Read.
Philadelphia and the
Great Depression, 1929-1941, Roger D. Simon. Then discuss, How does the Great Depression impact Philadelphia?
What policies or events seem to help ease the burden of the economic crash the
most? How? (In the blog, remember to BUILD A CONVERSATION i.e. speak to each
other, use the documents you have available to support your assertions).
21 comments:
How does the Great Depression impact Philadelphia? What policies or events seem to help ease the burden of the economic crash the most? How?
During the Great Depression Philadelphia reached its downfall. Many jobs were taken away, people were hungry, and population was decreasing. Many were dying, and the economy was bad. But Philadelphia was impacted because the Depression though bringing hardships helped change Philadelphia. It created a strong labor force in Philadelphia which helped fight through. To me, the events that helped with the economic crash was "New Deal." The "New Deal" helped Philadelphia build that strong labor movement that helped fight through the economic crash. Another event that I thought helped fight through the economic crash was when Wilson went from democratic to republican. I think if he did not switch he might have not won, which would prevent the labor movement to happen. He worked hard to end the disputes by making his own labor board. The labor movement helped Philadelphia with their economic lives as well as political. The New Deals slowly helped Philadelphia stand up on its feet again during the Great Depression.
"The Depression took a devastating toll on the people of Philadelphia." Just like many other cities people lost their savings and homes. Thousands were homeless and hungry. According to the article Philadelphia was on the edge of bankrupty and ever since the era "Roariing Twenties" Philadelphia's economy was in trouble, the jobs fell from 1925-1927. "By April 1930, 135,000 Philadelphians were jobless with another 46,000 working only part time." Thousands were foodless and some turned out to be beggers, theft and some looks for spoiled or rotten food. The Great Depression forced many families to live in small rooms because the did not have the momey to afford it.
After the first year of the depression charities and soup-kitchens were established to help the poor and hungry. "The food was free, but the humiliation of standing in line, advertising one’s need, was a high price to pay." Even though the food was free, some were too proud to admit they were poor to stand in those lines to get food. Other organizations that helped people were free food, breakfast in schools, homeless shelters, distribution of clothing and work relief programs.But out of the population African American's suffered the most. In 1931 black unemployment was up to 40 percent.
Some of the polices that helped ease the burden of the the economic crash the most are the Civilian Conservation Corps which sent young men to work across the country, Civil Works Administration, Works Progress Administration etc. I agree with April that with the struggles Philadelphian's faced changed Philadelphia to make it a better place. I believed that many act that were formed such as New Deal’s National Industrial Recovery Act Wagner National Labor Relations Act impacted and helped the workers and I think it gave people hope for a better tomorrow. "Philadelphia was known as a militantly anti-union city, but as the economy picked up, devastated factory workers took the initiative to build a strong labor movement." The Great depression impacted Philadelphia because it changed its policies and beliefs before the the depress because Philadelphia was an anti-union city before but once the economy started to rise again they decided to create labor unions.
I agree with both Katie and April on the initiatives taken to help ease the burden of the economic crash. Another thing that I think helped ease the burden was giving support to the blacks since their unemployment rate reached as high as 50 percent. The housing projects helped get blacks back on their feet along with the establishment of work programs. The impact the Great Depression had on Philly is that really brought the city beyond it's breaking point to where it desperately needed help. Things like the "New Deal" as April mentioned helped the city get through the economic crash.
The Great Depression hit Philadelphia hard like other places. However, there are some good things that came out of the Great Depression. For example, labor union movements led to higher wages, improved working conditions, and better treatment at work. I agree with April that the New Deal did help ease the burden of the economic crash. In the reading it said "While New Deal programs were insufficient for full recovery, the economy did revive somewhat after 1933." In 1933, the New Deal's National Industry Recovery Act and the Wagner National Labor Relation Act, gave workers federal support, and soon enough they were sitting in factories again.
I agree that the "New Deal" had helped Philadelphia build a stronger labor movement during the economic crash. Workers had come together to build a stable union. Using recreation, picnics, dances, and newspapers, unions built solidarity across skill, gender, racial, and ethnic lines. In 1938 the economy got better, primarily because of heavy federal spending on military preparedness. In 1940, the region received 11% of all federal military spending, and by December manufacturing output finally ended.
Then discuss, How does the Great Depression impact Philadelphia? What policies or events seem to help ease the burden of the economic crash the most? How?
