Memoirs of the Great Depression
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Memoirs of the Great Depression
Deborah Kinsey
D’Youville College
The economic pressures of the Great Depression led to years of poverty and devastation for the American people. Unemployment and underemployment led to an impoverished nation whose people faced hopelessness and despair. Urban and rural families, men and women, and people of various ethnic backgrounds were depleted of sources of income necessary to sustain livelihood. Alan Brinkley’s The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People shows causes of the Great Depression and describes efforts set forth by the government to bring the nation out of its crisis. The era’s leaders implemented many programs in attempt to rebuild the economy and provide relief to the American people. These programs were beneficial in helping people, but often the outcomes took time. Due to this slow progress, frustration felt by Americans ensued. Studs Terkel’s Hard Times depicts the essence of the emotions and the struggles endured by Americans through personal accounts of tribulations.
The Depression caused despair to many farmers and their families. Just as urban people were losing their homes to foreclosures, farmers were losing their land and livestock to the banks because they were unable to pay their mortgages. Harry Terrell was interviewed by Terkel and described what it was like for farmers during the Depression. Terrell recalls his own family members losing land and having to put machinery and livestock up as collateral for a loan. Unfortunately, these practices were not uncommon for the time. According to Terrell, “The country was getting up in arms about taking a man’s property away from him. It was his livelihood. When you took a man’s horses and his plow away, you denied him food, you just convicted his family to starvation. It was just that real” (Terkel, 215). Terrell’s story conveys the “catch 22” for farmers of this era. The banks were taking their land and the farmers...
Deborah Kinsey
D’Youville College
The economic pressures of the Great Depression led to years of poverty and devastation for the American people. Unemployment and underemployment led to an impoverished nation whose people faced hopelessness and despair. Urban and rural families, men and women, and people of various ethnic backgrounds were depleted of sources of income necessary to sustain livelihood. Alan Brinkley’s The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People shows causes of the Great Depression and describes efforts set forth by the government to bring the nation out of its crisis. The era’s leaders implemented many programs in attempt to rebuild the economy and provide relief to the American people. These programs were beneficial in helping people, but often the outcomes took time. Due to this slow progress, frustration felt by Americans ensued. Studs Terkel’s Hard Times depicts the essence of the emotions and the struggles endured by Americans through personal accounts of tribulations.
The Depression caused despair to many farmers and their families. Just as urban people were losing their homes to foreclosures, farmers were losing their land and livestock to the banks because they were unable to pay their mortgages. Harry Terrell was interviewed by Terkel and described what it was like for farmers during the Depression. Terrell recalls his own family members losing land and having to put machinery and livestock up as collateral for a loan. Unfortunately, these practices were not uncommon for the time. According to Terrell, “The country was getting up in arms about taking a man’s property away from him. It was his livelihood. When you took a man’s horses and his plow away, you denied him food, you just convicted his family to starvation. It was just that real” (Terkel, 215). Terrell’s story conveys the “catch 22” for farmers of this era. The banks were taking their land and the farmers...