Comparing Family Life in the present day compared to during The Depression.
By: Aaron Ang
It was October 19th, the day that would be known as Black Tuesday, the year 1929, when the period known as the Great Depression began with the stock market in the United States dropping rapidly and suddenly. Thousands of investors lost large sums of money and many were wiped out, losing everything.
In a single day, sixteen million shares were traded--a record--and thirty billion dollars vanished into thin air. Westinghouse lost two thirds of its September value. DuPont dropped seventy points. The "Era of Get Rich Quick" was over. Jack Dempsey, America's first millionaire athlete, lost $3 million. Cynical New York hotel clerks asked incoming guests, "You want a room for sleeping or jumping?"
The ensuing years ranked as the longest and worst years of high unemployment and low business activity in modern times. Banks, stores, and factories were closed and left millions of Americans jobless, homeless, and penniless.
This image was selected as a picture of the week o...
English: Buried machinery in barn lot in Dallas, S...
A solemn crowd gathers outside the Stock Exchange ...Many people came to depend on the government or charity to provide them with food.
Family Life during the Great Depression:
Many families were hit exceptionally hard by the Great Depression, as their fathers or mothers lost their jobs, or money from the stock market collapse.
Fathers who supported their families, usually made around $12.00 a day, which with a family of 7 to support wasn't a lot.
Most families were without electricity and for entertainment they listened to the radio a lot (battery powered), played classic (in our time) board games such as Scrabble, and Monopoly which were first sold during the 1930s. Neighbors got together to play card games such as whist, pinochle, canasta and bridge.
Also, they played records on a phonograph. Baseball was popular - to play and to watch...