Georgia and the American Experience Chapter 11: Flappers, Depression, and the Global War Study Presentation 2005 Clairmont Press
The Destruction of King Cotton Boll weevil: insect which ate Georgia s most important cash crop Price of cotton also dropped 1924: major drought (period with little or no rain) hit Georgia Georgia farmers did not have the good life that many Americans enjoyed Farms closed forcing banks and farmrelated business to close
The Great Migration Many tenant farmers left Georgia to work in northern factories Chicago and Detroit were popular destinations Many African Americans moved north for better pay, education, and more citizenship rights such as voting Young men sent north first to get jobs; sent for the family when they had saved enough money
Section 2: The Great Depression ESSENTIAL QUESTION How did the Great Depression affect Georgians?
Section 2: The Great Depression What words do I need to know? stock market Great Depression laissez-faire relief
The Bottom Drops Out Stock Market: Place where shares of ownership in corporations (stock) are bought and sold Black Tuesday October 29, 1929: Stock market prices fall greatly; millions of people loose all their wealth Total losses by end of year: $40 billion Example: U.S. Steel was $262 per share dropped to $22 per share Some stocks worth less than 1
Causes of the Depression Many people had borrowed too much money Factories produced more goods than they could sell As people and businesses had problems making money, banks did not get paid for loans Speculation in the stock market: paying only a portion of the price of a stock hoping that the value will go up Runs on banks: people were afraid they would lose their money if it was left in the bank laissez-faire: attitude that the economy would fix itself if left alone
Living Through the Depression 1932: 13 million unemployed 9,000 banks closed 31 Georgia banks failed Hoovervilles: named for President Hoover shacks where homeless people gathered Soup kitchens set up by charities and governments to feed hungry Schools were often forced to close or shorten schedules Georgians were already suffering from economic problems before Black Tuesday
Easing the Burden President Hoover s plan: government would buy farmer s crops to help raise the price Plan did not work, but the food and cotton were used to help the needy Another plan was to hire unemployed people to do work for the government Plan did not employ enough people to really help Click to return to Table of Contents.
Section 3: The New Deal ESSENTIAL QUESTION How did Georgians benefit from the New Deal?
Section 3: The New Deal What words do I need to know? New Deal minimum wage stretch out collective bargaining rural electrification subsidy integrate
Section 3: The New Deal What people do I need to know? Franklin D. Roosevelt Richard B. Russell Ellis Arnall Eugene Talmadge
The New Deal 1932: Franklin D. Roosevelt elected president New Deal: Roosevelt s plan to end the depression Examined banks for soundness Give jobs to unemployed workers Tried to improve American s lives Paved the way for recovery though all programs did not work
Georgia and the New Deal NIRA: National Industrial Recovery Act set minimum wage Textile mill owners did not like the minimum wage Stretch out: mill owners tried to make workers work longer, faster, or more tasks TVA: Tennessee Valley Authority Blue Ridge Lake, Lake Chatuge, Lake Nottley built CCC: Civilian Conservation Corps built many parks, sewer systems, bridges, etc. REA: Rural Electrification Authority brought electric power to rural areas
African Americans During the New Deal Did not benefit from many New Deal programs WPA: Works Public Administration did employ many African Americans Roosevelt s Black Cabinet : influential African Americans working with President Roosevelt: Mary McLeod Bethune Clark Foreman Robert Weaver William Hastie
Georgia s New Deal Richard B. Russell Governors Worked to reorganize state government like a successful business Elected to U.S. Senate and served for 38 years Eugene Talmadge Did not like New Deal programs in Georgia Eurith Ed Rivers Worked with Roosevelt to increase New Deal spending in Georgia Began programs for public housing Term ended with corruption problems
Georgia s New Deal Governors Talmadge re-elected in 1940 Began to use some New Deal programs Used his power as governor to remove state officials working to integrate Georgia s state colleges Ellis Arnall Reformed Board of Regents and state prisons Removed poll tax New state constitution Click to return to Table of Contents.
