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Marks the end of a 6 year unparalleled prosperity for most sectors of the American economy. On a day called "Black Thursday" stock market prices started to drop. -
President Herbert Hoover told the Americans that the economy will start to improve within the next 60 days. In reality though, the Great Depression is just getting started. -
Food riots started in cities around the United States. Hungry Americans would smash grocery store windows, take food, and run away because it was their only way to get food. -
Around three thousand unemployed workers marched on the Ford Motor Company's plant in River Rouge, Michigan. Dearborn police and Ford's company guards attacked, killing four workers and injuring many more. -
While campaigning for president of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt promises the Americans "a new deal." The programs he created after he was elected will be called The New Deal. -
Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected president for the first time. Many Americans did not think that President Hoover did enough to help them and so they hope that Roosevelt will end the Depression. -
The first New Deal program, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was created. Thousands of young men went to camps to work on projects such as building parks, building roads, and fighting forest fires. -
The Tennessee Valley Authority, another New Deal program, brought electricity and jobs to Americans living in the southern part of the U.S. -
Congress passed the Emergency Banking Act. By the end of the month, almost all of the banks that were closed when the Depression began, were open again. -
The Social Security Act was signed. The Act provided money every month for senior citizens in the United States. -
The Works Progress Administration was created. It put Americans to work by doing many different types of jobs such as acting, writing, building bridges, and building airports. -
Photographer Dorothea Lange took photographs of a poor family working at a pea-picking camp in California. One of the photos taken, called "Migrant Mother," is one of the most famous photographs to come from the Great Depression. -
After showing improvement, the economy started to suffer again when more Americans lost their jobs. Many people began to lose hope that things would ever get better. -
The book "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck was published. The book is about a family that is forced to leave their home and they try to find work in California during the Great Depression. -
The United States declared war on Japan and joined World War II. Since the war created so much money and jobs for the economy, the Great Depression ended soon after the U.S. goes to war. -
Japan bombs American ships at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Thousands of Americans were killed in the attack.