Chapter 22 Section 1 and 2

The Stock Market Crash and Social Effects of the Depression

Dow Jones Industrial Average

• An average of the stock prices of major industries

• Reached an all time high during Hoover’s Presidency

• People paid a great deal to the rising stock market

Black Tuesday

• October 29, 1929• 16.4 million shares were

sold– Compared to an average

of 4 to 8 million

Great Crash

• The massive collapse of the stock market in 1929

• Overall losses totaled $30 billion

List and briefly describe 5 ways the Great Crash spread to all Americans.

• Risky loans hurt banks• Consumer borrowing-

took out loans and could no longer pay them back

• Bank runs• Bank failures• Savings wiped out• Cuts in production• Rise in unemployment

Business Cycle

• Over a period of time, the economy grows, then contracts

Great Depression

• Time period from 1929 to 1941

• The most severe economic downturn in American history

Which part of the business cycle did the Great Depression represent?

• A trough

How did the unstable economy in the 1920s contribute to the Great Depression?

• Production far outpaced demand

• Wealth was unevenly distributed

• The boom in stock market prices was based mainly on borrowed money, not real value

List and briefly describe the 3 underlying causes of the Depression.

• An unstable economy

• Overspeculation

• Government policies- limited money supply to discourage lending and speculation, but this left people short on money

Hooverville

• Towns of shacks, or shanties, made from anything people could use to construct a shelter

Who lived in Hoovervilles?

- Unemployed laborers and their families

Dust Bowl

• Massive dust storm that consumed the midwest

What factors led to the creation of the Dust Bowl in the 1930s?

• Exhaustion of the topsoil

• Drought• Wind erosion

What impact did the Depression have on health?

• Many went hungry• Children suffered from

poor diet and inadequate medical care

How did the Great Depression impact families?

• Living condition declined

• Had to give up personal interests/hobbies

• Many men were ashamed and left their families

• Women lost jobs

What were some causes and effects of increased discrimination during the Great Depression?

• Competition for jobs• Legal system ignored

civil rights for non-whites

• Individual racism

• Deportations• Lynchings• High African American

unemployment

What can you learn about the Depression from Wilson Ledford’s experiences?

• His experiences demonstrate the hardships of finding work, which was often only temporary or was located far from home

• He and his family made the best of the situation in order to survive