Julie's Project

The Great Depression

By:Julie Lucore

Table of contents

● Wondering
● What was life like during the Great Depression
● How did people become poor or had to move
● Blurb
● Why I chose this book
● The end

Wondering

● What was life like during the Great Depression
● How did people become poor or had to move

What was life like during the Great
Depression

Life for migrant workers in the 1930s, during the Great Depression, was an existence
exposed to constant hardships. Such difficulties included homelessness,
dispossession, serial unemployment, discrimination, violence and even
persecution. There was frequently endless competition for underpaid work in regions
foreign to them and their families. Life during the Great Depression – The Heart of the
Matter. Most characteristic of life during the Great Depression was the widening gap
between the “haves” and “have-nots.” Unemployment rose from a shocking 5 million
in 1930 to an almost unbelievable 13 million by the end of 1932.

How did people become poor or had to
move

● They lost their jobs
● People took their food
● People took their money
● Some became homeless
● Farmers suffered from droughts in the midwest

Blurb

Esperanza believed her life would be wonderful forever. She would always live on her family’s
ranch in Mexico. She would always have fancy dresses and beautiful home filled with servants.
Papa and Abuelita would always be with her. But a sudden tragedy shatters her world and
forces Esperanza and Mama to flee to California, where they settle in a camp for Mexican farm
workers. Esperanza isn’t ready for the hard labor, financial struggles brought by the Great
Depression, and lack of acceptance she now faces. When mama gets sick, and a strike for better
life, Esperanza must find a way to rise above her difficult circumstances-because Mama’s life
and her own depend on it.

Why I chose this book

I chose the book Esperanza Rising because I think that it
is very interesting. It tells me a little about the Great
Depression and I wanted to learn more about the Great
Depression that I already did not know. I wanted to know
what caused people to become poor. I also wanted to
learn what made them have to move sometimes.