“As a consequence of the riot, the first awakenings of a new political awareness began to be felt in the hearts of black people, time and the remarkable foresight, courage and initiative of a few dedicated members of the majority were all that were required to crystallize this awareness into a mighty political force.” – Doris Johnson, the Quiet Revolution in the Bahamas: Family Islanders Press Limited -1972.
Numerous factors or elements contributed to the social issues of the 1930s and the 1940s. From social factors such as: crime, racism, lack of education and poverty to economic factors like: Unemployment, the 1929 Stock Market Crash, The Great Depression and underemployment. To think about it there were even political factors such as: the residents didn’t like who was in charge of the country, and they didn’t have a say or a vote.
The first economic issue that I am going to talk about is the 1929 stock Market crash which then leads into the Great Depression. The world was in crisis when the stock market crashed in October, 1929 in New York on Wall Street. The stock market was one of the largest institutions in America. “While business tycoons were getting richer, the workers in their factories were poorly paid, the farmers were not receiving fair prices for their crops and therefore masses of people didn’t have enough money to buy what the factories were producing. Soon the factories came to a standstill and the workers were laid off their jobs. That was when panic hit Wall Street.” This is when investors rushed to sell shares which held in failing companies, and people rushed to the bank to withdraw their savings. While this happened, many companies were closing over night and banks were closing slowly but shortly. The effects of the Wall Street Crash caused a worldwide fall in commerce that would be