The Great Depression Notes

Economic Crisis

A severe downturn in economic activity, especially following the stock market crash of October 1929.

Hoovervilles

Makeshift shantytowns where unemployed Americans lived during the Great Depression.

New Deal

A series of programs and policies implemented by Franklin D. Roosevelt aimed at recovering from the Great Depression.

Dust Bowl

A period of severe drought and soil erosion in the 1930s that devastated farming in the Great Plains.

Black Tuesday

The day on October 29, 1929, when stock prices fell dramatically, marking the beginning of the Great Depression.

Unemployment Rate

The percentage of the labor force that is jobless and actively seeking employment.

Scottsboro Boys

Nine Black teenagers falsely accused of raping two white women in Alabama in 1931, symbolizing racial injustice.

Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)

A New Deal program aimed at boosting agricultural prices by reducing production.

National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act)

A law that protected the rights of workers to organize and bargain collectively.

Social Security Act

A 1935 law that created a system of old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, and economic aid for the needy.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

A New Deal program that employed young men to work on environmental conservation projects.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

A New Deal agency created to generate electricity and promote economic development in the Tennessee Valley.

Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)

A government agency created to provide financial support to banks and industries during the Great Depression.

Emergency Banking Act

A 1933 law that allowed the government to stabilize the banking system by closing banks and restructuring their practices.

Panic

A sudden overwhelming fear, leading to irrational behaviors; significant during the Great Depression as people rushed to withdraw bank deposits.

Fireside Chats

Radio addresses by Franklin D. Roosevelt aimed at reassuring the public during the Great Depression.

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

A New Deal program that provided jobs for millions on public works projects such as buildings, roads, and parks.

Fair Labor Standards Act

A 1938 law that established minimum wage, overtime pay eligibility, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards.

Bonus Army

A group of World War I veterans who marched on Washington D.C. in 1932 demanding early payment of their service bonuses.

Income Inequality

The unequal distribution of income within a population, highlighted during the Great Depression.

Poor relief

Government assistance to those in need, which became overwhelmed during the Great Depression.

Speculative Bubble

An economic cycle characterized by the rapid escalation of asset prices followed by a contraction.

Public Works Administration (PWA)

A New Deal agency that funded large-scale public works construction projects to help create jobs.

Prohibition

A nationwide constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages in the U.S.