"A 1940 census enumerator records information from a farmer. "
An upper class, well dressed man, meets with a hard working farmer struggling to tend his fields. This shows the visible difference in dress and life between the two classes. Click link to see more.
An upper class, well dressed man, meets with a hard working farmer struggling to tend his fields. This shows the visible difference in dress and life between the two classes. Click link to see more.
"Good housing is, after all, not an end in itself, but only a means to attaining the good and abundant life which is, consciously or unconsciously, the objective of us all" (Goldfield). The goal of the people in this time was to achieve a living environment such as the Magnolia Home. This dream was often unattainable.
In the early 1900's the economic classes were struggling to come to the realization of their separation, "Out of their constitutional optimism, and because a class struggle is an abhorred and dangerous thing, the great American people are unanimous in asserting that there is no class struggle" (London 4). The American people denied themselves of the realization of their increasing economic gap in order to deny the reality of the harsh world.
As time moved on, the gap could no longer be ignored, especially for those of the inferior class. Those in the lower classes envied and questioned the lives of the rich. They had to do the hard, dirty work while those who made more money spent their time enjoying the grand aspects of life. "The upper classes are by custom exempt or excluded from industrial occupations, and are reserved for certain employments to which a degree of honour attaches...manual labor, industry, whatever has to do with the everyday work of getting a livelihood, is the exclusive occupation of the inferior class" (Veblen).
Why did some people get the easy life while
others worked hard only to live in rags?
How Working Men Spend Their Time
In a conducted experiment between different men with a wide range of occupations, the people found out how they spent their spare time.
Women in this time period
The Great Gatsby is a novel that was written in the 1920’s that describes the lavish lifestyle that many led in the United States after WWI and before the Great Depression. The main character, Jay Gatsby, lives in a grand mansion and owns fancy cars. However, he is not happy at all, since he is very lonely: "A sudden emptiness seemed to flow now from the windows and the great doors, endowing with complete isolation the figure of the host [Gatsby] who stood on the porch, his hand up in a formal gesture of farewell." This is significant because the author of the Great Gatsby was trying to show his readers that money cannot bring happiness, opposing the general attitude of the public during the Roaring Twenties.. The idea that money can solve all of our problems is still a prevalent idea in our society today.
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Oral Interview With A Woman Who Grew Up in the South during the Great Depression (1975)
This interview gives us insight into the way many poor people viewed themselves and each other during this time period. The woman tells us about how often times those who were in the lower class were seen as destined to stay there. "It is almost impossible for you younger people to realize the terrible poverty of the South ... We were surrounded by absolutely abject poverty. The poor whites ... were pale and stunted and almost deformed because the thing that was so prevalent among the poor whites in the South at that time was pellagra and worms and malaria. I was concerned about them too, but the only explanation that I got was that they were just poor white trash, that's just the way they are, you couldn't do a thing with them, no matter how much you tried, they would still be the way they are because that's the way they liked to be." "The black children always looked ashen, not always, but the poor ones had an ashen look to them. They used to wear flour sacks as clothes with nothing under them either, just flour sacks. And they always had two great streams of snot hanging down them from their nose and they were very unattractive looking. You know, you would feel sorry for them and ask your family about them and then there again, "this is just the way they are. They are born this way. They don't have any pride or ambition. If you gave them anything, they would just get drunk or spend it on something.'" |
When the Great Depression hit, the upper class suffered greatly as well. They lost their savings and with it, their lavish way of life. Ultimately, nobody felt safe.
Try to make it through the Great Depression here
Source credit from top to bottom
A Farmer Supplies Answers to the 232 Questions on the Farm Schedule. 1940.
National Archives, www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2012/spring/
1940.html. Accessed 28 Sept. 2017.
Tenements in New York City. American History, americanhistory.abc-clio.com/
Topics/Display/2006138?sid=291062&cid=4&subId=7&useConcept=False. Accessed
1 Nov. 2017.
"A Beautifully Original Magnolia in South Bend- For Sale!" Sears Modern Homes,
www.searshomes.org/index.php/tag/magnolia-kit-home/. Accessed 11 Jan. 2018.
Goldfield, Abraham. Toward Fuller Living Through Public Housing and Leisure Time
Activities. New York city, The National Public Housing Conference,
1934. Digital Public Library of America, babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/
pt?id=uc1.b4512566;view=1up;seq=9. Accessed 24 Oct. 2017.
London, Jack. War of the Classes. New York, Grosset. Digital Public Library of America, babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112048988312;view=1up;seq=28. Accessed 28 Sept. 2017.
