The stock market collapse in 1929 initiated a cascade of economic effects that devastated American businesses. Millions of Americans lost their jobs, with the unemployment rate reaching as high as 25%, and even those lucky enough to keep their jobs saw their wages and incomes decline by 40%. The result was unprecedented levels of hunger, and the scale of need quickly overwhelmed charities. Images of blocks-long breadlines in cities across the country made hunger visible in ways it had never been before, convincing many Americans that government intervention was needed.
Statistics from the National Bureau of Economic Research.
“The Test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt
The shocking image of the breadline endures in the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, DC. The outdoor installation features sculptures of five men waiting in a breadline, alongside a farmer and his wife – symbols for the crisis of the Depression.
Museum Map
WISHING
TREE
The Proof is in Our History
- 1.Welcome
- 2.Museum Lobby
- 3.The Age of Mass Migration - Landing
- 4.The Age of Mass Migration - Main
- 5.Immigration from Europe
- 6.On the Breadline
- 7.Beginnings
- 8.An Unequal Recovery
- 9.Hunger, Justice, and Civil Rights - Landing
- 10.Hunger, Justice, and Civil Rights - Main
- 11.Walk for Decent Welfare (Columbus, OH)
- 12.Televising the War on Hunger - Landing
- 13.Televising the War on Hunger - Main
- 14.President Lyndon B. Johnson
- 15.Senator George McGovern and Senator Robert Dole
- 16.Dr. Jean Mayer and the White House Conference
- 17.1975-1996: The Unmaking of the Great Society
- 18.Government Cheese
- 19.The Welfare Queen
- 20.The Return of the Welfare Queen
- 21.Crises of New Proportions - Landing
- 22.Crises of New Proportions - Main
- 23.COVID-19
- 24.Welcome to the SNAP Café
- 25.SNAP Cafe – Create a meal
- 26.Wishing Tree
MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger