Great Depression of the 1930s

¶ … Great Depression of the 1930s

The Impact of the Great Depression

The Great Depression ruined the lives of many people in America. People lost their jobs, houses, savings, and in some cases their lives. The suicide rate was very high due to the destruction of so many people's hard-earned financial lives, and few people could see how they were going to get past the depression and move on with their lives when everything that they were used to had been taken from them and their whole world turned upside down (Cole & Ohanian, 53). There were three classes of people that were affected greatly by the depression: African-Americans, the elderly, and industrial workers (Ohanian, 22).

African-Americans during the depression were the last people to be hired for any of the few available jobs, and the first to be fired when those jobs dried up (Bordo, Erceg, & Evans, 1449). Since jobs were so scarce, white men wanted the menial jobs that were usually filled by African-Americans (Bordo, Erceg, & Evans, 1449). In the short-term, this meant that many African-American people were out of work and couldn't feed their families (Bordo, Erceg, & Evans, 1451). It also meant that they were discriminated against by social and religious organizations and that they had a difficult time receiving any aid from the government (Bordo, Erceg, & Evans, 1451). In the long-term, the depression really set African-American people back just as they were beginning to make strides towards being considered equal with white people (Bordo, Erceg, & Evans, 1460).

For the elderly, the depression was especially difficult (Ohanian, 34). Most of the elderly population didn't work, and their retirement savings was quite often in the stock market (Ohanian, 34). When it crashed, many elderly people were left without a cent to their names (Ohanian, 34). Some of them found jobs, but most people were unwilling to hire an older person when so many young men with wives to support and children to raise needed jobs (Ohanian, 35). Other elderly people were able to survive by selling their homes and assets and relocating to somewhere smaller and less expensive (Ohanian, 35). The ones that managed to do this were lucky (Ohanian, 37). With the market so low and the country in a slump few people were looking to purchase houses or anything else that was relatively expensive (Ohanian, 37).

Industrial workers were probably less affected by the depression than African-Americans or the elderly (Temin, 27). They often did not have much extra money with which they could invest in the stock market, so most of them didn't have much to lose when it crashed (Temin, 31). They might have lost a little bit when it crashed, but they still had jobs to go to. Industry had to go on, regardless of what the rest of the country was doing (Temin, 35). These workers were building things that the country had to have, so their jobs were fairly safe (Temin, 36).

Even though such a large segment of society was affected by the Great Depression, many history texts and other literature make it sound as though everyone suffered greatly. This is not entirely true as there were many people, such as the industrial workers mentioned previously, that did not have money in the stock market and did not lose their jobs when the market crashed and the Great Depression began (Christiano, Motto, & Rostagno, 1127. This does not mean that the depression of the 1930s should be made light of. It was a very serious time in history.