Me in 1924, Working as an financial manager at the Bank of United States in New York City.

Anna was born on May 24, 1926. She was a beautiful baby girl, with the curliest hair I've ever seen.

The house I bought on July 1926. It was quite beautiful and a great start for me and Anna.

Everything was going great and life was extraordinary with my child by my side. Except it all came coming down on October 29, 1929...

October 29 1929:  share prices on the New York Stock Exchange completely collapsed, I remember coming into work everyone running around, panicking of what to do.

The president of the bank, Bernard K. Marcus, declared the bank to be on a sound footing in a letter to shareholders following the stock market failure on Black Tuesday. Although I was quite worried, I was sure that all of this would blow over soon.

The result of Black Tuesday, was that trade levels took a nose dive as well as citizens income. Revenue from taxes collected by the government also fell dramatically. Unemployment rose in cities, especially those where many workers were employed by a single industry.

June 1930: I remember when families had to move out of their houses and find other places to stay because they couldnt really pay their bills. That day was very painful for me.

On December 10, 1930, a large crowd gathered at the Southern Boulevard branch in the Bronx seeking to withdraw their money, people still wanted to get their money from their savings account. The next day, fearing a run on the bank, the directors decided to close the bank and asked the Superintendent of Banks to take over the bank's assets. By the midday, a crowd of 20,000 to 25,000 people had gathered and had to be controlled by the police, and by the end of the day 2,500 to 3,000 depositors had withdrawn $2,000,000 from the branch. The stock market reacted negatively with the stock price of the bank. Worried city and state officials tried to reassure the public by rushing through the program by which Bank of United States depositors could borrow money against their deposits.

Evemtually, on April 12 1931, Anna and I had to move out on our own and find a place to stay. It was very difficult of finding a place and we could hardly find anything to eat. Our daily meals consisted of rice, soup, and cereal if we were lucky.

August 10, 1931: Anna standing in front of the shack that we built together. Although we lived in such horrible conditons, Anna gave me hope everyday, telling me everything would be alright.

Major Causes of the Great Depression, Dust Bowl:

The majority of the nation's farmers had suffered a severe overproduction crisis during the 1920s that had resulted in low prices of agricultural crops. In 1932 a devastating drought hit the farmers and the soil turned to dust. Violent winds whipped the dry topsoil creating terrifying dust storms destroying 100 million acres of land. Crops were ruined, livestock were killed and 3 million impoverished people became unemployed and homeless due to the Dust Bowl.

Major Causes of the Great Depression, Fall in Demand:

The market in consumer goods quickly dried up, too many products were being manufactured due to overproduction and there with too few people earning enough money to buy goods. Businesses closed and this had a 'domino effect' on the companies that supplied the companies who lost their orders and were also forced to close.

Major Causes of the Great Depression, Unequal Distribution:

The Unequal distribution of wealth in the 1920's contributed to the Great Depression. 40% of middle class Americans prospered during the economic boom but the other 60% of Americans were poor and were struggling to make a living even before the economic bust. The whole of the nation began to suffer during the Great Depression.

November 8, 1932 The Election between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Herber Hoover: The election exposed the ruined the promises of former President/Republican candidate Herbert Hoover to bring about a new era of prosperity. Roosevelt repeatedly blamed Hoover for the Depression and worsening economy. With unemployment above 20% in 1932 alone, Hoover was remiss to defend his record, and Roosevelt promised recovery with a New Deal for the American people. Roosevelt won by a landslide in both the electoral and popular vote. By implementing a variety of innovative policies, FDR was able to pull the United States away from the brink of economic, social, and perhaps even political, disaster and lay the foundation for future stability and prosperity.

When FDR proposed his 21 New Deal Programs, it remarkably helped Anna and myself.

~ I surprisingly got a job at the PWA and helped create jobs on government projects, like hospitals and schools.

~ The REA helped provide affordable electricity for isolated areas like ours, so we finally had lights and I could make hot meals for Anna and I.

~ HOLC also loaned us money at a very low interest for when sometimes we couldn't make ends meet and pay our mortgage bills.