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The Dust Bowl States from Texas to the Dakotas suffered a severe drought

The Nation in Hard Times. The Dust Bowl States from Texas to the Dakotas suffered a severe drought The central Great Plains were hit especially hard Topsoil dried out & high winds carried the soil away in blinding dust storms This area became known as the Dust Bowl. Buried Under Dust.

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The Dust Bowl States from Texas to the Dakotas suffered a severe drought

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  1. The Nation in Hard Times • The Dust Bowl • States from Texas to the Dakotas suffered a severe drought • The central Great Plains were hit especially hard • Topsoil dried out & high winds carried the soil away in blinding dust storms • This area became known as the Dust Bowl

  2. Buried Under Dust • Dust storms buried farmhouses, fences, trees over large areas of the plains • Shutters over doors & windows couldn’t keep it out • The cause: years of overgrazing by cattle/ plowing had destroyed the grasses that once held soil • The drought & high winds did the rest

  3. Migrant Workers • Hardest hit were poor farmers in Oklahoma & other Great Plains states (known as “Okies”) • These families packed all belongings in cars/ trucks & headed west • They became migrant workers: people who move from one region to another in search of work

  4. Migrant Workers • Once they reached the west coast, they were not welcomed • Locals feared migrant workers would take away their jobs • Many were attacked by mobs & sent away • Those who found jobs were paid very little

  5. Women Face the Depression • Homemakers had to stretch family budgets to make ends meet • Women took in laundry to earn extra $$ • Some took in boarders to help pay rent

  6. Women Face the Depression • Women realized unemployed husbands needed more nurturing to feel worthwhile • Working women literally worked to death • In order to spread jobs around, federal gov’t refused to hire a woman if her husband had a job

  7. Women in the Workplace • # of married women in the workforce increased by 52% • Educated women took jobs as teachers, secretaries, & social workers • Other jobs: maids, factory workers, seamstresses

  8. An Active First Lady • Eleanor Roosevelt acted as the President’s eyes & ears, touring the country • Visited farms & traveled deep into coal mines • Studied the condition of homemakers & lives of every day people • Used her position to speak out for women’s rights & social injustices

  9. African Americans • Af. Ams were usually the first to lose their jobs when the depression hit • 1934 – blacks were suffering a 50% unemployment rate (more than twice the national average) • Denied public works jobs • FDR tried to help them by providing jobs for them via the CCC

  10. African Americans • The President invited black leaders to the White House to advise him – these unofficial advisers became known as the Black Cabinet • He followed their wishes BUT denied an anti-lynching law as he feared that by doing so he’d lose the support of the southerners in Congress for his New Deal program

  11. African Americans • Many black leaders called on Af. Ams to unite and obtain their civil rights: rights due to all citizens • Blacks voted & used those numbers to keep up pressure for equal treatment

  12. Other Americans Face the Depression • Fear & insecurity caused by the depression caused violence & discrimination to spread

  13. Mexican Americans • MA’s worked in many cities around the country • Many were farmers in the West & SW • They faced discrimination in education & jobs • Many Americans wanted Mexicans to be sent back (400,000 sent back to Mexico)

  14. Asian Americans • Americans resented Chinese, Japanese & Filipino workers who competed with them for scarce jobs • Violence against Asians erupted • The gov’t tried to eliminate violence by reducing the number of Asians in the U.S. • 1935 – FDR signed a law that provided free transportation for Filipinos who agreed to return to the Philippines & not return

  15. Native Americans • 1924 – Congress had granted all Nat. Americans citizenship • Still, most Indians continued to live in deep poverty • FDR encouraged new policies towards Native Americans

  16. Indian New Deal: laws that gave Native American nations greater control over their own affairs • 1934 Congress passes the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA): Protected & expanded the landholdings of Native American reservations • FDR also allowed reservations organize corporations & develop their own business projects

  17. To provide jobs during the depression, the gov’t set up the Indian Emergency Conservation Work Group: employed Native Americans in programs of soil-erosion control, irrigation & land development

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