in the 20's farmers were making extra amounts of food that wasn't needed (a surplus). This extra food made crops price go down. This meant the farmers weren't making the same amount of money which put them into a lot of debt. Even before the depression the farming industry was taking a major downturn.
the people who stayed in the West during the depression were devastated by the huge dust clouds that swept the area killing every crop that they had. Thousands of refugees where forced to leave their land that they had worked on. These travelers were known as "Okies."
After the storms and the depression, the farmers of the united states became starving and desperate. So the government finally decided to help the people who were in need. They set up multiple act to help people farming from restoring farms to the Agriculture Adjustment act were the Government paid farmers to plant less crops.
Even before the depression it wasn't all that good for the farmers, there still was a lot of debt that because of the mass surplus of food. there homes were usually old and small. it was a hard time for the farmers and that was only the beginning.
During the 20's many farmers or farm hands decided that it would be a good idea to move West because of the unusual amount of rainfall in that area. This proved to be a grave mistake for when the 20's ended, so did the rainfall. Soon after the move of so many people, large droughts started to occur in the area. The wind picked up the loosened topsoil and carried it around. Causing what is shown in the picture above. many were forced to move away from their homes sometimes forever.
With the new acts in place the farming industry was well on its way to becoming what it once was. The farmers were starting to come out of debt and the future was looking much brighter than before.
During the 1920's the farmers of the decade probably enjoyed most of the same things that everyone of the time enjoyed; movies, music, sports and many other things.
Like most Americans during the 20s the main source of relaxation and enjoyment was found within watching movies like King Kong. Most people of the time watched at least one movie each week. Others forms of entertainment were found in books.
During this time the economy was booming. Women were a big part of this buying all of the newest appliances for the house to make the day to day chores a lot easier. This was one thing that many did because of the new thing of buying on credit.
With the crash of the stock market. The majority of women were fired from their job so that the jobless men could take their jobs. These women learned to make do and cut back on the things that they don't need and focus on the things they do need.
During the 20s President Hoover didn't really focus on the women of the nation. He didn't really need to because at that time it was the begging of equal rights for women. At this point there was jobs for both men and women and they were doing very well.
During this time the rights of women started to plummet as men thought women should be stay at home instead of taking jobs away from men who needed it. Under FDR's presidency, Eleanor Roosevelt fought hard for the rights of all women trying to fight back against the oppression.
Before the great depression everyone used money like it grew on trees. They would buy things that they didn't need and other appliances that could make their life a lot easier. They did all because of the illusion if you buy now, you can pay it off later no problem.
During the great depression, women everywhere decided took a new approach of "making do" with what they had and to not to overspend or buy things that just weren't needed. Most learned how to do things like cooking almost all of their own food and sew their own clothes.
During the 20s leisure time meant going to party's, dances, speakeasy's, movies, and many other places. They were easy to do any many women did this all the time.
When the depression hit the only thing that anybody really did was go and see movies. For a lot of poor people sometimes this wasn't even possible. Many single women had to focus only on their family and could barely if at all have time to do things that they wanted to do.