This is an optimistic lady that loved life and embraced the beautiful natures of the country. This is me. Or at least it was before all this happened. Even during the beginning of difficult times, I was a housewife with hope. This woman here was one that had bright aspirations.

This is me and my husband. He was an earnest and hardworking farmer. He wasn't very rich but at least he made enough to keep the both of us happy until the Great Depression started knocking. The failing economy had left him without work.

During World War 1, demand for and prices of crops had soared. Willing to take advantage of this, me and my husband took out loans and produced crops in massive numbers.

We were making great profits until the war ended. Demand for produce had drastically dropped making us reluctant to reduce prices. But even then we weren't able to sell. This left us in huge debt. As a result we lost our land and source of income as well.

The federal government kept interest rates low. This gave people all the more reason borrow and build up large debts just like my husband did.

The rich kept getting richer and the poor poorer. By 1929, the income of the wealthiest 1% rose by 75%, and only 9% for Americans as a whole.

Causes of the Great Depression

The Stock Market Crashes! Prices of stocks kept declining and several of them couldn't find any buyers.

"16.4 million shares were dumped on October 29th and the day became known as Black Tuesday."

This crash had a dramatic impact on us. My husband had invested a great amount of capital on stocks in the form of credit and this left us further into debt.

Crowds were rushing into the banks to collect their money. This only devastated us more as we had nothing left. All currency we had was gone.

Poverty spreads. Several become unemployed and jobs are scarcer than ever. Many even couldn't get their money from banks as those institutions had chewed up their finances in stocks.

Meanwhile everyone was in search for work or food, me and my husband were starving. Desperation drove us to start a riot with other farmers who were going through what we were. Hoover rejected any request for direct relief resulting in incitement of hatred towards him.

We started what can be called the "farm strike." We set up blockades on country roads and made any trucks carrying milk, cream, butter, or any farm products to turn around and go back home.

How We the Common People Survived

In utter hopelessness and shame, we went to soup kitchens where we could purchase food at little cost. If we were fortunate enough we would sometimes get free food.

Living in the rural was harsh in itself. But then came wind storms that picked up tons of dust making life harder. And so we decided to move and ended up living in a shack.

After moving to an urban area I came to realize how different life was from rural areas. People in rural areas were at least able to produce their own food and crime rates weren't as high. But here, not only were crimes rates soaring but also unemployment, scarcity of food, and lack of places to live.

Values and Morals Change

Crime Rates like theft were on the rise as many men sought to put food on the table for their families.

More suicides were taking place and people were turning to alcoholism and prostitution to cope with misery.

Teenagers were giving up their dreams of going to college and marriages were being delayed