The Most Devastating events of the 1930s
DUST BOWL: Bernard Baruch an American financier, announced, “The financial storm has definitely passed.” This shows how the Dust Bowl financially affected the people in the south in the 1930s. The most life-changing events that happened in the 1930s are The Great Depression, The Stock Market Crash, and the Dust Bowl. The Great Depression was the most economical downfall in US history. The Stock Market Crash ruined people's lives by making them lose all of their life savings, resulting in more people becoming poor. The Dust Bowl destroyed people's houses, making more people homeless. Hence, the 1930’s disasters ravaged the US population, destroying their livelihoods.
In fact, The Dust Bowl was massive storms that caused devastation in the 1930s. The Dust Bowl was made or formed by unusually high temperatures and bad agricultural practices, resulting in formed-wind erosion. Black Friday is referenced as the day the horrific storm occurred, on April 14th, 1935; the town had impending doom. The storm brought dust and drought that destroyed a part of the United States (US). The direct hit of the Dust Bowl was in the Southern Plains. The Northern plains were not as badly affected, but the droughts, dust, and damage were felt there as well. The storms put agriculture in decline making farmers go out of business because their crops were devastated. In the 1920s, the Dust Bowl displaced over 300 million tons of soil from the prairie area (Amadeo 4). The Dust Bowl dramatically affected the economy; it made farmers sell their land. By 1934, the people sold about 10% of their farmland.
THE GREAT DEPRESSION: The Great Depression was the most economical downfall in history. Although, the Great Depression was mild in some countries, it was a bigger problem in others, especially the United States. In the south the people were severely affected by the Great Depression especially the Dust Bowl; this also contributed and extended the Great Depression. Some people starved and most people lost their homes from this crisis. Families grabbed all of their belongings and packed up and moved and settled in California looking for jobs and a new life. Because of this economic depression, the most affected people were those born during this time. Their lives were profoundly affected by the resulting poverty. The Great Depression lasted throughout the “Roaring Twenties.”
The United States recovery started to commence in 1935 to 1937, until the new depression occured. The economy in the United States didn’t even recover from the Great Depression yet. The United States was dragged into World War ll in December 1941. According to History.com, as the economy boomed, new innovations allowed for more leisure time and the creation of a consumer society. In this time the cotton farmers took all of their belongings and relocated to try and find a better job. The homeless people snuck on trains that went across the nation so they could escape from this crisis. Since, the United States had such a slow recovery, the 1930s is just referred to as the Great Depression.
THE STOCK MARKET: The Stock Market crash was a sudden dramatic decline of stock prices throughout the market. This resulted in people losing their jobs and their not making any money. The crash was formed by people panicking about the prices and the economic factors on the sources of the stock market. According to Kimberly Amadeo, investors traded 16 million shares to the New York exchange, which resulted in the US losing billions of dollars, and investors losing their jobs. Because of Black Tuesday, it resulted in the Great Depression. The effects of the crash were people having low wages and debt, and large bank loans were not going to happen. During the 1920s, the Stock Market was thriving, but as soon as the Dust Bowl came, the stock market plummeted. The stock-market lost roughy 30 billion dollars throughout the 4 days it collapsed; this caused so much havoc throughout the US. The black days were like a hill slope and it kept going down and down than finally it just broke. So the Stock Market crash was such a sudden event that happened and destroyed people's lives and caused the Great Depression.
In conclusion, this summarizes the life changing events that happened in the 1930s--The The Great Depression, The Stock Market Crash, and the Dust Bowl. The Stock Market crash was such a sudden life-threatening event that dramatically changed everyone’s lives. The Great Depression was formed by the Stock Market crash that lost billions of dollars. The Dust Bowl was a catastrophic disaster that happened in the 1930s that destroyed people's homes, buried them in dirt, and obliterated their lives. All in all, these calamitous events that happened in the 1930s devastated people's whole worlds.
J.R. Ward a American novelist, once stated, “After all, tragedy didn’t discriminate, so everyone was subjected to the same whims of fate.” The meaning of this quote relates to the fact that everyone that lived in 1930's had a rough life. This quote relates to the Dust Bowl, Hindenburg explosion, and The Great Depression because it affected a great amount of people. It also made a lot of catastrophe to the towns of the people and their family during the time of that period.
The Dust Bowl was a tragedy that no one expected to happen. This caused people to migrate and be homeless. The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged to homes and people. People and livestock were killed and crops failed across the entire region. The Dust Bowl intensified the crushing economic impacts of the Great Depression and drove many farming families on a desperate migration in search of work and better living conditions. “Roughly 2.5 million people left the Dust Bowl states of Texas, New Mexico. Colorado,Nebraska, Kansa and Oklahoma during the 1930s.It was the largest migration in American history. ” (History.com Editors). From that day on, it brought extreme sadness when families lost more than just their homes. The Dust Bowl was a hard storm in the 1930’s. unusually high temperatures, poor agricultural practices and the resulting wind erosion all contributed to making the Dust Bowl. Advertisement. The seeds of the Dust Bowl may have been sowed during the early 1920s.
