Great Depression

During the Great-Depression era, many Americans - like other people around the world - did not have enough money to build homes.  In warmer parts of the U.S., people "dug out" the ground, then used logs to put the finishing touches on shelter for their families.  This image, by Russell Lee, depicts a dugout home in Pie Town, New Mexico during October of 1940.  Online, courtesy Library of Congress.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself

Franklin D. Roosevelt
1933 Inaugural Address

It was a time of utter despair, nearly unimaginable today. The memory of those years still lives in the minds of people who experienced unemployment, insufficient food, homelessness and lost family wealth.

For those born after World War II, it is inconceivable that such a time ever existed in America. In the days before Interstates connected the country, people were forced to travel west in search of a better life.

Destitute mothers had few, if any, options to provide for their children. Fathers throughout the country were forced to leave home to look for work elsewhere.

Photographs from the National Archives paint the picture of harsh times during those not-so-distant days.

Author: Carole D. Bos, J.D.

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Original Release Date:  June, 2004
Updated Quarterly, or as Needed