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25 vintage photos show how desperate and desolate America looked during the Great Depression, the last time the unemployment rate was as high as it is todayhttps://www.businessinsider.in/international/news/25-vintage-photos-show-how-desperate-and-desolate-america-looked-during-the-great-depression-the-last-time-the-unemployment-rate-was-as-high-as-it-is-today/slidelist/75645060.cms2020-05-09T16:38:00+05:30

25 vintage photos show how desperate and desolate America looked during the Great Depression, the last time the unemployment rate was as high as it is today

Natalie ColarossiMay 9, 2020, 16:38 IST

Today's coronavirus pandemic has led to the highest levels of unemployment since the Great Depression. So far, more than 33 million Americans have lost their jobs.

But the Great Depression had lasting effects on the US. Its aftermath fundamentally changed the relationship between Americans and government, and led to the development of more government programs, responsibility, and involvement.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected in 1933, and he shepherded the New Deal through Congress. The set of emergency relief programs, work programs, and large-scale government reforms helped boost the economy, and the US's entrance into World War II in 1941 jumpstarted American manufacturing.

Suicide rates increased during the Great Depression, peaking when unemployment levels reached a high point.

The Depression had a significant impact on the psychology of jobless men, who struggled to provide for their families as cultural breadwinners. Some turned to alcohol to cope, while others became abusive or gave up hope altogether.

At its highest peak, the unemployment rate hit an estimated 25% in 1933.

Over the course of the depression, authorities deported an estimated 400,000 Mexican Americans, over fears of workplace competition. But many of those people were American citizens.

African Americans and Mexican Americans were hit hardest during the depression. In 1930, half of black workers were unemployed. That same year, 70% of the black population in Charleston, South Carolina, was unemployed, and 75% of black workers in Memphis lost their jobs.

Children were adversely affected, as well. An estimated 200,000 vagrant children wandered the streets of America due to the break-up and collapse of their families.

The Depression also had a negative impact on family life. Many couples delayed their marriage or postponed having children. Throughout the decade, separation rates grew, and by 1940 there were 1.5 million American women living apart from their husbands.

Desperate Americans threatened with hunger and starvation began organizing marches and labor riots.

But Americans grew angry, and Hoover became widely blamed for the economic turmoil. Impoverished people living in shantytowns across the country started referring to them as "Hoovervilles," and empty pockets turned inside out were known as "Hoover flags."

At the beginning of the Depression, President Herbert Hoover largely dismissed the stock market crash as a "passing incident in our national lives." He assured the country that the event would last no longer than 60 days, and did not believe in offering federal aid to the impoverished.

Food banks become commonplace, and lines for food ration programs and free meals exploded across the country.

In an effort to save money, families planted their own gardens, canned foods, bought old bread, sought out soup kitchens, and stopped buying common items like milk. Many also sacrificed medical and dental care because they couldn't afford it.

During the winters of 1932 and 1933, an estimated 1.2 million Americans were homeless. The population of the US at that time was about 125 million.

The struggle for money became so desperate that families across the country often lived in crowded shacks, while some inhabited caves or sewer pipes.

Families who were unable to pay rent were frequently evicted from their homes, and vagrants looking for work on public trains were kicked to the curb.

Those who were fortunate enough to remain working often suffered large pay cuts and decreased hours. By 1932, 75% of all remaining workers were on a part-time schedule.

By that year, one out of every four US workers were unemployed. Thousands of Americans lost their homes, and hundreds of thousands attempted to travel through the country on foot or by boxcar to find work.

The unemployment rate jumped at a shocking speed. From 1929 to 1930, unemployment rose from fewer than 3 million to 4 million. In 1931, it doubled to 8 million, and by 1932, unemployment levels reached a staggering 12.5 million.

The effects of the Great Depression could be felt into the early 1940s, and over the course of the decade, more than 15 million Americans lost their jobs.

Known as Black Thursday, the 1929 crash was attributed in part to a vast imbalance of wealth between the rich and poor, a fervent production of goods, little to no wage gains, an increase in personal debt, and government mismanagement.

Following a period of booming prosperity in the 1920s, the Great Depression began when the US stock market crashed in 1929.

The Great Depression was the worst economic tragedy in American history, resulting in skyrocketing rates of unemployment, hunger, and desperation.

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