From the booming economy,high salaries, and luxury items of the Roaring 20s, to the day we know to becalled Black Tuesday, the day that changed a whole nation forever. Many peoplemay not think this is something that could happen considering the United Stateshas been one of the wealthiest countries for decades but, this situation isvery much real and could possibly happen again. Imagine living during theRoaring 20s and living a life filled with wealth and fast cars, all for that toend and be living the exact opposite. For many people, that’s what happened,one moment they were at the top of the world, and the next thing they knew,they had lost everything. No one was expecting a country who was thriving inmoney to have such a great economic downfall but unfortunately, it happened.October 29th, 1929, was truly the day that America was changedforever. TheBeginning            Before the time we know as the Great Depression came anamazing time in U.S.

History known as the Roaring 20s. This was a time whereeveryone was having the time of their lives, World War I had just ended, andmoney was coming in like crazy. “Between 1921 and 1924 the nation’s grossnational product jumped from $69 billion to $93 billion whilst wages rose by22% from roughly $36.4 billion to $51.5 billion” (Alchin). With this money,people were obviously getting more money at work, so it was spent on lavishitems such as new fur coats, cars, and new household appliances. Everything inlife was going well for nearly everyone, people were being able to expressthemselves, especially women, in a way that used to be frowned upon.

Women usedto only be able to wear clothing that covered their whole bodies but withRoaring 20s came a whole new fashion of short skirts and feather headbands.Jazz was being introduced and spread around the nation like a wildfire and newiconic dances such as the Charleston and the Shimmy were invented (Alchin).Unfortunately, all these good things and recklessness with money came withmajor consequences. Sincepeople were getting paid way more and spending it recklessly, this was where aneconomic downfall began to happen in 1929. October 29th, 1929, a daypeople refer to as Black Tuesday, was the beginning of America’s financialstability going down the drain. The reason it was called Black Tuesday was thatthis day marked the first day of the depression, the whole country was gloomyand dark.

“Black Tuesday’s losses destroyed confidence in theeconomy. That loss of confidence led to the Great Depression”(Amadeo). People back then used to believe everything in the economy wasstrictly based on the stock market so once it crashed, people began to becomefrantic and lose faith that they could ever return to normal. Everyone waswithdrawing their money from the banks and because of this, the banks had nomoney and were forced to close causing an even more intense economic shutdown(Amadeo). This day in history marks a day that changed everything about theUnited States. Lifein the Depression            Once Black Tuesday hit, many peoplewere left homeless, unemployed, and starving.

People were forced to give uptheir homes and live in small shacks that were packed like sardines with theirfamilies. These shacks were made from scrap wood and metal, and were calledHoovervilles. The reason they were called Hoovervilles, was because thepresident at the time, Herbert Hoover, was blamed by Americans for causing thiseconomic spiral (Arbuckle).