The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, lasting from 1929 to 1939. It began after the stock market crash of October 29, 1929, the “Black Tuesday”, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors.
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| Life of the U.S. in the 1930s and 1940s |
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| Street kids at play, Georgetown, Washington D.C., Summer 1935 |
40 Incredible Colorized Photos Show What Life of the U.S. Looked Like in the 1930s and ’40s
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| Street smart, Washington, D.C., 1935 |
40 Incredible Colorized Photos Show What Life of the U.S. Looked Like in the 1930s and ’40s
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| Cigar store owner and his Indian, Manchester, New Hampshire, October 1936 |
40 Incredible Colorized Photos Show What Life of the U.S. Looked Like in the 1930s and ’40s
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| Son of a woodcutter, Eden Mills, Vermont, August 1936 |
40 Incredible Colorized Photos Show What Life of the U.S. Looked Like in the 1930s and ’40s
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| Steelworker listening to an unseen union organizer, Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, July 1936 |
40 Incredible Colorized Photos Show What Life of the U.S. Looked Like in the 1930s and ’40s
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| 18 year-old mother from Oklahoma in California, March 1937 |
40 Incredible Colorized Photos Show What Life of the U.S. Looked Like in the 1930s and ’40s
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| Anton Weber, a resettled farmer, Tompkins County, New York, September 1937 |
40 Incredible Colorized Photos Show What Life of the U.S. Looked Like in the 1930s and ’40s
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| Biker girl, summer 1937 |
40 Incredible Colorized Photos Show What Life of the U.S. Looked Like in the 1930s and ’40s
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| Men on "Skid Row", Modesto, California, March 1937 |
40 Incredible Colorized Photos Show What Life of the U.S. Looked Like in the 1930s and ’40s
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| Rosie's Cafe, Texas, 1937 |
40 Incredible Colorized Photos Show What Life of the U.S. Looked Like in the 1930s and ’40s
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| Sharecropper family, Hazlehurst, Georgia, July 1937 |
40 Incredible Colorized Photos Show What Life of the U.S. Looked Like in the 1930s and ’40s
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| A farm wife waits for her husband at a farm auction near Oskaloosa, Kansas, October 1938 |
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| Magazine stand, Omaha, Nebraska, November 1938 |
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| Parade watchers, 1938 |
40 Incredible Colorized Photos Show What Life of the U.S. Looked Like in the 1930s and ’40s
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| Father and daughter, 1939 |
40 Incredible Colorized Photos Show What Life of the U.S. Looked Like in the 1930s and ’40s
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| Migrant workers camped beside a road near Prague, Oklahoma, June 1939 |
40 Incredible Colorized Photos Show What Life of the U.S. Looked Like in the 1930s and ’40s
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| Tour guide, 1939 World's Fair, New York City |
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| Wife and child of an itinerant cane furniture maker, Wagoner County, Oklahoma, June 1939 |
40 Incredible Colorized Photos Show What Life of the U.S. Looked Like in the 1930s and ’40s
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| Grand Central Station, New York City, April 1940 |
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| Moviegoers outside the Monroe Theater, Chicago, July 1940 |
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| Rainy day on Main Street, Norwich, Connecticut, November 1940 |
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| Teenagers and their jalopy, Belle Glade, Florida, June 1940 |
40 Incredible Colorized Photos Show What Life of the U.S. Looked Like in the 1930s and ’40s
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| Couple, Chicago, 1941 |
40 Incredible Colorized Photos Show What Life of the U.S. Looked Like in the 1930s and ’40s
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| High St., Holyoke, Massachusetts, September 1941 |
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| Teenage girls at a water fountain, Caldwell Idaho, June-July 1941 |
40 Incredible Colorized Photos Show What Life of the U.S. Looked Like in the 1930s and ’40s
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| Three young women outside a church, southside Chicago, Easter morning 1941 |
40 Incredible Colorized Photos Show What Life of the U.S. Looked Like in the 1930s and ’40s
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| Washington, D.C. Cherry Blossom Festival in May 1941 |
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| Washington, D.C. Cherry Blossom Festival in May 1941 |
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| A Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter plane displayed at a war bond event, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 1942 |
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| Girl sitting alone in the Sea Grill Bar waiting for a pickup, Washington, D.C., April 1942 |
40 Incredible Colorized Photos Show What Life of the U.S. Looked Like in the 1930s and ’40s
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| Hollywood girl, 1942 |
40 Incredible Colorized Photos Show What Life of the U.S. Looked Like in the 1930s and ’40s
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| Mrs. Ethel Oxley in the drugstore that her family ran on the main street of Southington, Connecticut for more than 200 years, 1942 |
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| Oxley's Drug Store, Southington, Connecticut, May 1942 |
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| People gathered for Memorial Day commemoration on the town green, Southington, Connecticut, 30 May 1942 |
40 Incredible Colorized Photos Show What Life of the U.S. Looked Like in the 1930s and ’40s
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| Jitterbugs, Washington DC, April 1943 |
40 Incredible Colorized Photos Show What Life of the U.S. Looked Like in the 1930s and ’40s
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| People waiting for a Greyhound Bus in Indianapolis, Indiana, September 1943 |
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| Two 18 year-old 'pit women', June 1943. They worked near Concord, New Hampshire at a timber salvage sawmill |
40 Incredible Colorized Photos Show What Life of the U.S. Looked Like in the 1930s and ’40s
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| Waiting for a train, 1943 |
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| A crowd watching the news line on the Times building at Times Square, 6 June 1944 |
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| Shoe shiners take a lunch break, New York City, 1947 |