The Great Depression negatively effected the people of Philadelphia tremendously. People were evicted from homes, lost jobs, and those things resulted in many people turning to the government for assistance. People set up homeless camps and tent cities –"Hoovervilles"–so that they could have a place to stay. People also looked for jobs daily by walking through the city. By March 1933 330,000 people were without jobs. Since 1879, Philadelphia has relied on private charities to help "the needy." Charities did help during the GD by setting up soup kitchens and bread lines in various places through out the city. Blacks were especially affected during this time. They made up 13% of the population but made up 40% of those who received aid and relief from the city.
The government ended up helping. Horatio Gates Lloyd, a banker, organized a volunteer relief program to help the citizens. Through some government grants–but predominantly through private donations–they committee was able to give people free food and fuel through vouchers, get hot breakfast served in schools, set up a segregated homeless shelter, give out used clothes, get money that would go toward giving people loans, and give people jobs.
The New Deal also changed Philadelphia. The New Deal programs gave the country the Federal Housing Administration. It insured homes and renovations. But in Philadelphia these programs gave strength to segregation within and on the outskirts of the city. The New Deal also strengthened unions in the city.
The overall health of the city also declined. Malnutrition and other health problems went up and birth rates fell.
"The Great Depression created massive unemployment, bank failures, price deflation, and very real human misery in Philadelphia." African Americans suffered the most during the decade with 40% unemployment in 1931 and 50% in 1933. Couples delayed marriages and birthrates decreased. However, social security, unemployment insurance, public assistance, the minimum wage and the 40-hour work week provided Americans with a measure of economic security. Securities and banking regulations, insured bank deposits, and home mortgage insurance reinstated people's confidence in savings. New Deal’s National Industrial Recovery Act and the Wagner National Labor Relations Act supported the workers, which joined unions.
In Philadelphia, the Great Depression was the cause for much economic trouble. Due to the fact that Philadelphia was on the edge of bankruptcy, many manufacturing jobs fell and unemployment was on the rise. Many rallied in protest in call for the government to alleviate suffering from the starvation, foreclosures and thievery happening. Soup kitchens where food was given out for free sort of helped ease the burden of the economic crash. Horatio Gates Lloyd also helped ease the burden by donating money to the city to initiate homeless shelters, vouchers, etc. As others have stated, the New Deal which established programs for relief and economic recovery also helped ease the burden of the economic crash during the Great Depression.
The Great Depression's main direct impacts on Philadelphia are unemployment and poverty. Here are some quotes that captured my attention the most:
-"In 1931, black unemployment exceeded 40 percent; by 1933 it had reached 50 percent. Comprising 13 percent of the city’s population, African Americans accounted for 40 percent of those on relief in 1936."
-"unemployment shot up, reaching as much as 25 percent in the city by early 1938."
-"As late as October 1941, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported 160,000 city school children undernourished."
These quotes shows that for nearly a decade, many people were unemployed and even, hungry. In 1933, every other African American does not have a job. In 1938, every 4th person in the city is unemployed. In 1941, thousands of children did not receive enough/proper nutrition. This is something so unfamiliar to our city in the modern day.
I agree with every person above me that mentioned the labor unions. I believe that the labor union helped the most. It helps people enforce more secure to their occupations. As with the New Deal, I do agree that it helped. However, it still failed to fix the unemployment problem, as unemployment was still soaring even after it passed.
There isn't much left to say because I agree with everyone and don't want to sound redundant. In short, the Great Depression had a huge impact on Philly, (more so for the African Americans) but on a brighter note it resulted in a new, strong labor union and the New Deal that helped the economy recover.
Everyone basically covered everything. But yes, Philadelphia was definitely impacted by the Great Depression, because people were homeless and jobless. By March 1933, a calculated 330,000 people were without a job; I thought that was sad. The African Americans were the most impacted during the Great Depression, because they made up 40% of the people who needed assistance from the city. As it was already stated, the New Deal and labor union helped ease the burden of the economic crash the most.
I agree with everyone, there isn't anything much left to say. The last two paragraphs sum up the article well. The Great Depression and the New Deal fundamentally changed Philadelphia and the nation. The intransigence of the Republicans toward New Deal programs for relief and work projects weakened, but did not yet end, the city’s long alliance with the Republican Party.
Social Security, unemployment insurance, federally subsidized public assistance, the minimum wage and the 40-hour work week provided Americans with a measure of economic security they never had before. Securities and banking regulations, federally insured bank deposits, and home mortgage insurance restored people’s trust in savings and stabilized the economy. The National Labor Relations Act together with the revitalized labor union movement led to vastly improved working conditions, higher wages, and better treatment on the job. It made organized labor a powerful force in Philadelphia social life and politics. The New Deal, overall, laid the basis for a more economically just and secure society.
