Presented ByThe Bleak ThirtiesThe 1930s in America begin in depression, which dug so deep into the soul and conscience of the nation that only a World War could really make a dent in its depth. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 dramatically closed the curtain on the prosperity of the twenties and precipitated the greatest economic decline in US history. In 1929 only 3% of Americans were without a job, by 1933, the unemployment rate had risen to 25%. Natural calamities added to the nation's miseries. Drought in America's heartland turned the once rich soil to dust. Winds whipped the loose soil into gigantic dust storms that ravaged the country from South Dakota to Texas. Thousands were forced to abandon their farms, clogging the highways as they headed West in the hopes of finding a better life. When the first dust storms blew through Oklahoma in 1932, few people in the state could foresee the catastrophic devastation that clouds of sands carried aloft by the hallowing winds would bring to the region over the next decade. Massive dust storms that swept through the Southern Plains caused severe erosion by blowing off millions of tons of topsoil in southeastern Colorado, southwest Kansas and the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas, leaving farmers destitute. By 1934, it was estimated that 100 million acres of farmland had lost all or most of the rich topsoil to the winds, leaving the fields barren and the farmers destitute. The Dust Bowl got its name after Black Sunday, April 14, 1935, when a tremendous cloud of dust appeared on the horizon. Winds were clocked at 60 miles per hour, blowing shovelfuls of fine sand everywhere. The day after Black Sunday, an Associated Press reporter used the term ‘Dust Bowl’ for the first time. The decade later came to be known as the Dirty Thirties. The dust penetrated every nook and cranny, turning many homes unlivable and making it hard to breath. As a result of the dust's relentless assault which blotted out the sun and rendered the once-fertile soil useless, millions of American families were forced to abandon their farms and head west in search of work, food and shelter. Dust Bowl refugees, immortalized in John Steinbeck’s seminal novel The Grapes of Wrath, were collectively known as ‘Okies,’ whether or not they actually came from the dust-ravaged state of Oklahoma, Life reported. But just as entire families in Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Nebraska and other states abandoned their dust-clogged homes and barren fields, countless other farmers stayed behind, suffering through the very worst of the Dirty Thirties and desperately fighting for every crop. It wasn’t until 1939 that the drought broke and rains finally came, bringing long-awaited relief to those who went through so much to keep their meager livelihoods and homesteads. Photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt traveled to the Dust Bowl region to capture the aftermath of the natural disaster, which resulted in a series of poignant images showing tenacious farmers in Oklahoma, who refused to give up on their land. ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ On To The 1940sThe first half of the 1940s was absorbed with World War II. The war was a time of worry and heartache for people around the world, but life went on in spite of the senseless, tragic conflict that consumed the lives of so many loved ones. Men were being sent overseas and women were being sent to the factories. Women in the workplace became a big stepping stone of first wave of feminism in the United States. For some women, this was the opening of a new door in the American Dream. Instead of simply wanting a husband, a family, and a place to call home, they now had the opportunity to seek out employment, a new financial freedom. This would allow a woman with or without a husband to make her own money, to be a contributor to the daily allowance instead of just receiving. By the time the war was over, instead of running back to their homes, women began to take on more jobs in the workplace until they married or became pregnant. destroyed homes and livelihoods, and scattered families around the globe. Family living in the first half of the decade saw many people face difficulties beyond measure. . How different it must have been for my parents who listened intently to the daily news on their little 1940's radio, and feared for our safety, or for the servicemen who were faced with moving up to the battle zone, where each man had a job to do, and that job was dreadful Schools in the 1940sSchool Days in the 1940s commenced for most children about age five. I started at the Central State School in 1943, two years before the war ended. The War in the Pacific ended with great relief and celebration. The War was over and the men were coming home. Still there were shortages and rationing continued for several years. My sister and I recall the time when we were visiting Melbourne in 1948, when our parents would stop in front of Butchers' Shops and marvel at the range and quality of the meat displayed in the windows. The end of the Second World War marked the beginning of a new era, not only for the United States, but also the entire world. In America, the end of the war was met with much celebration and hope for the future, even as the threat of conflict with the Soviet Union loomed like a dark cloud. The immediate postwar era was a time of uncertainty. Emerging from World War II as a victorious superpower, America's future appeared bright, even as complex geopolitical concerns spilled over into everyday life, affecting society at its most basic levels. Prosperity and social conservatism came to define the early postwar era, amid Cold War-related anxiety. --Bruce Stallard
