Social and Historical Context

Life and times of John Steinbeck
1. Was born in Salinas, California 1902
2. Came from a wealthy family
3. Was interested in the lives of farm labourers
  1. Spent time working with them
    1. Used the experience that he gained to write his books
      1. Wrote a number of novels based on his experiences
4. Awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 1962
5. Died in 1968
The Wall Street Crash
1. Led to the great depression
2. Large numbers of investors sold their shares
  1. Made people nervous
  2. 24th October 1929
    1. 12.8 million shares were sold
      1. Known as Black Thursday
  3. 28th October 1929
    1. Wall street stock market crashed
      1. 16 million shares were sold on the 29th
3. Unemployed rose to 13 million
  1. People lived in primitive unsafe conditions
The Great Depression
1. Started on 29th October
2. Millions of dollars were lost
3. Crippled the country from 1930-1936
4. Food shortages began
5. Unemployed couldn't pay for rent
  1. Ended up in shanty towns
    1. Called 'Homerville's'
6. In some places, farmers had too many crops
  1. Prices steadily dropped
  2. Weren't enough people to buy them
The dustbowl
1. The drought of 1930
  1. Caused by little rainfall and high winds
    1. Struck from 1934 - 1937
2. High winds picked up loose soil
  1. Created black dust clouds
    1. Killed up to 60% of the cattle
    2. Made farming basically impossible
3. Lasted 8 years
Migrant workers - 1920 & 1930
1. Life became hard during the Great Depression
  1. Crops wouldn't sell for as much
2. Many migrated to California
  1. Thought there would be free land there
  2. Couldn't find work in California
    1. Set up big towns in Valleys
      1. made of cardboard and metal
    2. Sought out work as ranch hands
3. Became ill
  1. Harsh living conditions
4. Lucky to find work as ranch hands
  1. Got a place to stay, food was provided
5. Stuck together when in work
  1. Can be seen in OMAM when the men agree to cover up how Curley's hand got hurt.
The role of women - 1930's
1. Seen as housewives
  1. Jobs being to cook and clean for the hosuehold
2. Had jobs in factories
3. Didn't get credit for the work they did
4. Education
  1. Had to have a full education to be equal to a man who only graduated from elementary school
    1. Women weren't equal to men
5. Mostly had low paying jobs
  1. Would work long hard hours but only got a fraction of what the men got paid
Segregation and racism - early 1900's
1. Nearly impossible for blacks to challenge racism in the south
  1. Ku Klux Klan
    1. After WW1 members reached over 100,000
      1. Lynching
        In 1919, 70 blacks were lynched
        10 were ex-soldiers
2. A riot was caused in Chicago
  1. A black entered a white only beach
  2. Showed racism wasn't combined to the south
3. Black Americans were too scared to rise up against white racism
4. Voting
  1. Millions of black votes didn't affect the result
    1. They were a minority party
  2. Southern states made it difficult for blacks to register as voters
    1. Demanded residential or educational qualifications before blacks was allowed to vote
  3. Blacks formed the majority of Mississippi and Louisiana
    1. Couldn't gain political control in the areas
      1. The Ku Klux Klan intimidated blacks that tried to register as voters.
5. Roosevelt
  1. Was sympathetic to the blacks
    1. Didn't do anything
      1. Afraid of losing support from the southern states
6. Recognition
  1. A few blacks tried to gain recognition
    1. Little success
      1. Party's remained weak and divided
      2. Needed to unite

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Social and Historical Context

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	Created by Elizabeth W over 11 years ago