Migrant Mother

The photograph that has become known as "Migrant Mother" is one of a series of photographs that Dorothea Lange made of Florence Owens Thompson and her children in February or March of 1936 in Nipomo, California.

During the Great Depression in the United States, millions of homeless people settled in teeming communities of makeshift shacks known derisively as “Hoovervilles”.

The Hooverville Phenomenon

Who wants to know more about The Great Depression?Who wants to know more about The Great Depression?People interested in alternative views of history

EconomistsPeople interested in American History

People curious about public policy

The Federal ReserveThe Federal ReserveKept interest rates low leading

up to the crash of 1929Tightened the money supply in

late 1931Raised interest rates in 1928 to

halt outflow of gold from BritainActions were opposite of what

was done during the post war crash of 1920 – 1921, when the American economy recovered from a large collapse with little government intervention from the Federal Reserve.

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover

(August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st President of The United States(1929–1933).

Passed the Railway Labor Act in 1926

Worked to keep wages artificially high

Passed Smoot-Hawley Tariffs in 1930, further weakening the already shocked U.S economy.

Ordered an increase in the deportation of immigrants during the crisis

Franklin D. RooseveltSworn in March 1933Immediately formed

several Federal Agencies, the C.C.C, F.E.R.A, P.W.A, N.R.A to fight the Depression

Threatened to “pack” the Supreme Court if they kept ruling his measures unconstitutional.

Unemployment reached 19% in 1938, after 5 years of his interventionist policies.

Andrew MellonServed as Treasury

Secretary under Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover.

Served from 1921 to 1932Cut taxes from 73% to 25%

in 1921-1925Ran budget surplus every

year of the 1920’s, one of the most prosperous decades in U.S history.

Depression Era Unemployment Chart

Citations Unemployment Line Photo –

http://www.archives.gov/research/american-cities/images/american-cities-129.jpg Migrant Mother Photo -

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Lange-MigrantMother02.jpg Seattle Hooverville Photo -

http://www.vintageseattle.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/hooverville_01.jpg Andrew Mellon Photo –

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/AWMellon.jpg Herbert Hoover Photo -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Herbert_Hoover.jpg Franklin Roosevelt Photo -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FDR_in_1933.jpg Federal Reserve Logo –

http://images.quickblogcast.com/6/7/7/9/5/169989-159776/600px_US_FederalReserveSystem_Seal_svg.png

What is a Hooverville? – http://www.semp.us/publications/biot_reader.php?BiotID=626

Migrant Mother Info – http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/128_migm.html

Unemployment Chart – http://badgerblogalliance.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-deal-and-great-depression.html

“The Politically Incorrect Guide To The Great Depression and The New Deal” – by Robert Murphy, Ph.D