‘The Great Depression Deserves Its Title’: 55 Photos Of America’s Worst Economic Crisis

The worst economic crisis in American history, the Great Depression had a devastating impact across the United States. Millions of citizens lost their jobs, and some also lost their homes, forcing them to move into the hundreds of shantytowns that cropped up across the country. Since many people felt that President Herbert Hoover had failed to provide adequate relief to struggling Americans, these shantytowns eventually became known as "Hoovervilles." Even those who got to keep their homes struggled to put food on the table, and in big cities like New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., unemployed men were often seen lining up at soup kitchens to collect food for themselves and their families. From bread lines to squatters' camps, this crushing desperation would last for about a decade.

Great Depression Christmas Dinner Photo

A family in Iowa enjoys their Christmas dinner during the Great Depression.

Oklahoma Dust Storm

A dust storm in Oklahoma.

One Room Schoolhouse

Children receive a lesson at a one-room schoolhouse in Alabama.

Unhoused During The Great Depression

Men who lost their farms in Oklahoma waiting for semimonthly relief checks in California.

Tenant Farmer's Family

A tenant farmer's family makes a trip out west in the hopes of a better life.

Photo Of A Protest During The Great Depression

After the failure of New York's Bank of United States, depositors gathered to protest many of the institution's activities.

Crowd Outside Nyse

A crowd gathering outside the New York Stock Exchange after the stock market crash. 1929.

Great Depression Photo Showing Despair

With new construction virtually halted, and crop prices falling by 60 percent, the effects of the Great Depression were widespread and debilitating for many Americans.

West Virginia During The Great Depression

Men walking to Scotts Run, West Virginia to pick up relief food.

Photo Of A House For Sale During The Great Depression

Sign for a New Jersey house, reading, "Buy now! A well built home with a garden and lake privileges. You can do it. Come in, let us explain. Do it now!"

Sharecropper's Wife

The family of an Arkansas sharecropper.

Bread Line Photo During The Great Depression

Men line up to receive bread for their families.

Migrant Fruit Worker's Children

Children of a migrant fruit worker in Michigan.

Tennessee Great Depression Photos

An impoverished Tennessee neighborhood during the Great Depression.

Caravan Great Depression Photos

Farmers traveling to California.

Great Depression Photos Of The Homeless

During the Great Depression, the unemployment rate in the U.S. rose to nearly 25 percent.

Great Depression Traveler On The Highway

A migrant worker heads for a California highway.

Arkansas Drought

A family in Arkansas battles a drought.

Dust Bowl In Oklahoma

A father and his sons walking through a dust storm in Oklahoma.

Great Depression Photos Of Soup Kitchens

In 1931, dozens of unemployed men line up in front of a Chicago soup kitchen, opened by the infamous gangster Al Capone.

Migrant Camp Photos During The Great Depression

An 18-year-old mother sits with her child in a California migrant camp.

Dust Bowl Photo Amidst The Great Depression

An image of a dust storm in Rolla, Kansas.

Children Of Sam Nichols

Children of an Arkansas tenant farmer.

Great Depression Photos Of Black Americans

Black Americans often suffered the most during the Great Depression — as nearly half of them couldn't find work. Those who were employed often faced harassment, violence, and demands that they be fired to make room for unemployed white Americans. As the Depression wore on and tensions escalated, lynchings became more common, particularly in the South.

Ozark Family During The Great Depression

A tenant farmer's wife in Arkansas.

Dust Bowl Images During The Great Depression

A man fights against a dust storm.

Marysville Migrant Camp During The Great Depression

A family resting at a migrant camp in Marysville, California.

Photo Of An Unhoused Man During The Great Depression

An unhoused man sits outside of a Social Security Administration building.

Wilder Tennessee Water Supply

Children collect water from the only water supply in Wilder, Tennessee.

Great Depression Photos Of Tobacco

In the midst of the economic hardship, any family member who could work did. Here, a young girl hangs tobacco leaves to dry.

Great Depression Photos Of The Prohibition Era

Those who sought refuge in vice were in for a tough time. Prohibition took place during the early part of the Great Depression, criminalizing the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol.

Mississippi Great Depression Photographs

A child outside a home in Natchez, Mississippi.

California Migrant Camp

A migrant camp in California.

Squatters' Camp In California

Men at a squatters' camp in California.

Great Depression Photos Of Roosevelt

Much of the Great Depression took place during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The policies and programs he implemented defined his time in office and cemented his legacy.

Great Depression Photos Of The CCC

Roosevelt's "New Deal" created stimulus programs, including the Civilian Conservation Corps, which gave young men jobs working on environmental conservation projects.

Great Depression Photos Of Child Refugees

Child refugees in a tent city in Illinois.

Great Depression Photos Of Relief Work

Other federal programs included highway construction programs.

Great Depression Photos Of A Poor Farm

Men laying pipe at a county "poor farm."

Great Depression Photos Of Dust Storms

The Dust Bowl — which describes a series of massive dust storms that wiped out much of the agriculture of the Great Plains during the 1930s — aggravated the already devastating effects of the stock market crash.

America Soup Kitchen In Washington Dc

Men eat at the Volunteers of America Soup Kitchen in Washington, D.C.

Great Depression Photographs Of A Migrant Camp

A mother and her young children at a migrant camp in California.

Great Depression Photos Of A Buried Car

The storms' heavy winds pummeled the Great Plains, leaving economies and agriculture in utter ruin, as shown by this buried machinery in Dallas, South Dakota in 1936.

Empire State Employment Agency

Men gathering at the Empire State Employment Agency.

Oklahoma Drought Refugee

An Oklahoma drought refugee in California.

Great Depression Photo Of Migrant Mother

The famous photo known as "Migrant Mother" shows a woman named Florence Thompson with her children. The Library of Congress caption reads, "Destitute pea pickers in California. Mother of seven children. Age thirty-two. Nipomo, California."

Great Depression Photos Of Folk Singers

Unemployment and hard times during the Great Depression led to the rising popularity of folk music.

Great Depression Photos Of Nurses

During the Great Depression, public health nursing was made available through child welfare services, so people who lived in shantytowns could still get checkups.

Bridgeville Delaware Migrant Camp

A migrant camp in Bridgeville, Delaware.

Great Depression Photos Of Elm Grove

A destitute family in Elm Grove, Oklahoma.

Great Depression Photos Showing Hardship

The family of an unemployed man sits around a stove in their West Virginia home.

Great Depression Photos Of Migration

A family prepared to harvest crops in California.

Great Depression Photos Of Nursery Schools

Children from the homes of unemployed miners gather together for nursery school in March 1937 in Scotts Run, West Virginia.

Great Depression Photos Of Children Of Miners

Children of miners in West Virginia.