Black Tuesday

This was taken from the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange just after it crashed on October 29, 1929. The market collapsed, causing a record 16 million shares to be traded. $30 billion, which is even a lot of money today, was lost. The crash was said to have caused The Great Depression in 1930.  The Republicans ran the Government at the time. They chose to do nothing, hoping the market will work itself out. They were wrong.                                                                                                    

 Valerie

The Great Depression

“Herbert Hoover, unlucky in entering The White House only eight months before the stock market crash, had struggled tirelessly, but ineffectively, to set the wheels of industry in motion again. His Democratic opponent, Franklin D. Roosevelt, already popular as the governor of New York during the developing crisis, argued that the Depression stemmed from the U.S. economy's underlying flaws, which had been aggravated by Republican policies during the 1920s. President Hoover replied that the economy was fundamentally sound, but had been shaken by the repercussions of a worldwide depression -- whose causes could be traced back to the war.” - The Depression in the United States--An Overview

Hoover tried, but made no economical difference after the stock market crash.  The more popular Roosevelt argued that the Republicans are the blame, because of their excessive tariff laws. Hoover argued that the country’s foundation was fine, just shaken by the worldwide Depression stemming from the war.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. I agreed with what Hoover said about the cause of the Depression being tracked back to the war.  Wars are expensive! According to http://costofwar.com/ as I type this summary, America has spent a rapidly growing $1,145,623,550 on the cost of war in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001. People have committed suicide over the stock market fluctuations, but America still stands.   

                                                                                                                                             Valerie                                

   

Franklyn D. Roosevelt

“Our system of constantly rising tariffs has at last reacted against us to the point of closing our Canadian frontier on the north, our European markets on the east, many of our Latin American markets to the south, and a goodly proportion of our Pacific markets on the west, through the retaliatory tariffs of those countries. It has forced many of our great industrial institutions who exported their surplus production to such countries, to establish plants in such countries within the tariff walls. This has resulted in the reduction of the operation of their American plants, and opportunity for employment”. – Franklyn D. Roosevelt (1932)

The Republicans over did it with the charges, duties, and taxes.  Tariffs caused other countries, on all sides of the globe, to cease business agreements with America. America taxed them, and they taxed back.  Our own institutions found less expensive ways to export their surplus to those countries. This resulted in less work for Americans.

This issue continues to hinder Americans. Taxes are steadily rising, causing businesses to increase their pricing, as well as cut expenses and employees.  Many companies are taking their businesses overseas. We experience this change first hand when we call some businesses for technical assistance. There is clearly a communication problem. Even if a supervisor intervenes, the language gap is still a problem. Call centers are located in other countries where English is not the first language.  Meanwhile those of us who are able to keep our jobs at these struggling companies or institutions, must continue to pay the rising taxes, and rising costs, while rarely seeing an increase in pay.                                                                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                                                       Valerie 

 

Educate yourself, no matter what

             “During the years after the war, black and white teachers from the North and South, missionary organizations, churches and schools worked tirelessly to give the emancipated population the opportunity to learn. Former slaves of every age took advantage of the opportunity to become literate. Grandfathers and their grandchildren sat together in classrooms seeking to obtain the tools of freedom.”- Reconstruction and Its Aftermath

              Teachers from the North and South, of both races were teaching and former slaves of all ages were learning to obtain a successful life on their own.

 

            “Yet in this era blacks were educated in unprecedented numbers, hundreds received degrees from institutions of higher learning, and a few, like W.E.B. DuBois and Carter G. Woodson, went on for the doctorate. While only a small percentage of the black population had been literate at the close of the Civil War, by the turn of the twentieth century, the majority of all African Americans were literate. The Library of Congress houses the papers of three presidents of Tuskegee Institute: Booker T. Washington, Robert Russa Moton, and Frederick Douglass Patterson, and other important manuscripts and photographs relating to the establishment, operations, aspirations, and success of historically black colleges and universities. - The Booker T. Washington Era

            While this was a difficult time for African Americans with the actions of the court not being in their favor, and the violence against them, they were still getting educated. Hundreds were getting college degrees. Soon after the Civil War, only a few were literate. That changed at the turn of the 20^th century. Most African Americans were literate. The Library of Congress houses documents of Booker T. Washington, Robert Russa Moton, and Frederick Douglass Patterson, the Tuskegee Institute presidents.

 

Valerie

 

Du Bois and Hughes

The Nation has not yet found peace from its sins; the freedman has not yet found in freedom his promised land. Whatever of good may have come in these years of change, the shadow of a deep disappointment rests upon the Negro people, – a disappointment all the more bitter because the unattained ideal was unbounded save by the simple ignorance of a lowly people. –W.E.B. Du Bois (1903)

            The Nation is still guilty for allowing slavery. The freed people are not mentally free; their mindsets are limited. Being freed from slavery was good, but now they must do for themselves. Not knowing how to better themselves is disappointing.

            The latter part of this passage is true even today.  People do not educate themselves properly. They expect too much from too little and are too willing to “cut corners”.

Who said free? Not me?

Surely not me? The millions on relief today?

The millions shot down when we strike?

The millions who have nothing for our pay?

For all the dreams we’ve dreamed

And all the songs we’ve sung

And all the hopes we’ve held

And all the flags we’ve hung,

The millions who have nothing for our pay-

Except the dream that’s almost dead today.

Langston Hughes (1938)

            He would not say black people are free because some many rely on government aid. He would not say black people are free because of all the unjust things that are done to us. He would not say black people are free because after we’ve done many services, there is no pay, except for a dream that is almost forgotten. 

Valerie