Apart from The Dust Bowl there was also another extreme event that happened in the 1930’s. The Hindenburg Explosion was a disaster that caused by an electrostatic discharge. It caught on fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at Naval Air Station Lakehurst. The disaster, which was caused by static electricity. The disaster led many people to die. “The airship Hindenburg, the largest dirigible ever built and the pride of Nazi Germany, bursts into flames upon touching its mooring mast in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36 passengers and crew members.” But it had a more significant impact, The Hindenburg disaster led directly to the end of the era of the airship.
This disaster killed 35 people on the airship, and one member of the ground crew, but miraculously 62 of the 97 passengers survived.
Finally The Great Depression. There are many reasons why the Great Depression was another disaster event that happened in the 1930’s. The Great Depression began right after The Stock Market Crash which sent people to panic and wipe out millions of investors. The Great Depression was a sad time for people to live in. Not much food was provided during The Great Depression, it was an awful time for the people that lived during this time. People had to do things differently if they wanted to provide food for their family’s. “Many people turned to farming, and grew the food themselves , like fruits, vegetables, cattle, chickens, sheep,and hogs.” On the other hand people chose to hunt for their food. Many people lost faith but they had to do anything to survive and provide food for their families.
In Conclusion, all the events that occurred in the 1930’s affected a lot of people in many ways. The Dust Bowl, people had to go to the hospital because they sucked in the dust into their body. The Hidden Explosion was caused by an electrostatic discharge. It caught on fire and killed more than 20 people. The Great Depression, when people were starving because there was no food. Some people have to become farmers and grow their own food, while others decide to go and hunt for food. To sum it up, The 1930’s was a big time for people who had to go through these events, and how it affected them so much, but they always found a way to fight through it and survive.
Alfred North Whitehead was a notable mathematician, logician, educator and philosopher, Assured “ The greatest invention of the nineteenth century was the invention of the method of invention” from an article Reinventing Invention his quote elaborated on how inventions, medicine, and drugs made up the 1930s. The quote explains how the method of making new things it the best invention. Thus showing medicine,drugs, and inventions all relate to the making of the quote. Stating inventions and creations in the 1930s affect everyone in a positive or negative way.
Inventions changed people’s lives in the 1930s, it made life easier, and changed in the 1930s and still exist in the present. Inventions helped people in the 1930s with their daily lives. Inventions like the frozen food process patented by Clarence Birdseye. This helps people because instead of cooking they could eat by heating it up. Joseph Begun invents the first tape recorder for broadcasting which expanded on television used for many things the 1930s. With this information we are able to clearly see the inventions of the many are helpful to the people who made them and used them during the 1930s. This is proven by the evolutions of inventions that help the human race or can sabotage it like drugs. It made life simple and easy and made daily routines second nature.
Medicine made and used the 1930s has improved the lives of many, saved people, and caused humanity’s uprise to modern medicine in the 1930s. Major developments in the field of medicine and health occurred during the 1930s. Information given by The 1930s Medicine and Health: Overview” Scientists developed vaccines for crippling diseases like polio, while new "sulfa" drugs promised therapy for a wide range of infections,New anesthetics made surgery safer and less painful.” To elaborate, new medicine and vaccines helped the 1930s even when people could not afford them. This knowledge for medicine was impactful to helping the generation and families in the 1930s. Using new ideas and formulas to make better and safer results. Thus further showing how medicine was impactful and was a rapidly growing industry.
Drugs and drug use in the 1930s has been a leading problem for people due to its harmful effects. According to What Is the History of Illicit Drugs in the U.S.? “Many drugs were declared illegal by this time, including: Marijuana, Cocaine, Heroin, and LSD.” This quote is shows at the time of the 1930s drugs that were used by people. With this information we can show that not all new things are good and drugs can cause death. These drugs were an escape from their problems and not only adults used them. In the 1930s drugs were also sold to minors or high school students making them addicted. According to The History of Illegal Drugs it shows”
Since then, crystal meth has remained a popular drug of choice for three main types of users: high school and college students; blue-collar Caucasians; and unemployed persons in their 20s and 30s” This quote elaborates on how illegal drugs were sold to younger people causing addiction and death. This was a problem due to people overdosing leading to other and younger kids or their children
In conclusion, medicine, inventions, and drugs all changed the 1930s in a way that will affect the upcoming years. Inventions like new anesthetics made surgery safer and less painful and L.S.D. or other drugs made the world unsafe and dangerous. Inventions of many and medicine that saves lives and drugs can change people the 1930s was an eventful time. Even with new ideas and better science and rules the world of the 1930s was stable. A favorable quote given by AlfredNorth Whitehead “The greatest invention of the nineteenth century was the invention of the method of invention” leading to the conclusion of how inventions were the most impactful in the 1930s.
