The Inequalities of Wealth in the 1920s

Inequalities of wealth

The 1920s wasn’t a time of economic prosperity for all Americans. Millions of people remained poor. Wealth was spread unequally and the richest 5% earned 33% of all the money

Poverty in the countryside

Early 1930s : farmers were only earning a third of their income in 1920. After WW1 : less demand in Europe for American imports. Some countries taxed US products, made them expensive. The use of high-tech farming machinery produced more food to sell. Some farmers had borrowed money from the banks to buy the latest machinery, couldn’t repay the loans. Many farmers were forced to sell their farms or were evicted from their land. 1924 : around 600 000 farmers lost their land

Problems in traditional industries

Coal miners suffered since coal mines were closed. Other forms of fuel were increasingly used to heat homes and cook food. Cotton and wool factory workers had less demand for their products since the popularity of new man-made fibres. The price of cotton and woollen cloth fell and many factories shut down

African-Americans

Most of them lived in the Southern states. Many worked on farms as labourers or were sharecroppers who rented small areas of farmland from a landowner. African-American farmworkers and sharecroppers were poor since the farming industry suffered. Many moved to cities to work but could often only find low-paid jobs

American Indians

Large amounts of their land had been seized by mining companies. Many American Indians had been forced to move to reservations. The soil was often so poor that it was impossible to grow crops properly. They lived in extreme poverty, were educated poorly and had a lower life expectancy than other ethnics groups in US society