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Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies

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A document from the official website of St Louis Banks, the economical center of the US

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A document from the official website of St Louis Banks, the economical center of the US

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I chose this link and documents because this video is really well made and gives us a really big ammount of information about the impact of bankrupt and the panic it caused. I think it reunites social and economical information in the same time which is great.

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The Role of Bank Failures and Panics | Economic Episodes in American History: The Great Depression | St. Louis Fed

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David Wheelock presented 'The Great Depression' at an economic education workshop at the St. Louis Fed. Part 6: The Role of Bank Failures and Panics

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I chose this link because it shows a very different point of view from what we always learn ( politics, economy etc.). This one shows how people would entertain themselves during these hard times and how they developed their sense of creativity. It also gives access to photographs, interviews and shows to help us understand more and more about this period. I especially like Corn, drought-stricken and eaten off by grasshoppers. Near Russelville, Arkansas by Dorothea Lange, which shows us how hard it was to eat, not only because of the lack of money, but also because of all natural phenomenons that happen once in a while.

I like these documents because we can learn about the situation by looking at wonderful pieces of art or watching a very well-made show. We see how they would entertain despite the misery going on.

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Saturday Night Dance, 1940
Voices from the Dust Bowl, 1940-1941

Even during hard times and wartime, people need to be entertained. The American people in the 1930s and 1940s were no exception. They enjoyed many forms of entertainment, particularly if they could do so inexpensively.

With the addition of sound, movies became increasingly popular. Comedies, gangster movies, and musicals helped people forget their troubles. In the early 1940s, some of the great dramas of American film reached theaters. Radio was also wildly popular, offering many kinds of programs, from sermons to soap operas.

In the 1930s, big bands and swing music were popular, with Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, and Glenn Miller popular bandleaders. In the 1940s, the bands started to break up, and band singers like Frank Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan went out on their own. War songs became popular.

Among the unemployed in the Depression were artists and performers of many types. Government programs to assist these people resulted in production of plays and artworks for all to enjoy.

As you examine the documents in this section, compare arts and entertainment in the 1930s and 1940s with arts and entertainment as you know them today. What similarities do you see? What differences? How might you explain the continuity you see, as well as the change?

To find additional sources on this topic, use the names of specific forms of art or entertainment to search the collections; for example, you might use such words as music, dance, or theater in your search.

Documents

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Art and Entertainment in the 1930s and 1940s | Great Depression and World War II, 1929-1945 | U.S. History Primary Source Timeline | Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress

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Even during hard times and wartime, people need to be entertained. The American people in the 1930s and 1940s were no exception. They enjoyed many forms of entertainment, particularly if they could do so inexpensively. With the addition of sound, movies became increasingly popular. Comedies, gangster movies, and musicals helped people forget their troubles.

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source: http://www.orangesmile.com/extreme/en/original-monuments/great-depression-monument.htm
made by: Lawrence Halprin

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62DxELjuRec
I decided to choose a video, and this one particularly because it's a different way to learn informations. The video is dynamic, we have some great illustrations with pictures and color drawings. This video is short but we have all we need: the causes and effects. Furthermore it allows you to listen English language.

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Golden Age of Hollywood during the Great Depression (yes!)

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Golden Age of Hollywood during the Great Depression (yes!)

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Cinema enjoyed a huge popularity as it was cheap, affordable, escapism from the grim reality of the everyday life. Technological innovations took place during this period : sound and colour!

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This decade saw Hollywood overcome the Great Depression to begin its Golden Age. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today, in this installment of our series on the greatest movies of all time, we're counting down our picks for the top 10 movies of the 1930s. Special thanks to our users Andrew A.

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Social and Cultural Effects of the Depression

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Social and Cultural Effects of the Depression

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https://www.ushistory.org/us/48e.asp
I choose this article because I found it very interesting. It shows us the effects of the Great Depression on the population of the United States. It describes everything people had to go through during the 1930s. It teaches us about every difficulties people were facing and how they were impacting their lives.

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https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1456201
I choose this article because I’m pretty sure you have never heard about this one dollar commonly known as the depression script. It was a way to stimulate the local economy during the crisis, when all the stock market falls down in 1929. People didn’t have jobs anymore (one quarter of the acting us population were unemployed), or savings anymore, so they couldn’t repay banks, also ruined, but had to find a way to live.

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Loan DESAINTJEAN : Golden Gate Bridge by Ray Strong

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Loan DESAINTJEAN : Golden Gate Bridge by Ray Strong

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I chose this photograph of Franklin Delano Roosevelt taken on March 12, 1933, eight days after his assumption of duties, because it’s the first of a series of fireside chats, which are evening radio addresses given by Roosevelt during its mandates as president of the United States of America in order to explain his policies to the American people. During this first one, he talked about the promulgation of the Emergency Banking Act (EBA): the goal was to stabilize the banking system, while there were after the Black Thursday no more confidence in the system. The fact that he chose for his first radio address to talk about the banking crisis reveals to what degree the situation urged and to what degree people waited for measures. This first fireside chats and the next ones contributed to present and explain the program and ideas of president Roosevelt and create an intimate link with Americans, while justifying his actions and the New Deal. It reveals that Roosevelt was a very good communicator, because he knew perfectly how to use this new means of communication that was radio, to serve his interests.

