#12 Ten Facts About the Depression

The Depression

-The Great Depression peaked between 1932 and 1933.
-Zippers became widely used because buttons became too expensive.
-Comic strips like Superman, Flash Gordon and Dick Tracy kept children entertained during the Great Depression.
-In the 1920s, the wealthiest one percent owned more than a third of American assets.

The Dust Bowl

-Name given to the Great Plains region devastated by drought in 1930s depression-ridden America.
-The soil lacked the stronger root system of grass as an anchor, so the winds easily picked up the loose topsoil and swirled it into dense dust clouds, called “black blizzards.” 
-By 1940, more than 2.5 million people had fled from the regions affected by the Dust Bowl. Nearly 10 percent moved to California.

The Okies

-a resident or native of Oklahoma.
-the "Okie" migration of the 1930s brought in over a million newly displaced people; many headed to the farm labor jobs advertised in California's Central Valley.

John Steinback

-Steinbeck drifted in and out of school, eventually dropping out for good in 1925, without a degree.