Section 4: World War II ESSENTIAL QUESTION How did World War II affect Georgians?
Section 4: World War II What words do I need to know? isolationism dictator appeasement World War II Holocaust ration G.I. Bill
Increasing Tensions Dictator: individual who ruled a country through military strength Country Leader Quick Facts Japan Emporer Hirohito Attacked China seeking raw materials Italy Mussolini Attacked Ethiopia and Albania Germany Adolf Hitler Nazi leader; began rebuilding military forces, persecuting Jews, and silencing opponents Soviet Union Josef Stalin Built up industry and military, forced peasants into collective farms, eliminated opponents
The War Begins 1938: Hitler s Germany attacks France to take back land lost in WWI (Rhineland) Sent troops to take over Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland Great Britain and France declared war Soviet Union invaded nearby countries and agreed to split Poland with Germany By 1940, Hitler controlled Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg and a large part of France and began bombing Great Britain
A Neutral United States Most Americans did not want to get involved in the war, but Roosevelt wanted to help Britain Hitler turned on Stalin in 1941 and invaded the Soviet Union Lend-lease: policy to lend or lease (rent) weapons to Great Britain and the Soviet Union American ships began escorting British ships in convoys
A Day that Will Live in Infamy President Roosevelt stopped exports to Japan to protest its expansion into other countries Exports of oil, airplanes, aviation gasoline and metals were stopped The Japanese attacked the U.S. Navy fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941 Japan hoped to destroy the fleet giving them control of the Pacific Ocean The USA declared war on Japan Allied Powers: USA, Great Britain, Soviet Union Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan
American Military Forces Millions of Americans enlisted after the attack on Pearl Harbor 330,000 women joined could not serve in combat roles Segregation in the military kept African American and white service men in different units Tuskegee Airmen: famous African American flyers of the Army Air Force
The War in Europe 1942-1943: British and American troops won control of Africa 1943: Mussolini overthrown and Italy joined the Allies American general Dwight D. Eisenhower coordinated plan to recapture Europe D-Day: June 6, 1944 Allied forces land in northern France Early 1945: Germans pushed out of France April 1945: Soviet and American troops meet and Germany surrenders Hitler commits suicide
Georgia Loses a Friend President Roosevelt visited Georgia often at his Little White House in Warm Springs His polio symptoms were eased in the mineral springs April 24, 1945: President Roosevelt died at Warm Springs Millions of Georgians and Americans mouned Vice President Harry Truman became president
The War in the Pacific 1942: Japan expanded its territory throughout the Asian Pacific region 1945: Allied forces began to retake Japanese controlled lands Japan refused to surrender President Truman authorized the use of atomic bombs to force Japan s surrender Enola Gay: plane that dropped first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan Japan surrendered after a second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki Over 50 million people died in the war
The Holocaust The Holocaust: name given to the Nazi plan to kill all Jewish people Auschwitz, Buckenwald, Dachau, Treblinka, Bergen-Belsen infamous concentration camps where Jews and others were executed 6 million people killed in the Holocaust
Georgia During World War II 320,000 Georgians joined the armed forces over 7,000 killed Military bases were built in the state which improved the economy Farmers grew needed crops income tripled for the average farmer Limits were put on the consumption of goods such as gasoline, meat, butter, and sugar (rationing) Students were encouraged to buy war bonds and defense stamps to pay for the war Victory Garden: small family gardens to make sure soldiers would have enough food POW (prisoner of war) camps in Georgia at some military bases
The War s Effects on Society Everyone was expected to help in the war effort Women began working in jobs to replace men who had gone to war G.I. Bill: law to help returning soldiers adapt to civilian life Low cost loans for homes or business College education opportunities Women and African Americans did not want to go back to the kind of life they had before the war Click to return to Table of Contents.
Click to return to Table of Contents.