All in all the Great Depression affected Philly greatly and in many ways not just economically ,
I read everyone's comments, I agree with all of them. I won't repeat them what has already been stated. The Great Depression For the first time in its history, Philadelphia’s population declined. The drop was only 1 percent, but the seven surrounding counties grew by almost 7 percent.". Meaning that it was a major event that took place and it shows. Philadelphia is one of the largest cities in the country (always) but the Great Depression hit so hard that it made a stable fast growing population decrease. That was what I thought about when I was reading the article . But this reason had it perks as well, social security emerged, unemployment was in effect etc, which gave he common person certainty that If something like that would have happened again they would be protected...
I honestly do not know what else to mention because I agree with everyone and don't want to keep repeating information so I am just going to point out what I thought was interesting in the passage. One of the lines that caught my attention was " Using recreation, picnics, dances, and newspapers, unions built solidarity across skill, gender, racial, and ethnic lines." This interested me because I never realized how the unions were created and the best part about the whole idea is that I actually understand how they created a union using the recreation activities. Another thing that I did not know was that the workers went on strike just to see how much power they had. " In 1933 and 1934 workers in several unions experimented with a radical new tactic, turning off their machines and standing or sitting in place inside the factory. They called these actions “pulling a Ghandi” after the great Indian protest leader. By 1935 Philadelphia union locals claimed 250,000 members."
I agree that the Great Depression had a huge impact on Philadelphia. People lost jobs and could not feed their families. But I also agree that good came out of it, such as the labor unions. The unions gave workers some control.
I am thinking the same as Alex and the others, everything that I was going to mention is already mentioned. But.. I wasn't surprised that African Americans ended up getting the end of the already bad stick, the numbers are what surprised me. Also, I was looking at the image you posted and woah, there are a lot of blue lines..
The Great Depression hit PHilsdelphia very hard, especially the African American population leaving them without jobs. One thing that helped get Philadelphia back on the track towards bettering themselves politically and economically was the New Deal. The New Deal completely changed Philadelphias prominent political party from Republican to Democrat. The New Deal also provided labor unions and put many people back to work which helped out somewhat economically it brought some stability. The New Deal wasn't enough to fully cure Philaelphia of the Depression that they were in but it was a good start in getting there.
As mentioned previously, the Great Depression was very devastating. It made life for the people go very downhill. Most, if not all, the people lost their jobs. Jobs that they were heavily relying on. Therefore, the people lost their jobs, and the economy gradually fell behind. Hence the name, it was an era of "depression". As said before, I agree with everyone else's opinion about the article, along with the image.
I agree with all of my classmates above, in their earlier comments. The Great Depression had an horrid impact on Philadelphia's laborers, representing about 40 percent of its working force. Since most continues stop manufacturing, construction fell straight to the bottom it left its workers to fend for themselves, but with no source of income they were force to succumb to scavanging for food, living in Hoovervilles, & giving up any sense of pride & dignity to survive. The largest group of people suppressed & suffering during this time period were the African Americans.Their lack of economic equality & opportunity made them most vulnerable when the depression hit, & impacted the most during its stay. although the suffering was tremendous, unions had never had such a strong presence in Philadelphia. Unions became essential with protest & strikes to make sure those who suffered in silence, were heard loud & clear.!
When the great depression hit, it had a huge negative impact on Philadelphia. It forced many people out of work, their homes, and many banks faced foreclosed. When Mayor Moore was elected into office, he made life for Philadelphians much more rough as he determined their position as economically ok, when in truth they were all but that. This eventually led to worker strikes that increased as time passed. The strikers soon formed unions, the first to exist in Philadelphia. The WPA, was a major African American attractions as it allowed many of them aid during this time. Soon enough when Roosevelt issued the New Deal, and it economically secured the nation.
How does the Great Depression impact Philadelphia? What policies or events seem to help ease the burden of the economic crash the most? How?
The Great Depression had a huge impact in Philadelphia. I agree what everyone is saying about how the main impact it had on this city was unemployment and poverty. The Great Depression left many people jobless and like what Mariah said, the New Deal helped Africans get back on their feet. Many people mentioned labor union and I completely agree, I feel as though labor union was the most helpful,
i agree with everyone, because everyone basically said that it was hard during the Great Depression in Philadelphia, as it was everythere else. Like Breanne and Mariah said, it was even harder for the African Americans, because they lost their jobs. the economy, however did "somewhat revive after 1933. By early 1937 manufacturing output had returned almost to pre-Depression levels, but the recovery was precarious and the economy again faltered." this says that the economy was getting better, but the change was uncertain, and unstable, so the economy broke again. Malnutrition had been affecting people's health as well, if it hasn't been said before.
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