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Liberty Entertainment Group is completely dedicated to preserving and providing free access to your memories, experiences, family history, creative works or anything that you choose to save. Leave something of yourself for future generations to appreciate your life and times, or record your family history so your ancestors will not be forgotten! Throughout history there have been many different perspectives as well as changing notions about childhood and adolescence in past cultures and civilizations. The images on this blog address such questions as: What was it like to be a child or adolescent throughout history? How is childhood defined? How has it changed and how has it remained the same? What factors have shaped childhood and how did children shape history, society, and culture? Preserve Your Heritage, Share Your Family’s Story. Give a parent, grandparent or family member the gift of a lifetime by capturing their life story, family history and life lessons in a Video Biography for your family to know and celebrate!
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Beautiful, Photography In this series of narrative photographs gathered by Liberty Entertainment Group, each scene has been captured perfectly. The lighting, setting, and models are all just right — capturing the mood brilliantly. But what makes them so special is that the story they are trying to tell is left up to you the viewer, with each having seemingly millions of possibilities. The only limit on these photographs’ tales is your own imagination. Liberty Entertainment Group has much more incredible work available on their Pinterest site and their Blogger page, so be sure to check them out and also follow Liberty Entertainment Group on Facebook. Welcome to our blog. Here is a collection of photographs from the turn of the (20th) century from the Special Collections and Archives of the Liberty Entertainment Group Library. We also invite you to browse our main webpage and learn about our video biography services. We hope you will find our special combination of Regional and Cultural History to your liking. Passing down information from generation to generation helps define who we are and there's a new movement in capturing family histories. In well-researched, richly illustrated blogs, Heritage & History brings people and places to life for readers. "Terrifically entertaining and informative popular history," as one reviewer put it, but since our articles are well grounded in solid research, it is also history you can trust. Our amazing blogs shed new light on familiar historical events and personalities - and bring neglected ones out from the shadows. We seek every opportunity to present the rich complexity of life of other times from the perspective of our own. Here a a few images that will put you in a trance. These are history’s gems that tell a story of their own – one that takes us back to the golden times and helps us relive history…There is but one word and that is “Exquisite”. As family historians, our job is to research and collect documents, information, stories, artifacts and photos about our clans. If you are lucky, you will come across some old family photographs. The relationship between History and Heritage may initially seem a natural one. If scholars of Heritage Studies identify and understand their object of study, ‘heritage’, as a process of what is done with the past then historians, as people primarily engaged in the study of the past, should be a useful constitutive part of this field of research, offering insightful understandings of that past: of how ‘history’ has been interpreted. Historians are also social actors within the process of heritage, as interpreters themselves, ‘doing things’ with the past in writing, museum and site consultation, television and film, and so on. In these cases, historians and heritage professionals work together, creating ‘heritage’ and thereby becoming part of the area of research which Heritage Studies considers. Convert your videos, film and photographs now before the memories are lost forever.
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AuthorBruce Stallard was born and raised in New York, NY. After earning a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from The University of Missouri, Wes decided to move in a different direction. He worked as the Head Production Coordinator for Global Communication Group GCG, which represented various properties in film and television, then moved on to the Producers League of North America, where he signed production entities with the League. After completing his term with the PLNA, Wes moved into news and finally the corporate world before deciding that marketing videos were the way to go. When he’s not building videos, he can be found spending time with his wife and their son, surfing, hiking, or shooting photographs of animals and nature. ArchivesCategories |