How Did the Great Depression Affect the American Family in the 1930s
The Dandy Depression (1929-1939) was the worst economic downturn in modern history. The preceding decade, known every bit the "Roaring Twenties," was a time of relative affluence for many middle- and working-class families. As the economy boomed, new innovations allowed for more leisure fourth dimension and the cosmos of a consumer guild. But the economical depression that followed those boon years profoundly afflicted the daily life of American families, in means large and pocket-sized.
Fifty-fifty the affluent faced astringent belt-tightening.
Four years after 1929 stock market crash, during the bleakest point of the Groovy Low, near a quarter of the U.South. workforce was unemployed. Those that were lucky enough to accept steady employment often saw their wages cut or their hours reduced to function-time.
Even upper-middle class professionals, such as doctors and lawyers, saw their incomes drop by as much as 40 percentage. Families who had previously enjoyed economic security suddenly faced financial instability or, in some cases, ruin.
The boilerplate American family lived by the Low-era motto: "Utilise it up, wear it out, make do or do without." Many tried to keep upwardly appearances and carry on with life as close to normal as possible while they adapted to new economic circumstances.
Households embraced a new level of frugality in daily life. They kept kitchen gardens, patched worn-out clothes and passed on trips to the movies as they privately struggled to retain ownership of a home or automobile.
A mother serving dinner in the clean surroundings of a Subcontract Security Assistants campsite in Visalia, California, 1939. (Credit: Bettmann Annal/Getty Images)
Potlucks and 'austerity gardens' were the norm.
Women's magazines and radio shows taught Depression-era homemakers how to stretch their food budget with casseroles and one-pot meals. Favorites included chili, macaroni and cheese, soups, and chipped beef on toast.
Potlucks, oft organized by churches, became a pop manner to share food and a cheap form of social entertainment.
Many families strived for self-sufficiency by keeping small-scale kitchen gardens with vegetables and herbs. Some towns and cities immune for the conversion of vacant lots to community "thrift gardens" where residents could grow food.
Between 1931 and 1932, Detroit'south thrift garden program provided nutrient for well-nigh xx,000 people. Experienced gardeners could be seen helping former office workers—still dressed in white button-downwardly shirts and slacks—to cultivate their plots.
Children playing cards in the front end yard in Washington, DC, 1935. (Credit: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
Board games and miniature golf courses thrived.
The average American family unit didn't have much extra income to spend on leisure activities during the 1930s. Before the Depression, going to the movie theater was a major pastime. Fewer Americans could afford this luxury afterward the stock market place crashed—so more than than one-3rd of the cinemas in America closed between 1929 and 1934.
Frequently, people chose to spend time at home. Neighbors got together to play cards, and lath games such as Scrabble and Monopoly—both introduced during the 1930s—became popular.
The radio also provided a free grade of entertainment. By the early 1930s, many heart class families owned a home radio. Comedy programs such as Amos 'due north' Andy, soap operas, sporting events and swing music distracted listeners from everyday struggles.
Mini-golf game became a Depression-era craze. More 30,000 miniature golf links sprang upwards beyond the country during the 1930s. Prices ranged from 25 to l cents per round.
Workers at a push button factory in New York, circa 1935. (Credit: FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Women entered the workforce in increasing numbers.
Some families maintained a middle-grade income by adding an extra wage earner. Despite widespread unemployment during the Depression years, the number of married women in the workforce really increased.
Some people criticized married women for taking jobs when then many men were out of work, though women ofttimes took clerical or service manufacture positions that weren't seen as socially adequate for men at the time.
Women found piece of work as secretaries, teachers, telephone operators and nurses. But in many cases, employers paid women workers less than their male person counterparts.
Families on government support were less stigmatized.
The New Deal programs of President Franklin D. Roosevelt meant the expansion of government into people's everyday lives afterwards 1933. Many Americans received some level of financial help or employment as a effect of New Deal programs.
Prior to the Groovy Depression, most Americans had negative views of regime welfare programs and refused to go on welfare. In some towns, local newspapers published the names of welfare recipients.
While attitudes toward government assistance began to change during the Swell Depression, going on welfare was notwithstanding viewed as a painful and humiliating experience for many families.
A family of migrant workers in Blythe, California, 1936. (Credit: Dorothea Lange/Getty Images)
Economic hardship caused family breakdowns.
The stress of financial strain took a psychological toll—especially on men who were all of a sudden unable to provide for their families. The national suicide rate rose to an all-time high in 1933.
Marriages became strained, though many couples could not beget to separate. Divorce rates dropped during the 1930s though abandonments increased. Some men deserted their families out of embarrassment or frustration: This was sometimes chosen a "poor man'due south divorce."
Information technology's estimated that more than than 2 million men and women became traveling hobos. Many of these were teens who felt they had go a burden on their families and left home in search of piece of work.
Riding the rails—illegally hopping on freight trains—became a common, yet dangerous mode to travel. Those traveling the country in search of work ofttimes camped in "Hoovervilles," shantytowns named after Herbert Hoover, president during the early on years of the Peachy Low.
Crime was mythologized, just this was largely hype.
Famous outlaw duo Bonnie and Clyde went on a two-year bankrobbing spree beyond America, while in New Bailiwick of jersey, famous aviator Charles Lindbergh'due south toddler son was abducted, held for bribe and then murdered.
High-contour events like these, broadcast through radio announcements and in newspaper headlines, contributed to a sense of lawlessness and crime in the Not bad Depression, stoking fears that difficult times had created a criminal offence wave. Merely this was more hype than reality.
Vehement crimes initially spiked during the kickoff few years of the Smashing Depression, but nationwide, rates of homicides and trigger-happy crimes began to fall sharply between 1934 and 1937—a downward trend that continued until the 1960s.
Source: https://www.history.com/news/life-for-the-average-family-during-the-great-depression
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