21 vintage photos show how desperate and desolate America looked during the Great Depression

Tue, 07/02/2024 - 16:59

Great Depression food lines Times Square — Thousands of unemployed people waited in lines for food during the Great Depression.
AP Photo

The Great Depression was the worst economic crisis in US history, when unemployment reached 25%.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, Americans hadn't felt that level of economic tragedy in a century.
These photos reveal what life looked like in the bleak 1930s after the stock market crashed.

During the Great Depression, the most tragic economic collapse in US history, more than 15 million Americans were left jobless and desperate for an income.

By 1932, nearly one in four Americans was out of a job, and by 1933, unemployment levels reached an estimated 25%.