US History- Vinson Name: Azucena Mendoza Sandoval

Unit Four Block: 7B

Voices from the Great Depression

People became desperate during the Depression Children were forced to grow up quickly as they
and often had to be very creative and frugal (or witnessed the stark reality of the Depression.
possibly resort to violence) in order to survive.
“I remember having to move out of our house…
“Approximately 10,000 veterans, women, and we had always lived in that house, and we couldn’t
children lived in the shelters built from materials understand why we were moving out”- Voices
dragged out of a junk pile nearby-old lumber, from the Depression, Cesar Chavez
packing boxes and scrap tin covered with roofs of
thatched”- The Bonus Army “We lost our farm and had to move. Everybody
was poor then. We had a phone when I was little,
“On July 28, Attorney General Mitchell ordered the but not later—no electricity, no running
evacuation of the veterans from all government water—and we were seven miles from town. We
property, Entrusted with the job, the Washington had lamps and we would carry them to our rooms
police met with resistance, shots were fired and to study by.”- One Girl’s Childhood During the
two marchers killed”- The Bonus Army Great Depression

Many wealthy politicians and business owners “He points to very unhealthy corporate and
were in denial about the severity of the banking structures and the ‘bad distributions of
economic situation. income… Capitalism, despite its attempts of
self-reform, its organization of better control, was
“Many rich people felt no impact at all, and were still in 1929 a sick and undependable system” - A
oblivious to the suffering of others. Up to forty People’s History of the United States Self-Hard In
percent of the country never faced real hardship Had Times
during those years”- The Great Depression
The author provides a point on how the Great
“In Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana I Depression had basic capitalism problems. As
saw untold bales of cotton rotting in the fields well, America faces a choice of whether to try to
because the cotton pickers could not keep body reform capitalism or replace it with something
and soul together on 35 cents paid for picking 100 new and have better control.
pounds…”- The Depression Descends
“He'd loan the neighbors what they needed and
they paid him back when they could. If there was a
month—especially the winter months—when they
couldn't pay, they'd slaughter a cow or a pig and
give him a portion.”-Gladys Hoffman, 83 and
Robert Hoffman 86
 This quote makes me think about how there were
people who did in someway not trust the
economic systems and they would handle their
own money by themselves. They would create
their own economical system.

In a thoughtful and detail-rich paragraph, tell me what it would look like in Sonoma
County if another major depression hit today. Literally: what would you see as you
drove around the county looking for work? How would we feed ourselves and keep
ourselves warm? How would life change when the money ran out? Would people band
together and help one another, or have times changed the way we interact as neighbors?

I think that if another major depression hit today, most of Sonoma county’s businesses
would lose their stock value. As well, if something like the dust bowl occurs again most
people who work in the fields would be left with any work which would lead to a
decrease in unemployment, this would also lead to a drop in families income and people
would probably die because they wouldn’t be able to afford food. When talking about
food, I feel that those stores would kinda be in danger because either they’ll have the
stuff to sell or not have any people making a protest to get the food. Because of this, most
people would learn to harvest their own fruits and vegetables in order to sustain
themselves, people would also start creating their own banking system by paying with
actual money or mankind exchanges on food, eggs for bread, bread for oranges, etc. In
terms of community and neighborhood, people would become a powerful resource to
each other providing food or helping with anything needed to those who need
something.

*** Try using the search “eyewitness accounts of the great depression”, or “memories of the depression”, or “stories
from the great depression”. These are some good websites to get you started:

http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1851306_1851283,00.html

http://familyhistorydaily.com/family-history/one-girls-childhood-during-the-great-depression/