items they had bought through installment plans and their items were repossessed. By 1930 the drought that occurred in the Mississippi Valley was of such proportions that many could not even pay their taxes or other debts and had to sell their farms for no profit to themselves.
US History Book
http://www.money-zine.com/Investing/Stocks/Stock-Market-Crash-of-1929/
http://www.angelfire.com/co/pscst/stock.html
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/greatdepression/tp/greatdepression.htm
Comments
Good job!! Be sure to add personal thoughts however.