Racism
Martin Luther King Jr. an American minister, once stated that “Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to submit the path of racial justice” This confirms that the 1930s people had enough of racism and needed to stand up against it. Some of the worst people and events were things like the Scottsboro Trial, Jim Crow Laws, and the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) all who went against eliminating segregation. Due to the issues and racism in the 1930s it had spread like the black plague across America.
The scottsboro trial was an incident that had 9 boys get caught on a tain as hoboes and then accused of rape.The scottsboro trial endured almolst over 80 years and had a pretty decant impact on the civil rights movment. “The nine teenagers—Charlie Weems, Ozie Powell, Clarence Norris, Andrew and Leroy Wright, Olen Montgomery, Willie Roberson, Haywood Patterson and Eugene Williams—were transferred to the local county seat, Scottsboro, to await trial” (history.com 2). After that there were a multitude of attorneys and lawyers and just people in general helped support the case. During the trial it was extremely unfair and did not work out in the scotts boys favor. Due to the out come “A series of retrial and reconvictions followed and the Scottsboro Boys collectively served more than 100 years in prison” (smithsonia.com 1). All because of this the boys all were pretty much legends to some. Then some people were angry at how unfair the trial was and quite some people agreed. Eventually, “This all helped spur the civil rights movement” (1) after that the 9 boys that were caught on that train were all aressted and charged for rape.
Jim crow laws are a big and well racial part of segregation that seemed to put people in place. The jim crow laws were an order of laws that would put or tell colored people what to do. The crow laws lasted for at least 100 years the jim crow laws started in 1865 and continued to 1964 and ended. “Black codes were strict laws detailing the when, where and how freed slaves could work, and for how much compensation” (history.com 1). The laws affected stuff like transportation, restaurants and even water fountains. The issue with this was that they would have different fountains for blacks and whites like for a restaurant blacks would sit outside and whites would sit inside. So the big issue was most of the stuff or things for blacks were so much more worse than whites. According to pbs.org “The laws affected almost every aspect of daily life, mandating segregation of schools, parks, libraries, drinking fountains, restrooms, buses, trains, and restaurants”.(pbs.org 1) Eventually all this only got worse for when people started to stand up for themselves. People like martin luther king would start to change as well as the children's march and tons of other very significant events. Then the biggest event happened “In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, which legally ended discrimination and segregation that had been institutionalized by Jim Crow laws.” (history.com 6) Overall these segregation laws didn't work out in the end and racism stopped.
The KKK or mostly known as the ku Klux Klan was a very racist group of people who liked to gather together. The KKK would usually kill antagonize or tourture blacks or anyone like jews or catholics. “In Ohio alone their ranks surged to 300,000. Even northeastern states were not immune. In Pennsylvania, membership reached 200,000.” (pbs.org 10). From that alone the KKK flourished with members being citizens, judges, cops, ect. The people were sick of it and had big events to stop the KKK like the clidrens march or how MLK jr. speech changed the worl on how he had a dream. Now apparently “in 1865, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) extended into almost every southern state by 1870 and became a vehicle for white southern resistance to the Republican Party’s Reconstruction-era policies aimed at establishing political and economic equality for blacks.” (history.com 1) As mentioned before most KKK flourished and grew in most if not every southern state. Also apparently the KKK “ was organized in 1915 near Atlanta, Georgia, by Col. William J. Simmons, a preacher and promoter of fraternal orders who had been inspired by Thomas Dixon’s book The Clansman” (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica 2) Ultimately the KKK would affect what we like to call life today and would show that people can stand up for themselves
All in all, Racism in the 1930s covered over most states in america it spread so quick and fast it was like an airborne disease. For starters black people were all affected by the scottsboro trial and the black people learned that whites were extremely racist and would blame you guilty because of your color. To add on the Jim Crow Laws were all selected laws chosen by whites to make segregation a thing. These laws would include blacks having to use different schools as whites and whites had their water fountains and blacks had there's etc.Therefore the KKK would only make things worse and would continue to make the blacks suffer.These people were the KK and they would hate anyone who wasn't equal to them so they would kill or tourture blacks, jews, and catholics. As Martin Luther King Jr. once stated “Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to summit to the path of racial justice.” In conclusion the 1930s affected us as a people and would continue to affect us but no matter no one ever gave up and the blacks stood up for themselves and were peaceful and made things right with the whites.