My mother married in 1930, just as the Great Depression descended upon our country like locusts on a cornfield. Her life in the Dust Bowl area included a Hooverville, The Black Hand, midwife delivery of my older brother, and feed sack material for hand sewing. While my father worked six days a week, 12 hours […]
Tag Archives: Great Depression
29
Aug
Aug
With the perspective of youth, Dennis McCann observed, “Those must have been depressing times, those long ago days of bread and milk, of feedbag clothes, and canned tumbleweed dinners. Of little or nothing.” Jane Tamse countered in her feeble, quivering voice, “Those were frugal days, but they left us with a happy childhood.” Making of […]
29
Aug
Aug
With the perspective of youth, Dennis McCann observed, “Those must have been depressing times, those long ago days of bread and milk, of feedbag clothes, and canned tumbleweed dinners. Of little or nothing.” Jane Tamse countered in her feeble, quivering voice, “Those were frugal days, but they left us with a happy childhood.” Making of […]
28
Aug
Aug
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” -President Franklin D. Roosevelt The Great Depression defined our grandparents. That period of time flung a generation of children into desperately hard circumstances. Their character set by the motto: “Use it up. Wear it out. Make it do. Or do without.” Their education interrupted […]
“You have nothing to fear, but fear itself.” -President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Fireside Chat Fear is the mind-killer. Conquering fear is essential in survival. Eleanor realized that at an early age. She spent her life fighting her “fight or flight” responses with detached responses. By facing the experiences and trauma that represent fear, […]
28
Aug
Aug
“With no money to feed the body, how could they feed the mind?”- Eleanor Roosevelt Wanted: Librarians The search for dedicated women to serve as librarians began with the impetus of Eleanor Roosevelt as she cooperated with the WPA, Work Project Administration. The WPA was created by her husband, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, as a […]
Dust pneumonia. A respiratory illness that slithered like a snake across the Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma, and Colorado during the 1930’s. The continual coughing jag, high fever, nausea, chest pains and shortness of breath signaled the dreaded condition. Old people succumbed. Those afflicted with bronchitis, asthma or tuberculosis breathed in the dust to their detriment. But […]
28
Aug
Aug
The one thing that every family in the 1930’s Dust Bowl savored for Christmas was an orange. In our own culture of entitlement and excess, the thought of one orange constituting the holiday pay load is unimaginable. But getting an orange was a big deal because citrus fruit wasn’t affordable during the rest of the […]
28
Aug
Aug
Should I steal when I’m hungry? The boys in my class for behavior disordered students always had the same question. Each year. “What do you do when you don’t have nothing to eat at home?” Usually, this led to a discussion on why it is all right to steal from the local 7-Eleven because the […]
27
Aug
Aug
“They were trailblazers for women in the military, for the Army Nurse Corps. They set the example for the rest of the services. Their story told the world…that women are tough, they can serve in combat and they can survive.” -Lt. Col. Nancy Cantrell, nurse and historian Preparation from Life The 99 Navy and Army […]