The Great Depression :: essays research papers

October 29,1929 was the day when my world got turned upside down. It was dubbed Black Tuesday because that was the day the Stock Market crashed where many people and corporations frantically tried to sell their stocks before the prices fell to the lowest they've been in years. (pg.485) My husband, our two children and I lived in Chicago during the Great Depression. Our economy has severely declined putting millions of men and women out of jobs including my husband. (486) Before the depression his income would total up to several thousand dollars a year but now we are lucky if we even get a quarter of that. The Red Cross has set up soup kitchens and bread lines for the poor. (pg. 491) My husband has spent many hours waiting in lines to receive fresh bread for the family. I refuse to stand there on the streets begging for food, I have to much pride and will not be seen stooping to such levels of the poor. The few food that we do have left over before the depression is canned and saved in the icebox for winter. I used to be able to go out and pay for new clothes for my children but once again that pleasure is stripped from me as I now sit hours a day sewing from scratch. Because material is so hard to come by at a cheap price, I try and gather as many scraps of old or used material as I can so I may sew them together to create a quilt for the family to use at night. With all of these domestic duties to complete at home its hard to find time to look for one of the scarce jobs available. (pg. 493) Although I would receive less money then the men, it would still provide more income to the house budget. Additionally, the odds of a married woman securing a job are slim. Many people believe that married women have no right to work when there are plenty of single men out of their jobs and suffering. Plebeians assume that I have the easier side of the dilemma because they don?t see me standing in the cold asking for food, but the thing is, I?m doing as much if not more than they are! Not only am I budgeting the household income, I?