What Life Was Really Like for Rural Americans During the Great Depression

The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in modern history, beginning with the stock market crash of October 1929. The panic started on Black Thursday, October 24, and helped trigger more than a decade of hardship across the United States and much of the world. Unemployment soared, wages fell, businesses collapsed, and food insecurity became a daily reality for millions of Americans.

But the crisis hit rural families especially hard. As crop prices plunged and farm foreclosures spread, many farmers had few other ways to make a living. Then came the Dust Bowl, which turned an already desperate situation into one of the defining struggles of the era.

To look back at rural America during the Great Depression, 24/7 Tempo reviewed historical sources including History.com, Federal Reserve History, and the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, along with archival images from Getty Images.

• Many Americans were looking for work during the Great Depression, but they weren't alone. There were also many migrants in the country who were also having trouble making ends meet.
• In this photo, we see a family of Mexican migrants traveling through California trying to find a job. On the way, they have even more bad luck by getting a flat tire.

This is often what rural America looked like during the Great Depression. People doing simple jobs to make money. In this case, they're picking strawberries. This image was taken in Florida. There were many jobs to do back then that are today completed by machines.

This is another one of the pictures that perfectly encapsulates what America looked like during the Great Depression. This is a family with parents and kids traveling across the countryside in the Ozark region of Arkansas as they look for their next meal or place to stay.

• This is what America looked like during the Great Depression in many areas of the country. This photo is the result of a major dust storm that made its way across Cimarron County in Oklahoma. There were many dust storms during this time, and they caused major issues.
• This house is almost completely covered. This was just another issue that people had to deal with during this tough time.

This photo shows us many tents that are in a Farm Security Administration (FSA) camp in Oregon. The FSA was an agency created to try and fight poverty. People lived and worked here and did what they had to in order to make ends meet.

• To really understand what America looked like during the Great Depression, you need to look at the good and the bad. There was a lot of poverty and terrible living conditions, but people had to try to stay positive.
• In this photo, a group of Jamaican farm workers gather around the piano to sing religious hymns and get into better spirits. Today, many people still depend on their faith to get them through hard times, and if you're one of them, check out our list of 37 of the most iconic bible quotes.

In this famous photo taken near Childress, Texas, the wife of a migratory laborer stands in dismay as she thinks about her struggles with work and her three children. Life was tough for the whole family back then and many wives had to take on increasing responsibilities.

In this photo, we see many men of various ages waiting in line at an employment agency in California, hoping to find a job. This was a state agency, and while they likely had many jobs to offer, it likely wasn't enough for everyone in line. These men would likely take any work regardless of the pay if it would help to put food on the table.

Everyone worked hard during the Great Depression, and people were willing to do that tough work if it meant putting food on the table. In this image, we see many men digging a drainage trench. They're unemployed and working at the Ministry of Labour Instructional Centre for the Unemployed, where they're learning skills to get paying jobs later on.

In addition to worrying about money and finding a job, many people in certain climates also had to worry about the chance of having a dust storm. This type of storm would occur due to hot, dry winds. In this particular picture, the dust storm caused 30 minutes of darkness.

This is what America looked like during the Great Depression for many families. This particular family had to leave their farm in Oklahoma because the drought got so bad that they could no longer live there.

They decided to try to move to California and pick up odd jobs along the way. In this image, they are a day away from California when their car breaks down.

The Great Depression was a tough time for many people, including many men who were trying to find a way to keep a roof over their families' heads. To help out, the government created many programs to teach them the skills to find a job and succeed.

In this picture, you see a group of guys working for the Civilian Conservation Corps in Maryland. They were being trained on work revolving around conservation and the development of natural resources.

This is a photo of what America looked like during the Great Depression. A family trying to make ends meet by doing odd jobs. This is the home and family of an oil field worker.

While he's out for the day, they are offering their services with a sign that says "Washings And Iornings Done Here." People used the talents they had to make the few cents it would take to get to the next day.

This is a group of men working on a project as part of the Civilian Conservation Corps, which was a program created by the government to give men work and pay when they had nowhere else to turn.

The main work they're doing in this picture is planting trees as a way of helping the environment. Many people had to turn to programs like this during the Great Depression.

In this sad photo, we see a young boy who is suffering due to there being too much dust floating around. He is a farmer's son and this is in Oklahoma. It was very tough to live during those years, and unfortunately, many kids were impacted.

This sad image shows a line of people waiting patiently to get some food from the Red Cross. They're there because of the intense drought conditions and the fact that they likely can't grow food on their farms. This is a photo taken in Arkansas but there were lines like this all over the country.

In this photo, we see some typical housing provided to low or no-income folks who were trying to make ends meet. The location is unknown, but was taken in 1935 in America. The houses are not perfect. In fact, many are in ill repair, but it's all they had and they made it work.

You see some kids there having out and trying to make the most out of their situation.

When times simply became too tough, people had to move on and that often meant moving away from home and the possessions and people that they loved. In this image, we see a rather large family traveling on foot to try to get to the next town or wherever the road would take them if it meant finding a new opportunity to make money.

Back during the Great Depression, homes were incredibly basic. They weren't even close to the houses that many people live in today. This man is stepping out of a very simple house that lacked any bells and whistles. However, with so little to their names at this time, people were grateful for whatever they could get.

This is what America looked like during the Great Depression for many farmers. This image is of a farm in Colorado during the big Dust Bowl they had. As it appears, the farm likely had very little before, and now they seem to be wiped out. What makes it even more sad is that there's a family with young children.

In this photo, you see animals that are in dismay because their old watering hole has been covered by shifting topsoil due to dust storms and natural weather occurrences at that time. Because of that issue, the animals likely had to venture somewhere else and it would have been a long and tough journey.

This photo shows what people had to go through during the Great Depression to find a place to live. This area is in Bakersfield, California. It's a growing community of people living on the edge of the town dump.

The living is very simple and primitive, but it was rent-free. People grew their families in this area and they were happy to have a place to lay their heads.

Unfortunately, for many, this is what America looked like during the Great Depression. In this photo, we see two people who were evicted from their home, likely for not paying the rent or mortgage. They stand here on the side of the road with all their possessions in a pile. It's a sad photo and a stark reminder of how bad things were back then.