Unit 2 Lesson 3: Effects of the Great Depression Flashcards
Desperation and frustration often create emotional responses. Throughout 1931 and 1932, companies trying to stay afloat sharply cut workers’ wages. What happened in resposne to this?
In response, workers protested by staging increasingly bitter strikes.
As the Depression unfolded, more than ? percent of automotive workers lost their jobs. Even the typically prosperous Ford Motor Company laid off ? of its workforce.
As the Depression unfolded, more than 80 percent of automotive workers lost their jobs. Even the typically prosperous Ford Motor Company laid off two-thirds of its workforce.
How many were arrested in the Ford Hunger March?
Police arrested 50 protestors.
In 1932, a major strike at the Ford Motor Company factory near Detroit erupted into deadly violence. What is this stike called?
Often referred to as the Ford Hunger March, the event began as a planned demonstration.
In the Ford Hunger March where did they march
Approximately 3,000 unemployed Ford workers marched nine miles from Detroit to the company’s River Rouge plant in Dearborn.
At the gates of the plant, protestors faced more police, as well as firefighters and private security guards. What happened there?
The firefighters turned hoses on the protestors, and the police and security guards opened fire, killing four marchers and injuring more than 60 others.
/what happened when the people of the Ford Hunger March reached the Dearbon city limits?
At the Dearborn city limits, local police launched tear gas at the protestors, who responded by throwing stones and clods of dirt.
What as the outcome of the Ford Hunger March?
One week later, 60,000 mourners attended the public funerals of the slain protestors. The desperation of the strikers and the brutality of the response set the tone for worsening labor relations in the United States.
Farmers also organized and protested, often violently. The most notable example was the
Farm Holiday Association
Who led the Farm Holiday Association
Led by Milo Reno
What countries did the Farm Holiday Association have most influence
this group held significant sway among farmers in Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Dakotas.
What wad the goal of the Farm Holiday Association
The association wanted the federal government to set agricultural prices artificially high enough to cover the farmers’ costs, as well as to commit to selling any farm surpluses on the world market.
What did the Farm Holiday Association want to aceheive their goals
To achieve their goals, the group called for farm holidays
(Farm Holiday Association) To achieve their goals, the group called for farm holidays; What are farm holidays?
To achieve their goals, the group called for farm holidays, during which farmers would neither sell their produce nor purchase any other goods.
(Farm Holiday Association) However, the greatest strength of the association came from the unexpected and seldom-planned actions of its members, including the following:
- barricading roads into markets
- attacking nonmember farmers and destroying their produce
- raiding small town stores and destroying produce on the shelves
- holding penny auctions where they bid pennies on foreclosed farms and threatened bodily harm to competing bidders. Once they won the auction, the association returned the land to the original owner.
From 1930 through 1932, Herbert Hoover maintained a course of limited government intervention, little of which gave aid directly to Americans. What did Congress do?
Congress tried a more direct approach, attempting to pass a $60 million bill to provide relief to drought victims.
What would the 60 millon bill by congress allow them to do?
The bill allowed them access to food, fertilizer, and animal feed.
What was the finallized version of Congress’s 60 million bill?
The final bill was cut back to $47 million and included everything except food. Still, this did not come close to addressing the crisis.
By late 1931, as the economy continued to decline, Hoover recognized the need for some government intervention. What is the President’s Emergency Committee for Employment (PECE), later renamed the President’s Organization of Unemployment Relief (POUR).
In keeping with Hoover’s distaste of what he viewed as handouts, this organization did not offer direct federal relief to people in need. Instead, it provided assistance to state and private relief agencies, such as the Red Cross, Salvation Army, YMCA, and Community Chest. Hoover also strongly urged people of means to donate funds to help the poor, just as he gave significant private donations to worthy causes. But these private efforts could not ease the widespread effects of poverty.
As conditions worsened, Hoover relaxed his opposition to federal relief and formed the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) in 1932. What was the purpose of the RFC
The RFC sought to boost confidence in the country’s banking institutions by setting aside $2 billion in taxpayer money to rescue banks, credit unions, and insurance companies.
Hoover also endorsed Senator Robert F. Wagner’s 1932 Emergency Relief and Construction Act. What is that act?
This act expanded the RFC and allotted $1.5 billion to states to fund local public works and construction projects.
Were the RFC and Emergency RElief Consturcion Act susseccful? If not why?
But this program failed to deliver the kind of help needed. Hoover severely limited the types of projects the RFC could fund to those that were ultimately self-paying (such as toll bridges and public housing) and to those that required skilled workers.
Most African Americans did not participate in the land boom and stock market speculation that preceded the crash of 1929. How did the Great Depression affect Afican Americans
Most African Americans did not participate in the land boom and stock market speculation that preceded the crash of 1929, but that did not keep them from feeling the effects of the Great Depression particularly hard. Subject to continuing racial discrimination, blacks nationwide fared even worse than their white counterparts.
