GREAT DEPRESSION EFFECTS ON RURAL POVERTY

The stock market crash on October 29, 1929, sent the United States into the longest and darkest economic depression in American history. Between 1929 and 1933, all major economic indexes told the same story. Unemployment statistics revealed the impact of the Depression on Americans. This depression financially devastated all Americans which led to writing personal letters to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt appealing for help. Letters written to Eleanor Roosevelt by poor children affected by the Great Depression with the photographs compiled by the FSA employees depict the grievances of the people affected.
Roosevelt was elected as the president with 89 percent of electrical votes, a landslide victory. New president carried new hopes for the depressed poor people. He made numerous innovations during his first hundred days of his tenure. This reforms and new policies gave Americans sense of hope of steps towards revival from this Great depression. With this positive attitude towards new governance and the hope for help, young people started writing letters to the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Possessing the wealth, power and the face she imprinted over the Americans young people thought her convenient to write a letter and express their situation.
The letters written by these young people convey a greater amount of truth and the ground reality which they are facing other than the statistics and the figures. The letters depict a unique perspective on life in rural America. Portrait these letters show us families lacking basic amenities like clothes, food, shelter. Most of the letters showed requests not to post this letters or broadcast because doing so will lead to lose their respect in the neighborhood. Also some feared
That their parents would punish them if they knew their children had written letters revealing their situation. These requests and the innocence in the letters show the attitude of the children who wanted wellbeing of their families. They wanted to help their families unknowingly as they were aware of the grave situation.
Letters describe how the economic conditions of the families have worsened due to Great depression. Specific details about the banks, health, environmental changes have affected can be explained as a fifth grade girl writes how she has to walk two miles and a half through the mud to go to her school, she explains not receiving a cent from the scheme for unemployed people. They describe how families are saving every penny for their winter groceries and using their neighbors stuff. Families are sick and they owe lots of Hospital bills still they ask money not for debts but for clothes. One letter shows how two girls want to pursue a beauty course in Kentucky, so they asking for small loan to help with the uniforms, books. Letter writers perceived the President and the First Lady with great kindness. The writers felt as if they will cure all the worries caused by the depression and everything will go good after writing these letters. They felt that the First Lady will respond to the letters with money, clothes and will full fill all the demands mentioned in the letter. These writers basically didn’t know how the government functions, and they felt writing these letters will cure the situation.
The letters were just a means for these young writers to convey their situations and hardships to Eleanor Roosevelt. Emotions behind the letters were to ask for help as the writers thought First Lady as approachable and sympathetic towards their situation. The basic agenda of the letters to the First Lady was to ask for the needful help and to take care of the situation as the hardships were described in the letters.
Photographs from the FSA employees depict a similar picture of the situation. The pictures describe fertile grasslands turned into drought stricken farm, eroded farm land. Farms lost fertility due to erosion. The pictures are of dry grasslands and abandoned farm houses show the devastation caused by the Great depressions. People who lived there had to leave as the land was no more cultivable so to feed their needs they had to shift. These pictures say a thousand words more than the letters; these pictures show us the view of the situation which is hurtful and grieving. Farm families leaving there farmlands, man pulling trolley with a child on it behind his family and a women with the stroller, these pictures show us the feelings of the families they are going through. Similar pictures depicting the girl carrying kerosene for the afternoon, the lady feeding her child under a tree with temporary shelter, people living in abandoned trucks. This shows the worse condition without shelter, food and other amenities.
Comparing the photographs with the letters we see that they somehow tell the similar situation caused by the Great depression. The letters written to Eleanor Roosevelt express the difficulties faced by the young writers and their families. They describe the necessities they want from the First Lady. Also the letters portray the innocence of having the faith that the Lady will grant all their wishes. However the pictures describe the after effects of the Great depression and don’t describe the needs of the people or families. The pictures portray how the people are suffering and not the necessary measures to help them.
Generally letters show the real scenario about how the families are suffering and basically what necessary measures they need to revive from the situation is covered well in letters. Letters succeeded in depicting more accurate and reliable information about the effects of Great depression.