US-­‐22.2 Notes Social Effects of the Depression Hoovervilles •  Poorest were the hardest hit. – Hoovervvilles were shanty towns built by homeless people. – Many jobless and homeless Americans moved around the country. – Mocked President Hoover Farm Distress •  Many farmers lost their land when they could not pay their mortgages. –  Caused by low crop prices. Dust Bowl •  1931-­‐1940, central and southern Great Plains. •  Caused by dust storms that began in the 1930s, drought, and farming pracMces. –  Removal of prairie grasses that protected the soil. –  Winds blow the top soil to hundreds of miles to the east. •  Farmers leave the Midwest – Reliefs comes in 1940s. Health Effects of the Great Depression •  Anxiety and depression over the chance of losing jobs. •  Hunger, poor diets, and malnutriMon. –  Efforts to grow food and/or sell and trade for food in rural and urban areas. –  Thousands go hungry Break: When your teacher shows a video in class. Effect on Families •  Living condiMons declined –  families crowded into small houses or apartments. •  Men felt like failures –  Unable to provide for their families. •  Working women were accused of taking jobs away from men. –  Employers refuse to hire married women DescripMon: Migrant family from Missouri camping out in cane brush. One woman said, “We ain’t never lived like hogs before. But we sure does now.” Canal Point, Florida. 1939 DiscriminaMon •  African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans suffered higher rates of unemployment. –  56% unemployment rate for African Americans in 1932. •  Government relief programs discriminated against minoriMes. –  Lack of jusMce and protecMon for African Americans – “Sco_sboro Boys” –  Increase in lynching in the South.