The Role Of African Americans During The Great Depression

Mistreated Minorities
During the 1920’s and 1930’s, the Great Depression hit America unexpectedly. Men and women feared the future after World War I, and the Stock Market crash. They could not bare the sight of the country drowning in debt and unemployment. Farmers were forced to move from midwest states, such as, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and others to find work. Other midwestern land owners bought more property so they could produce a higher abundance of crops in order to make the same amount of income as before. Many minorities were affected and some were mistreated in ways a lot people people do not understand.

AFRICAN AMERICANS
African Americans were ranked at the bottom of the totem poll during the Great Depression. White Americans
They had to rely on younger family members to provide for them because they were not physically capable of doing manual labor as well as the younger men. Therefore, it was hard for the elderly to find a jobs. Older men were not treated with respect and were walked all over by the younger men. They were taken advantage of because they wouldn’t be able to withstand a fight at their age which made it easy for young men to win arguments. With that said, the elderly were discriminated a lot like the African Americans, not because of their skin color, but because of their older age. Back in the 1920’s and 1930’s the Social Security Act was not there for the elderly's protection. Now that Americans have social security, we can rely on steady payment after retirement without constant worry about financial needs. The Social Security Act made elderly discrimination almost vanish because once the age of 65 hit most elders were ready to retire. As the years progressed the elderly were treated with more respect and now things are starting to take a turn again. Children and young adults are refusing to respect their elders and the ones who came before them. For example, high school students take advantage of their elderly teachers and often times cheat on tests due to the teachers lack of knowledge in this technical era. All in all, the culture of our country needs to change for the better before
People continued to believe they were not fit for society. People would lock them up and keep them away from society because they were ashamed of the mentally handicapped. Society members also believed that if they allowed the mentally challenge to live their lives, they would bring more unattractive people into the world. Today in society, we have more knowledge about the human mind and have better medical treatments for the mentally handicapped. Society members are more caring and willing to help, whereas, in the 1920’s people didn’t know much about them and wanted them vanished from the country. Overall, our country still has a ways to go when it comes to the treatment of others, but we have come far since the 1930’s. Since, back in 1920’s people didn’t know much about the mentally challenged, they were often questioned about their speech and behaviors, like Lennie from Mice and Men. Lennie wasn’t as smart as the other workers, but he was as strong as a bull which made him a good worker. The boss believed at first that he wasn’t going to be able to get the job done because he wasn’t smart enough, but then he come to the realization you don’t need brains to work the job and he gave Lennie a chance. George would yell at Lennie when he didn’t act like a normal person. The mentally disabled tried to act like everyone else so they would be treated better. Lennie turned out to be a great