The Great Depression affected ordinary people in America in many different ways. The most profound affect was widespread unemployment, which hit nearly 25% in the U.S. This resulted in the displacement of families, who lost their homes and farms, and sometimes ended up camping in large tent cities called “Hoovervilles.” It became harder to acquire everyday consumer goods like thread, utensils and clothing since industries that made these items were closing factories and manufacturing centers. Many people began to go hungry, unable to buy food or find it as farms continued to fail. There are reports of children who chewed on their own hands out of hunger. Many children left school to help support their families, and by the end of 1930 there were an estimated 2.25 million children in the workforce. Those that couldn’t find work ran away to make things easier on their already cash-strapped families.

What consequences did the Great Depression have for ordinary Americans?

It is dangerous to generalize about how the Great Depression affected all Americans.  There were many different kinds of experiences that were felt by various “ordinary Americans.”

Statistics tell us that unemployment rates were anywhere from 25% to 33% at the depths of the Depression.  This means that many ordinary Americans were without jobs.  These Americans sometimes experienced great hardships.  It was from among their ranks that the homeless who lived in Hoovervilles came.  The “Okies” and the hobos also came from the people who were unemployed.  For these people, the impact of the Depression was tremendous.  It ended up causing fewer people to get married and fewer people to have children.

But we must also realize that the majority of Americans still had jobs.  It is true that some of these were like one of my wife’s ancestors who had his hours cut in half.  His family experienced a great drop in their standard of living.  On the other hand, there were also many people like one of my ancestors who kept her job as a teacher throughout the Depression and did not suffer badly.

The Depression reduced the standard of living for a large percentage of Americans.  However, it did not reduce these standards equally for all people.  There was a great range of experience among “ordinary Americans” in the Great Depression.