English- Research Project
The Great Depression
The daily life of men and women during the great depression was very challenging, as everyone felt indifferent for the struggle and reality of it all. The roles of the men and women were very different as well. The relationships of families conformed to the current conditions of work and hard times that the depression brought.
Throughout the Great Depression, people seemed to change how they thought about themselves and the relationships to the country and world. About thirty million Americans lost their jobs and with that, many labor strikes had formed as well as unionizations. Through the thoughts of the men and women, there became a new understanding about strength and power of the general people and racial and gender divisions.
“Unemployment, homelessness and hunger were considered a man’s problem.” For the women in society, their jobs usually consisted of cooks, servants, nannies and washwomen. Of the work force, 25% were women. Older women were discriminated because of their “old age and long history of living outside of family systems.” Times were worse for black women for they had suffered 42.9% unemployment to the 23.2% of white women without jobs. Some black businesses were “barbers and hair dressers” because many white barbers refused to cut black people’s hair.
Children and teenagers during the Great Depression had it very tough as well. If they were lucky enough, the children would go to school. About 250,000 teenagers were roaming America on trains because they “felt the need to leave their home to live on their own.” The death rate rose for children because of the dietary disease. There was not enough money to buy sufficient food such as fruits, vegetables, milk and eggs.
During the Great Depression, having a college degree was of no use to the people. “Professions that had few job openings were bankers, architects, agriculturists, educators and salesmen.” If people did get good jobs, they were usually temporary.
Through the lives of the people during the Depression, they had few jobs, little food and with sickness and disease was spreading. The unemployment rate started to decrease, as more workers were needed in factories when World War II began. As the United States entered the war, this marked the end to the Great Depression.
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