Rural poverty (USA) Flashcards
Where was the wealth of the 1920s concentrated?
Industrial North and Far West
What % of families lived on less than $2,000 a year?
60%
What caused drop in demand for agricultural goods?
Prohibition (Banning of the production of alcohol for drinking) so there was less need for grains to make alcohol,
The end of WW1 brought a drop in need for goods
Increase use of synthetic fibres instead of cotton
What were the consequences of drop in demand?
Overproduction: Farmers continued to produce the same amount, which led to huge wastage and drop in prices - so farmers made huge income losses
What % of farmers operated at a loss?
66%
What was the Agricultural Credits Act 1923? What did it aim to do?
Small scale farmers were going bankrupt.
The Act funded 12 Credit banks to fund cooperatives - with the idea that small farms would join together.
However, this was a loan - which small scale farmers could not pay back - so big farms benefitted instead.
What rate of farms were foreclosed by 1926?
17.4 farms per 1,000
How many women were in high paid skilled careers in the 1920s?
150 dentists
Less than 100 accountants
Less than 2% of judges or lawyers
What was the reality of women’s liberation during the 1920s?
Although flappers were seen as fun loving and liberal women, they enforced the stereotype that women could not be taken seriously in career or politics.
Many women were expected to give up work when they got married and look after their home and family.
What % of the US population were black and where did the majority live?
10% of total population, 85% lived in the rural deprived South
What was northern migration?
Many balck Americans moved to northern industrial cities for better opportunities
What was the reality of northern migration?
Ghettoisation, many black Americans ended up living in poor and overcrowded conditions, such as Harlem in New York whose population grew to 165,000 by 193
What was the role of sharecroppers?
Farmers allow tenant farmers to use the land in exchange for a share of the crop.
Many black American families after the Civil War (1860s) did not have enough wealth to own their own farms, so many became sharecroppers working on the farms of white farmers.
