Never Before Seen Photos Of The Great Depression: How The Nation Found A Way To Survive & To Save The American History

Mental HealthMay 29, 2017

The World’s worst economic crisis and recession lasted for ten long, trying years from 1929 to 1939. What was known as the Great Depression truly meant just that – as with the industrialized World’s troubles came changes in ordinary man’s woes and everyday struggles! President Franklin D. Roosevelt had known the importance of the time and wanting to save American history for posterity, he appointed photographers to capture over 180,000 images showing life as it was. Just recently digitalized, the catalog became available, and we bring you the most incredible and never before seen pictures of that troubled time. Can you spot similarities to today’s so called “Debt Crisis”?

Injured Lumberjack during Great Depression

Being a lumberjack was one of the hardest jobs during the Great Depression and certainly among the most dangerous ones. People doing this job were working under hazardous conditions that brought meager earnings in periods when strikes began. As a result of fights that were very common back then, this Lumberjack was badly injured in Minnesota in September 1937. Lumberjacks were the first people to organize a strike to clamor for better pay and working conditions, contributing to saving American history.

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Segregation of “colored” people

The United States had a law that separated “colored” people from the white people during the Great Depression. This is a picture of a young African-American man drinking water from segregated water cooler marked “colored” at the bus station in Oklahoma City in July 1939. Twenty-five years later, the segregation of public services was outlawed in the United States, accepting African-American people as equal (in theory), but it’s still important to save American history, so this part would never repeat.

South Carolina during the Great Depression – a boll weevil infestation

Although the Great Depression started with the crash of the stock market, in South Carolina, hard times began due to the boll weevil infestation that led to the destruction of large percentages of cotton crops. This is a photo of a family who suffered their losses in Colleton County, Jacksonboro, South Carolina in December 1938. Already facing these beetle infestations, the people of South Caroline had to face a national economic depression.

Lumberjacks’ simple dishes

The food of lumberjacks during the Great Depression was quite simple and mostly eaten at their dangerous workplace. This image of a lumberjack eating his lunch after the Great Depression and at the beginning of the Second World War was taken in Long Pond, Maine in May 1943. Their lunches were quite simple, and they included dishes such as hotcakes, beans, pies, roast pork, milk, and water.

Children’s play during national economic depression

Even though the Great Depression wasn’t easy for anyone, young children still found ways to play and entertain themselves during those hard and exhausting times that took a toll on all people around the world. In this picture, two little girls are playing on 139th Street and St. Anne’s in New York City in November 1936 at the height of the national economic depression.