War, Prosperity, & Depression III

War, Prosperity, & Depression III

Objective: I will describe how the 1929 stock market crash, the Great Depression, & the Dust Bowl increased economic hardships for many New Mexicans.

New Art Colonies

 Artists have lived in New Mexico for centuries. Native American petroglyphs date back hundreds of years. Hispanic santeros have created images of Catholic saints since the 1700s. Anglo artists arrived in New Mexico much later. The first Anglo artists, Ernest L. Blumenschein and Bert Geer Phillips, came to Taos in 1898. They stopped to have a wheel on their wagon fixed but liked the area so much they eventually decided to stay.

Poll

Do you like to create art?

• yes

• no

• sometimes

New Mexico Art Colonies

Blumenschein and Phillips enjoyed painting in northern New Mexico. The scenery was awe inspiring, the weather was mild, and the cost of living was low. Most importantly, Blumenschein and Phillips admired the local Hispanic and Indian cultures. They painted pictures of local residents and their traditions because the artists feared these ancient cultures were in danger and might soon disappear.

From Boom To Bust

The 1920s was a time of such prosperity that many people also bought stocks. Stocks are investments in a company. People who own stocks are called shareholders. Shareholders share ownership of a company. When a company succeeds, shareholders earn profits. When a company fails, shareholders lose money and try to sell their stocks before they lose more. 

Multiple Choice

They are investments in a company.

• Dollars

• Stocks

• Stockings

• Bonds

Multiple Choice

People who own stock are called...

• Rich

• Businessmen

• Shareholders

• Confident

From Boom To Bust

Shareholders were so confident about business and the economy in the 1920s that they sometimes borrowed money to buy additional stocks. American leaders shared this enthusiasm. When elected president in 1928, Herbert Hoover announced, "I have no fears for the future of our country. It is bright with hope." Like people in most states, New Mexicans looked forward to a new decade of even greater wealth in the 1930s. 

From Boom To Bust

But then everything changed. The prosperity of the 1920s suddenly ended on October 29, 1929, later called Black Tuesday. Shareholder confidence turned upside down overnight. Panicking, people frantically sold their stocks so they would not lose more money in the worst stock market crash in American history. 

Multiple Choice

Who was president when the stock market crashed in 1929?

• Herbert Hoover

• Woodrow Wilson

• Franklin Roosevelt

• Ronald Reagan

Multiple Choice

What is the day the Stock market crashed called

• Black Thursday

• Black Monday

• Black Tuesday

• Black Friday

The Great Depression

The massive selling of stock caused a disaster that some have compared to dominoes falling in a long row. With few shareholders, many companies went bankrupt. Without jobs, workers could not pay their debts, including the loans they had made to buy cars, houses, and stocks. When people could not pay their loans, thousands of banks went bankrupt. When banks closed, depositors, or people who had money in the banks, lost all their savings.

Multiple Choice

People who have money in banks are called...

• Shareholders

• Stockholders

• Depositors

• Savers

The Great Depression

The dominoes continued to fall long into the 1930s. The country was beginning the worst economic depression in history. An economic depression is a period when the economy is suffering from little business activity, mass unemployment, and a weak stock market. The depression of the 1930s was so bad that it spread far beyond the United States. It became known as the Great Depression. 

Poll

A depression is a period when the economy is suffering from little business activity, mass unemployment, and a weak stock market.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

The worst economic depression in history.

• Great Depression

• Great Recession

• Great Fall

• Great Recovery

New Mexicans Suffer

In 1933, the worst year of the Great Depression, national unemployment reached 25 percent. New Mexico had never been a wealthy state; most lived in poverty long before the Depression began. The Depression only deepened their suffering.

The Dust Bowl

A disaster known as the Dust Bowl made life even more difficult in the 1930s. The Dust Bowl was a severe drought in a region of the Great Plains. High winds blew the dry soil into giant dust clouds. 

The Dust Bowl

Northeastern New Mexico was part of the Dust Bowl. Dust covered everything, from crops in the fields to fences and farm equipment. People and livestock found it hard to see or breathe. Many people and animals got sick. Dust blew through even the smallest cracks in family homes. Furniture dusted in the morning would be covered in a new layer of dust by the afternoon. People could not even eat without dust settling on their food.

The Dust Bowl

Unable to live or work in these terrible conditions, thousands of farmers and their families fled the Dust Bowl. Many farmers and ranchers in eastern New Mexico were among those who packed their few belongings and left their homes. Some had been homesteaders who had proven up under hard conditions years earlier but could no longer endure. Most traveled west in search of work and a better life.

Multiple Choice

It was caused by severe drought in a region of the Great Plains.

• Peach Bowl

• Super Bowl

• Great Drought

• Dust Bowl

Blackdom

Residents of an all-black community called Blackdom were among those who had to leave their farms and houses behind during the Great Depression. Francis Marion Boyer had founded Blackdom in 1901. He recruited as many as 25 black families to live on homesteads south of Roswell. The families hoped to enjoy their freedom far from the racism (prejudice based on race) they had experienced in the Southern states they were from. Blackdom had a store, a school, a church, and a post office. Although its residents enjoyed their small, independent community, bad weather and economic depression forced them to abandon their town by 1.929. 

Blackdom

Most migrants (people who move from place to place) traveled west to California on Route 66, the same highway that tourists and businessmen had used during the better days of the 1920s. Most New Mexicans were kind to the homeless travelers, offering them food and supplies even when they had little for themselves. 

Open Ended

Exit Ticket: What did you like about this lesson?