The Great Depression

During the Depression, some people got angry and became rebels. One of the most famous rebels was Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd. Floyd robbed the money that was left in the banks. People loved to hear whenever Floyd killed someone or robbed a bank. Eventually, they realized that Floyd was taking their money. Floyd died after being shot 14 times.

In Harlem during the Great Depression, black people were laid off first. A street called 125th street became known as the “Great White Way,” because black people weren’t allowed to have jobs on that street. The black people started a riot when a rumor went around that a 12-year-old boy was killed for stealing a 10-cent pocketknife. They soon found out that the police had only taken the boy home, unharmed.

Roosevelt started a group of government programs to help put people back to work. There was the first New Deal and the second New Deal. The first New Deal mostly put people back to work on construction projects. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) put people to work on national resource conservation, like building dams. Other construction jobs were put out, like making new public buildings. Artists were put to work painting those public buildings. It also made banks safer, because there was insurance on the money that everyone had in the bank up to a certain amount. The second New Deal had a program called the Social Security Act. That was security for the elderly and unemployed people. The Depression was only really over when World War II started.

The Great Depression was a world-wide tragedy. Almost half of Germany, 44%, was unemployed. Hitler created an army called the Brown Shirts. They were working class men who fought with labor unions daily. Hitler eventually turned against the Brown Shirts. He formed a new army, who assassinated the leader of the Brown Shirts. Hitler started to attack some of the other European countries and war started.

The Great Depression was very eventful. A lot happened in those ten years. Many people were homeless, starving, and unemployed. Then, it resulted in World War II.