The Great Depression started with the Wall Street stock market crash of 1929 and began the worst economic crisis in the history of the United States. It had devastating effects on all sectors of the economy for over a decade. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs, businesses failed and financial institutions collapsed. Wages for workers who were lucky enough to have jobs fell drastically. The unemployed stood in long lines at soup kitchens waiting for something to eat and many went hungry. The duration of the depression was too long for any community to endure such hardship. Listed below are some of the topics we have briefly addressed and will be expanded as more information becomes available.


The Great Depression had an impact on all but mostly blacks. I say this because when everyone was losing his or hers jobs left and right the race of black people got hit the hardest. The jobs that were left over for blacks were working on the fields for whites, domestic servants for white people and some worked on foundries. A small number of black people worked for railroads, steel mills, coal mines, and school boards. For what little income they had it got lower and lower so they had to live on what little they had and take care of their families.