Veblen, Thorstein. The Theory of the Leisure Class : An Economic Study of Institutions. New York : Vanguard Press, 1926. Hathitrust, New York : Vanguard Press, babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/
pt?id=uva.x000492349;view=1up;seq=5.
Levering, Albert. The Diversions of High Society. 26 Apr. 1905. Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsca.25950/. Accessed 8 Jan. 2018.
Bevans, George Esdras, M. A. How Workingmen Spend Their Spare Time. New York, 1913. Digital Public Library of America, dp.la/item/ 80b87ab2f4c8539ccff93e9185b3d0c5?
back_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fdp.la%2Fsearch%3Fplace%25 5B%255D%3DUnited%2BStates%26q%3Dleisure%2Bclass%26utf8%3D%25E2%259C%2593&next=2&p
revious=0. Accessed 24 Oct. 2017.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 1995. Print
Steig, William. "The New Yorker." The New Yorker, 19 Nov. 1932,
xroads.virginia.edu/~ug02/newyorker/class.html. Accessed 11 Jan. 2018.
Cartoon.
Photo:
Zainaldin, Jamil . “History & Archaeology Progressive Era to WWII, 1900-1945.” New Georgia Encyclopedia , 2016, www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/great-depression.
Interview:
Hall, Jacquelyn, and Sue Thrasher. "Oral History Interview with Virginia
FosterDurr." Documenting the American South, Mar. 1975, docsouth.unc.edu/
sohp/G-0023-1/excerpts/excerpt_2974.html. Accessed 21 Sept. 2017.
McCutcheon, John. "A Wise Economist Asks a Question." The Chicago Tribune, 1932,
indianapublicmedia.org/momentofindianahistory/dean-american-cartoonists/.
Accessed 11 Jan. 2018. Cartoon.
A Farmer Supplies Answers to the 232 Questions on the Farm Schedule. 1940.
National Archives, www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2012/spring/
1940.html. Accessed 28 Sept. 2017.
Tenements in New York City. American History, americanhistory.abc-clio.com/
Topics/Display/2006138?sid=291062&cid=4&subId=7&useConcept=False. Accessed
1 Nov. 2017.
"A Beautifully Original Magnolia in South Bend- For Sale!" Sears Modern Homes,
www.searshomes.org/index.php/tag/magnolia-kit-home/. Accessed 11 Jan. 2018.
Goldfield, Abraham. Toward Fuller Living Through Public Housing and Leisure Time
Activities. New York city, The National Public Housing Conference,
1934. Digital Public Library of America, babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/
pt?id=uc1.b4512566;view=1up;seq=9. Accessed 24 Oct. 2017.
London, Jack. War of the Classes. New York, Grosset. Digital Public Library of America, babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112048988312;view=1up;seq=28. Accessed 28 Sept. 2017.
Veblen, Thorstein. The Theory of the Leisure Class : An Economic Study of Institutions. New York : Vanguard Press, 1926. Hathitrust, New York : Vanguard Press, babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/
pt?id=uva.x000492349;view=1up;seq=5.
Levering, Albert. The Diversions of High Society. 26 Apr. 1905. Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsca.25950/. Accessed 8 Jan. 2018.
Bevans, George Esdras, M. A. How Workingmen Spend Their Spare Time. New York, 1913. Digital Public Library of America, dp.la/item/ 80b87ab2f4c8539ccff93e9185b3d0c5?
back_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fdp.la%2Fsearch%3Fplace%25 5B%255D%3DUnited%2BStates%26q%3Dleisure%2Bclass%26utf8%3D%25E2%259C%2593&next=2&p
revious=0. Accessed 24 Oct. 2017.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 1995. Print
Steig, William. "The New Yorker." The New Yorker, 19 Nov. 1932,
xroads.virginia.edu/~ug02/newyorker/class.html. Accessed 11 Jan. 2018.
Cartoon.
Photo:
Zainaldin, Jamil . “History & Archaeology Progressive Era to WWII, 1900-1945.” New Georgia Encyclopedia , 2016, www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/great-depression.
Interview:
Hall, Jacquelyn, and Sue Thrasher. "Oral History Interview with Virginia
FosterDurr." Documenting the American South, Mar. 1975, docsouth.unc.edu/
sohp/G-0023-1/excerpts/excerpt_2974.html. Accessed 21 Sept. 2017.
McCutcheon, John. "A Wise Economist Asks a Question." The Chicago Tribune, 1932,
indianapublicmedia.org/momentofindianahistory/dean-american-cartoonists/.
Accessed 11 Jan. 2018. Cartoon.