It all started on October 24, 1929, A.K.A. "Black Thursday", this was when the stock market crashed and a record breaking 12.9 million stocks were traded. Just five days later on "Black Tuesday" about 16 million shares were traded, which made millions of shares worthless. This caused many businesses and factories to slow production and fire many workers. Wages plummeted and so did buying power. The people who were lucky enough to keep their jobs got paid less and less.
"The Great Depression (1929-39) was the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world." (The History Channel). "… the economy would not fully turn around until after 1939, when World War II kicked American industry into high gear.” (The History Channel).
"By 1933, when the Great Depression reached its peak, some 13 to 15 million Americans were unemployed and nearly half of the country’s banks had failed." (The History Chanel). By 1930 4 million Americans could not find work and later in 1931 that number had been raised to 6 million. During The Great Depression, soup kitchens and bread lines had been established and the number of homeless people raised dramatically.
I choose this particular video because it shows the history of The Great Depression from how it started to when and how it ended. The video represents the flavor of The Great Depression years. I think the music draws an emotional response from the viewer.
To recap The Great Depression article, the US suffered its worst economic depression from 1929 to 1939. It began with the stock market crash in October 1929. Matters got steadily worse in the three years following the crash. When FDR became president in 1933 he began to create new policies to solve the economic mess. WWII marked the official end of The Great Depression.
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Created with images by buckle1535 - "Great Depression"