Community Chat

[Gorgf]

My Mother's Father left my Grandmother with Six children during the depression. Three boys and three girls. They never divorced but no child support there. They moved in with the Grandparents in an old two story home.

My Mother said they never went hungry but some meals weren't the best. They had chickens and a garden. She said each child got one canned peach half. My Mother's family bickered over everything. Grandma had to count jelly beans for Easter baskets so each got the same. The girls played with paper dolls and torn ones got flour and water paste to repair. Popcorn ball at Christmastime, cheap, sweet treat.

My Grandmother got welfare fabric to sew with and tried to disguise it but it shouted" Welfare. " Flour sacks were printed for making aprons and kid's clothes.  She was a cleaning lady and told her girls to go to college to not end up cleaning toilets. They did and worked their way through school helping each other out.

Redo, reuse, recycle. Saved everything. My Grandmother did get her husband's railroad death pension bought a small home and moved out of her youngest daughter's home. I remember she was the happiest then.

My Father's Dad had a Hardware Store but no one could hardly pay for goods. Dad said he had one pair of underwear to wear and one to wash. They had a large two story house so took in boarders. Spent summers barefoot at his Aunt's farm along with his two brothers. Waste Not... Want Not.

[Catiele]

A remarkable reminder of what my parents and grandparents went through. Thank you Oznell 

[Cakers3]

@Oznell  Thank you.😢

[goldensrbest]

I remember mom talking about it,and grandma, she grandma made under wear for all 3 girls ,out of flower sacks, so many stories of what they went through, now days people have 2 or more homes,go on vacations, many cars,and other things, wonder if they ever think about the poor.

[Oznell]

It is absolutely moving and humbling to read the thoughts of posters and the experiences of family members who were indelibly marked and shaped by a searing event like a major world depression.  Thank you posters for sharing these histories! 

@Desert Lily , you and several other posters touched on something very important.  It agrees with what historians have observed-- that the hardships of the Depression, formed a generation also in positive ways.  The terrible privations they suffered, the uncertainty and the need to be resourceful, made them tough.  And ultimately, made them tough enough to beat Hitler amid the devastation of the second World War.  Truly, the "greatest generation" was formed by fire.

[Kitty Galore]

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@Oznell wrote:

It is absolutely moving and humbling to read the thoughts of posters and the experiences of family members who were indelibly marked and shaped by a searing event like a major world depression.  Thank you posters for sharing these histories! 

@Desert Lily , you and several other posters touched on something very important.  It agrees with what historians have observed-- that the hardships of the Depression, formed a generation also in positive ways.  The terrible privations they suffered, the uncertainty and the need to be resourceful, made them tough.  And ultimately, made them tough enough to beat Hitler amid the devastation of the second World War.  Truly, the "greatest generation" was formed by fire.

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@Oznell   we are losing many of the "Greatest Generation " everyday .....your so right the suffering made them tough and that was certainly what was needed to beat hitler.  We all wouldn't be here if not for them .  Do we have that determination today in our military ,  I'm not sure .   That old saying rings true .....If we fail to remember the past it repeats .

[Sooner]

I grew up among this in the late 50's and 60's, and you have no idea how the Depression still lives among people in certain parts of this country, and nobody cares.  I saw that kind of povert very near our house.  Our house wasn't the best was decent.

People living in many rural areas are still often undereducated, underemployed, and without much way to get out of it.  People in rural areas of poverty aren't seen, aren't glamorous to say we helped their schools or situations, so they linger in poverty.

 Because of where I grew up, most people can't imagine that people lived like that in the 50's and 60's, and can't relate to how I see life.  

[781Florist]

@Sooner   In 1960 CBS did a documentary on poverty in Appalachia.  In 1968 they did a documentary on Hunger in America that spotlighted various places in our country (including Native People's reservations) where hunger, poverty and lack of education were the norm.

There was also a heartbreaking special on Christmastime in the poorest areas of (I believe) West Virginia.

The people in these regions were not the lazy or entitled

types that are willing to get a subsistance check from the government and never break a sweat.  These folks all worked very hard to scrape by, and receive very little respect or compensation for their hard labor.  They are proud people and rightly so.

I imagine there are still areas of America where people still live like this, unfortunate, unheralded, uneducated, unknown and unaided.   All while we send billions around the globe to help elevate the living conditions in other countries.

I think it is noble to aid other countries, but to recognize that we have people here in our own land that have fallen through the cracks and we have been unable to insure their education, their health, and ability to provide for themselves and their families with good jobs and just compensation is a blot on the American soul.

[2sisters]

Seeing these pictures and reading what has been posted brought tears to my eyes.  Both of my parents were born in 1925 we heard from both of the devastation the depression brought.  I vividly remember Mommy telling me of how they stood in line for hours for soup and sometimes bread.  They lived in rural Kentucky and had to walk for miles often barefoot.  Seeing the pictures I could see my parents in the pictures with the young children.  
 They raised me, my sisters and brothers to be thankful, taught to work hard and not to be frivolous with money.  And it has stayed with me in raising my three kids in teaching those values to them. 

As someone else mentioned we are losing a great generation.

Thank you so much @Oznell for sharing and to all who posted.  

[susankate]

My daddy was 12 years old in 1929. He went to bed hungry many nights. Breaks my heart. My mom was one of 15, and lived on a farm. They always had plenty to eat. To this day, I don’t like to throw away any leftovers. Try to keep them and eat til they are gone.