21 vintage photos show how desperate and desolate America looked during the Great Depression

Natalie Colarossi,Talia LakritzJul 3, 2024, 04:35 IST

Thousands of unemployed people waited in lines for food during the Great Depression.AP Photo

The Great Depression was the worst economic crisis in US history, when unemployment reached 25%.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, Americans hadn't felt that level of economic tragedy in a century.

During the Great Depression, the most tragic economic collapse in US history, more than 15 million Americans were left jobless and desperate for an income.

By 1932, nearly one in four Americans was out of a job, and by 1933, unemployment levels reached an estimated 25%.

For comparison, during the coronavirus pandemic, the US unemployment rate spiked to 14.7% in April 2020.

These photos reveal how desolate the country looked during the Great Depression, when food and job lines stretched for blocks.

This story was originally published in May 2020 and was updated in July 2024.

The Great Depression was the worst economic tragedy in American history.

A soup kitchen during the Great Depression in 1930.Rolls Press/Popperfoto/Getty Images

Following a period of booming prosperity in the 1920s, the Great Depression began when the US stock market crashed in 1929.

The New York Stock Exchange in New York on "Black Thursday."AP

Over the course of the decade, more than 15 million Americans lost their jobs.

An unemployed man seeking work during the Great Depression.AP

The unemployment rate jumped at a shocking speed.

Unemployed people outside the State Labor Bureau building in 1933.AP

By that year, one out of every four US workers was unemployed.

Vagrants during the Great Depression.Getty Images

Those who were fortunate enough to remain working often suffered large pay cuts and decreased hours.

Hunger and labor marchers during the Great Depression.AP

Families who were unable to pay rent were frequently evicted from their homes.

Evicted sharecroppers during the Great Depression.Arthur Rothstein/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The struggle for money became so desperate that families across the country often lived in crowded shacks.

A shantytown in the 1930s.American Stock/Getty Images

During the winters of 1932 and 1933, an estimated 1.2 million Americans were homeless.

A war veteran on the sidewalk during the Great Depression.AP

In an effort to save money, families planted their own gardens, canned foods, bought old bread, sought out soup kitchens, and stopped buying common items like milk.

The Salvation Army Soup Kitchen.Staff/Mirrorpix/Getty Images

Food banks became commonplace.

A line of unemployed and homeless men during the Great Depression.AP

At the beginning of the Depression, President Herbert Hoover largely dismissed the stock market crash as a "passing incident in our national lives."

President Herbert Hoover at a press conference in 1932.AP

Americans grew angry, and Hoover became widely blamed for the economic turmoil.

A Hooverville in Seattle.Getty Images

Desperate Americans threatened with hunger and starvation began organizing marches and labor riots.

A "hunger march" in Los Angeles.AP

The Depression also had a negative impact on family life as many couples delayed their marriages or postponed having children.

A mother of seven children during the Great Depression.Library of Congress

Children were adversely affected, as well.

Children at a demonstration during the Great Depression.Minnesota Historical Society/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images

Black and Mexican communities experienced higher rates of unemployment and discrimination during the Depression.

An African-American family during the Great Depression.MPI/Getty Images

The Depression had a significant impact on the psychology of unemployed men.

Skid Row in New York City during the Great Depression.B. Newman/Three Lions/Getty Images

Suicide rates increased during the Great Depression.

A common sleeping area during the Great Depression.Paul Briol/Cincinnati Museum Center/Getty Images

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected in 1933 and shepherded the New Deal through Congress.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt.Library of Congress

The Great Depression had lasting effects on the US.

Times Square during the Great Depression.AP Photo

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