Chapter 17
Section 2
Life During the Depression
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Guide to Reading
Main Idea
Many people were impoverished during the
Great Depression, but some found ways to
cope with the hard times. 
Key Terms and Names
• bailiff 
• Walt Disney 
• shantytown 
• soap opera 
• Hooverville 
• Grant Wood 
• hobo 
• John Steinbeck 
• Dust Bowl 
• William Faulkner
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The Depression Worsens
• By 1933 thousands of banks had closed
and millions of American workers were
unemployed. 
• Unemployed workers often stood at
bread lines to receive free food or at
soup kitchens where private charities
gave a free meal to the poor. 
• Americans unable to pay their
mortgage or rent lost their homes.
(pages 535–537)
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The Depression Worsens (cont.)
• Those unable or unwilling to move had a
court-ordered eviction notice delivered by
a court officer or bailiff who forced
nonpaying tenants out onto the street. 
• Many of the homeless built shacks in
shantytowns, which they referred to as
“Hoovervilles” because they blamed the
president for their financial trouble. 
• Hobos, or homeless Americans who
wandered around hitching rides on railroad
cars, searched for work and a better life.
(pages 535–537)
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The Depression Worsens (cont.)
• As crop prices dropped in the 1920s,
many American farmers left their fields
uncultivated. 
• A terrible drought in the Great Plains,
beginning in 1932, caused the region
to become a “Dust Bowl.” 
• Many Midwestern farmers and Great
Plains farmers lost their farms. 
• Many families moved west to California
hoping to find a better life, but most still
faced poverty and homelessness.
(pages 535–537)
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The Depression Worsens (cont.)
What happened to unemployed workers
and Midwestern and Great Plains farmers
during the Depression?
(pages 535–537)
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The Depression Worsens (cont.)
Unemployed workers often went to bread lines or
soup kitchens to receive free food. Americans unable
to pay their mortgage or rent lost their homes. Many
of the homeless built shacks in shantytowns. Hobos
wandered around hitching rides on railroad cars,
searching for work and a better life. As crop prices
dropped in the 1920s, many American farmers left
their fields uncultivated. A terrible drought in the Great
Plains, beginning in 1932, caused the region to
become a “Dust Bowl.” Many Midwestern farmers and
Great Plains farmers lost their farms. Many families
moved west to California hoping to find a better life,
but most of them still faced poverty and
homelessness.
(pages 535–537)
Escaping the Depression
• Americans escaped the hardships of the
Depression by going to the movies and
listening to radio broadcasts. 
• Stories tended to be about overcoming
hardships and achieving success. 
• Walt Disney produced the first featurelength animated film, Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs, in 1937. 
• Other films, like The Wizard of Oz, Mr.
Smith Goes to Washington, and Gone
with the Wind, contained stories of
triumph over adversity and visions of
a better life.
(pages 537–538)
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Escaping the Depression (cont.)
• Families gathered around the radio daily
to hear news or listen to comedians like
George Burns or a dramatic series like
the Lone Ranger. 
• Melodramas, called soap operas,
became very popular with housewives. 
• Soap operas received their name
because makers of laundry soaps often
sponsored them.
(pages 537–538)
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Escaping the Depression (cont.)
Why were movies and radio programs
important during the Depression?
Movies and radio programs allowed
Americans to escape their own lives
and use their imagination.
(pages 537–538)
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The Depression in Art
• Homeless and unemployed Americans
were the subjects of art and literature
during the 1930s. 
• Artists and writers tried to capture the
real life drama of the Depression. 
• Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood
emphasized traditional American values
in their art.
(pages 538–539)
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The Depression in Art (cont.)
• John Steinbeck’s 1939 novel The
Grapes of Wrath told the story of an
Oklahoma family fleeing the Dust Bowl
to find a new life in California. 
• Steinbeck, like many writers of this time,
wrote of poverty, misfortune, and social
injustice.
(pages 538–539)
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The Depression in Art (cont.)
• Novelist William Faulkner’s literary
technique, stream of consciousness,
revealed characters’ thoughts and
feelings before they spoke–thoughts
they dared not reveal. 
• In his novels, he exposed hidden
attitudes of Southern whites and
African Americans in a fictional
Mississippi county.
(pages 538–539)
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The Depression in Art (cont.)
What was emphasized in the work of
Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood?
The two artists were a part of the
regionalist school, which focused on
traditional American values, particularly
those of the rural Midwest and South.
(pages 538–539)
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Checking for Understanding
Define Match the terms on the right with their definitions on
the left.
__
A 1. minor officer of the courts
__
E 2. name given to the area of
southern Great Plains
severely damaged by
droughts and dust storms
during the 1930s
__
C 3. nickname given to
shantytowns in the United
States during the Depression
__
B 4. a poor section of town
consisting of crudely built
dwellings usually made of
wood
__
D 5. a homeless and usually
penniless wanderer
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A. bailiff
B. shantytown
C. Hooverville
D. hobo
E. Dust Bowl