8G History Lesson 115 Assignment
This week’s school assignment was on the Great Depression and its effects on America.
Overview
The Great Depression was a time period from 1929 until about 1939, where countries around the world, mostly the U.S. experienced crashes in their economy. People suffered and the workforces crashed.
Causes
There were many factors that contributed to starting the Great Depression. One of them was the stock market crash. On October 24, 1929, the U.S. stock prices crashed. Investors everywhere panicked, and this led to mass selling of stocks. Another factor was the banking panics. People were beginning to lose trust in the banks, due to some of the new government policies. This led people to withdraw large sums of money from banks, and by 1933 1/5 of the banks that were there in 1930 went bankrupt.
Additionally, a number of government policies played a role in bringing the great depression. Tariffs were raised significantly by Herbert Hoover.
Culture and Society
The culture of the 1930’s was different than the so-called Roaring 20’s. Many families who were doing just fine before the depression were now struggling to get by. Families that were struggling before were now in a very bad position. Many women started working during the depression to help their families out. Children had more responsibilities and jobs than they did before, and some of them contributed in the work force.
The 1930s saw the rise of swing music, and jazz was popular too. The board game Monopoly was very popular during this time.
Conclusion
The Great Depression is remembered as one of the most difficult times in America’s history. People struggled to recover for many years after the depression was over. Hopefully we will never have such a devastating crash ever again.
Reference:
Wild time!