Social and Cultural Conditions During the Great Depression

Question #2

What served as a way to forget pressing troubles of the world during the Great Depression?

A) Prostitution

B) Movies

C) Migration

D) Alcohol

Works Cited

• http://bigmateo0.tripod.com/id2.html
• http://history.knoji.com/the-cultural-impact-of-the-great-depression/
• http://www.ushistory.org/us/48e.asp
• http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97468008

Movies

The Blues

Sports

Social Conditions

• More people turned to the mass media for entertainment to forget their pressing troubles.
• Despite the costs of an evening out, two out of every five Americans saw at least one movie a week.
• Superman was introduced in 1938, which played into peoples desires to have a hero to solve all of their problems.
• The radio flourished, with radio shows such as The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet becoming hugely popular.
• Movies like Frankenstein, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Gone with the Wind also found millions of audiences in cinemas.
• The blues musical genre also became hugely popular during this time.
• In addition, sports provided a distraction from the Great Depression.

Hooverville

Cultural Conditions continued...

• Prostitution was on the rise as desperate women sought ways to pay their bills.
• Health care was not a priority for many Americans.
• High school attendance increased among males seeking a better education.
• Alcoholism increased with Americans seeking outlets for escape.
• More and more Americans learned about birth control to avoid the added expenses of unexpected children.
• Migration rates were high. Many Americans were adolescents seeking an opportunity away from a family with younger mouths to feed.
• Racism was also in play during this time period.
• Most Americans were unemployed and lost their jobs. They were forced to live in Hoovervilles.

Racism

Unemployment

Cultural Conditions

• Americans had to change their habits, adapt their lifestyles, and reevaluate their values in order to survive.
• There was a sharp fall in birth rates as couples opted to not add anymore to the mouths they were already feeding.
• Marriage rates also decreased as matrimony was put on hold for "better time."
• Divorce rates fell sharply, yet more spouses decided to just run away from their marriages instead.
• There was a rise in crime rates, namely theft and robbery.
• Suicide rates rose, as did malnutrition.

Social and Cultural Conditions of the Great Depression

Question #1

During the Great Depression, adults learned more about birth control, and the amount of birth rates decreased sharply. What was the reason of this?

A) To decrease the amount of mouths to feed

B) Because they did not want to put up with kids

C) The women were not comfortable with pregnancy

D) Parents had better things to do than put up with kids.

Interview with Giggi Besic Cortese about how she Survived the Great Depression Through the Media

Giggi Besic Cortese, 81, has lived in the neighborhood all her life. She lives on a block full of two-story brick and frame houses with narrow sidewalks between them. She said boarders stayed upstairs, including a man named John Vuk who took her to the show every Sunday.

"Do you known how I survived those days?" Cortese asks. "[It] was going to the show every Sunday to see Shirley Temple, but [I] tell you, she was my inspiration to go on living. Honest to goodness, I couldn't wait till Sunday, and we would sit and wait for John Vuk to say, 'Come, ve go to the show, ve go to the show today.' You can certainly say that people had heart for one another — and if they were able to help, more often than not they did."