The Dust Bowl and the Wall Street Crash
The Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl is the name given to the awful dust storms which caused major damage to American and Canadian prairie lands in the 1930s.
The Dust Bowl got its name after Black Sunday, April 14, 1935. There were lots of dust storms leading up to that day. In 1932, 14 dust storms were recorded on the Plains. In 1933, there were 38 storms. By 1934, it was estimated that 100 million acres of farmland had lost all or most of the topsoil to the winds. By April 1935, there had been weeks of dust storms. Winds were clocked at 60 mph.
"The impact is like a shovelful of fine sand flung against the face," Avis D. Carlson wrote in a New Republic article.
The day after Black Sunday a journalist used the term "Dust Bowl" for the first time, the term stuck and was used by radio reporters and writers, in private letters and public speeches.
The wall street Crash
The Wall Street Crash, also known as Black Tuesday, started in October 1929 and was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States. The crash triggered the beginning of the 10-year Great Depression that affected all Western countries and did not end in America until they joined World War II at the end of 1941.
Anyone who had shares in the stock market in mid 1929 had to wait their whole lifetime just to break even.
When the Wall Street stock market crashed in October 1929, the world economy sunk into the Great Depression. By the winter of 1932, America was in the greatest economic depression in its history.
The number of unemployed people went over 13 million. Many people lived a life of poverty and were starving. One New York family moved into a cave in Central Park. In St Louis, more than 1,000 people lived in shacks made from scrap metal and boxes. Between 1 and 2 million people travelled the country desperately looking for work. Signs saying 'No Men Wanted' were displayed all over the country.
The Dust Bowl is the name given to the awful dust storms which caused major damage to American and Canadian prairie lands in the 1930s.
The Dust Bowl got its name after Black Sunday, April 14, 1935. There were lots of dust storms leading up to that day. In 1932, 14 dust storms were recorded on the Plains. In 1933, there were 38 storms. By 1934, it was estimated that 100 million acres of farmland had lost all or most of the topsoil to the winds. By April 1935, there had been weeks of dust storms. Winds were clocked at 60 mph.
"The impact is like a shovelful of fine sand flung against the face," Avis D. Carlson wrote in a New Republic article.
The day after Black Sunday a journalist used the term "Dust Bowl" for the first time, the term stuck and was used by radio reporters and writers, in private letters and public speeches.
The wall street Crash
The Wall Street Crash, also known as Black Tuesday, started in October 1929 and was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States. The crash triggered the beginning of the 10-year Great Depression that affected all Western countries and did not end in America until they joined World War II at the end of 1941.
Anyone who had shares in the stock market in mid 1929 had to wait their whole lifetime just to break even.
When the Wall Street stock market crashed in October 1929, the world economy sunk into the Great Depression. By the winter of 1932, America was in the greatest economic depression in its history.
The number of unemployed people went over 13 million. Many people lived a life of poverty and were starving. One New York family moved into a cave in Central Park. In St Louis, more than 1,000 people lived in shacks made from scrap metal and boxes. Between 1 and 2 million people travelled the country desperately looking for work. Signs saying 'No Men Wanted' were displayed all over the country.