What was it like for African Americans who worked in cotton feilds?
In rural areas, as the price of cotton and other agricultural products plummeted, farm owners cut their workers’ pay or simply laid them off
What was it like for sharecropper farmer african americans
Landlords evicted sharecroppers, and many African Americans who owned their land outright had to abandon it when there was no longer any way to earn an income from it.
What was it like for African Americans in cities
Unemployment was rampant, and many available jobs were given to whites first. In some northern cities, white workers would even conspire to have African American workers fired to allow them access to those jobs.
By 1932 how many African Americans were unemployed
By 1932, approximately one-half of all African Americans were unemployed.
Racial violence began to rise. Elaboarte
. In the South, lynching became common again. Since communities were preoccupied with their own hardships, many resigned themselves to, or even ignored, this culture of racism and violence. Occasionally, however, an incident was notorious enough to gain national attention.
What is the case of the Scottsboro Boys
In 1931, nine young African American teenagers were arrested for vagrancy and disorderly conduct after a run-in with some white travelers on a train. Two young white women claimed the young men had assaulted them
Why was the casew of the Scottsboro Boys so controversial?
There was significant evidence that the women had not been assaulted at all, and one of the women even retracted her testimony, but the all-white jury quickly convicted the defendants and sentenced all but one of them to death.
The Scottsboro Boys case was tried 3 seperate times, what did this show?
The case was tried three separate times. The series of trials and retrials, appeals, and overturned convictions shone a spotlight on a system that provided poor legal counsel and relied on all-white juries.
In October 1932, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with the defense attorneys that the defendants had been ..
In October 1932, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with the defense attorneys that the defendants had been denied adequate legal representation at the original trial and that due process had been denied.
What happened at the end of the case of the Scottsboro Boys
Eventually, most of the accused received lengthy prison terms and eventually parole. All avoided the death penalty.
Anti-Semitism, or prejudice against Jews, was another major issue of the time. What was happening during this time
The Nazi rise to power in 1933 led to the active persecution of Jews by the German government. Many fled Germany, and some sought refuge in the United States.
How were Jews viewed in America
Some politicians and other public figures blamed the Depression on a Jewish conspiracy and promoted the myth that Jews controlled the banking system. Additionally, some anti-German sentiment still lingered from World War I.
Waht was it like for Mexicans
Mexicans in particular had the additional risk of being deported. The American government actively worked to send hundreds of thousands of Mexican workers back to Mexico
What was the Meriam Report
The Meriam Report, presented to the Department of the Interior in 1928, indicated that government policies over the years had been quite damaging to Native Americans as a whole. They had lost vast tracts of land that had rightfully been theirs, and many were left impoverished.
What’s the Indian Reorganization Act in 1934
While the problems caused by harmful government policies did not go away, Congress enacted the Indian Reorganization Act in 1934 in part to lend tribes money for purchasing land and providing education.
What was a popular Depression-era movie theme
One popular Depression-era movie theme was that of the hardworking everyman against greedy banks and corporations. This was often portrayed in the movies of director Frank Capra
What is Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
on. In this 1939 film, Jimmy Stewart plays a local legislator sent to Washington to finish out the term of a deceased senator. While there, he fights corruption to ensure the construction of a boys’ camp in his hometown rather than a dam project that would only serve to line the pockets of a few. O
. Other popular 1930s movies addressed the problems of the day in a humorous, yet pointed manner. What ha[pens in the comedy film My Man Godfrey
rich scavenger hunters search for a “Forgotten Man” as part of a charity benefit. In a Hooverville, they find a homeless but surprisingly cultured man who helps them win the contest and becomes their butler. He teaches them compassion and common sense through his actions. There is much more to him than his impoverished situation.
How did unemployed workers and farmers respond to the deepening depression? What was the effect of their responses?
Many unemployed workers and farmers responded to the deepening depression by protesting or striking. The effect of their responses was a worsening relationship between labor and management and increased incidences of violence
What relief efforts were made to help impoverished Americans? Were they effective?
Several efforts were made to help impoverished Americans, including the creation of the Emergency Relief and Construction Act to provide funds to the states. Other relief efforts were made by private organizations, like the Red Cross. Unfortunately, many of these efforts were too little, too late and did not provide adequate aid where needed.
How did the Great Depression impact African Americans relative to their white counterparts?
People of all races were adversely affected by the economic woes of the Great Depression, but African Americans had to face racial discrimination as well as financial hardships. For example, since many employers were white, they tended to hire white workers, so it was even harder for African Americans to find jobs to support their families.
Who were the Scottsboro Boys? How did their experience reflect the African American experience during the Great Depression?
The Scottsboro Boys were nine African American teens falsely accused of raping two white women. Their case was appealed and retried several times before most of them were convicted. Their trial represented growing racist sentiments and the seemingly insurmountable obstacles facing the black community, economically and otherwise.