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https://www.britannica.com/topic/African-American/African-American-life-during-the-Great-Depression-and-the-New-Deal
I chose this article because it allows us to learn more about the situation during the Great Depression of a minority - rather a majority of the American population - that is Afro Americans. Indeed, like all Americans, they too have been affected by this crisis. But it has had a greater impact on them than on white people. The first to be made redundant and therefore unemployed, the blacks, have a no less negligible impact on the progress of this crash. This article informs us about the role they played, the revolts they led to defend their rights. Notably by voting massively for Roosevelt. In short, it taught me a lot, showing me all the difficulties that Afro Americans had to face.

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This is a video dealing with the dust bowl that happened during the period of the great depression. It shows social and environmental issues.

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Educational Remix: The Dust Bowl and John Steinbeck's, The Grapes of Wrath

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History Brief: Radio in the 1930s - YouTube
(The first one when you arrive on the google video page )
This video is about the radio during the 1930s and I think it is very important to learn about that.
In fact, the most popular form of entertainment in the 1930s was the radio. It broadcast à wide variety of programs.
For example, romance and drama programs like "Life can be beautiful".
After school when children went back, It was 15 minutes of action and adventure programs like "Superman" or " Flash Gordon".
On the evening the radio broadcast a program that the entire familly woul'd like as "The Lone Ranger" or "Amos and Andy".
But the radio was also an advertising medium, ther was a lot of promotion for food, medicine an also cars.
And finally, it was also a source of news that everybody knew because the president Roosevelt used  to communicate and to say that "things wou'ld get better"

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Black people were already poor during the Roaring Twenties,  and then suffered the most during the Depression

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Black people were already poor during the Roaring Twenties,  and then suffered the most during the Depression

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please see the article posted by Raissa

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This photography of the famous photographer Dorothea Lange represents well the poverty who touched people during the Great Depression. Many families, mostly farmers’ families, were obliged to quit their home and to migrate to find a job to survive. They lost everything, their crops, their job, their home… Some of them were homeless or had to live in shanty towns as the family in this picture who must live in the sort of hut which is made of waste just behind them. Dorothea Lange was a famous photographer because she managed to show the reality of migrant’s life during this hard period, more than a reporter, she was an artist who succeed in making feel emotions through those photos.

Poor mother and children, Oklahoma 1936, by Dorothea Lange :

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when you can't give cash to people....you have to create your own money. See Claudie's post for more

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I have chosen this link because it explains very well how was the Great Depression at this time. The video is retracing the history of this period at the beginning to the end in a really short time. So it's really intresting and it won't take so long to watch !

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I think this photo represents the misery suffered by civilians during the Great Depression. Additionally black people had to suffer even more than others due to segregation.

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Influenced by the anarchist Joe Hill, he composed songs expressing the struggles of the poor and oppressed, while celebrating their  spirit of libertarian resistance. An emblematic figure of the hobos ("vagabond" produced by the Great Depression), he became an important musical spokesman for workers' and people's feelings. Through these songs we can understand the feeling of the poorest people who are enduring the great depression.

lyrics :
This land is your land and this land is my land
From California to the New York island
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me

As I went walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
Saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me

I roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
All around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me

When the sun come shining, then I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting
This land was made for you and me

This land is your land and this land is my land
From California to the New York island
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me

When the sun come shining, then I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The voice come a-chanting and the fog was lifting
This land was made for you and me...

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I chose this picture because it shows that all social groups have been touched by the economic crisis and then the social crisis. We can see a man, who wrote on a poster his abilities, who he was and his situation. The fact that he knows 3 trades and he is able to speak 3 languages but the only thing he wants is a job, shows to us that the great depression impacted all the social groups, even people who had the best knowledges and abilities. It proves that Great Depression was a very hard time compared to the "Roaring Twenties".

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https://youtu.be/62DxELjuRec
This document is a video about the great depression in the United States which appened in 1929. The title of the video is The Great Depression - 5 minute history lesson. It was created in June 8th 2018 by the youtuber The Plain Bagel. In the video we can hear the voice of the male youtuber who speaks very fast and has an American accent. The video is illustrated with simple animation which help us to understand better the great depression, the causes, the period, all the reforms, economic, environmental and human problems but also popular culture, the role of Roosevelt and the expansion of the crisis to the world.

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This photograph show jobless peoples asking for free food in 1931. this picture show us the consequences of the 1929 crisis : a lot of peoples lost their jobs and the government wasn't able to feed the population. This picture show an attempt to help the peoples to survive by giving them free food. As we can see on this picture, at the time, a lot of peoples needed this free food to survive because they lost their job a long time ago. By the end of the crisis, a lot of americans have become poor and need help to survive.

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These three posters show an essential reform of the New Deal in 1935, during the great depression : it’s the social security act. This act established unemployment compensation and allowed a relief for widow of qualified worker, for orphans and for old people. They received monthly benefits and this is an important reform in the united states history : it’s the beginning of a welfare system. This economic insurance for these people will revive the economy because they will have a better situation and they will can consume.

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The arts were first integrated on the fringes of the New Deal. Between 1933-1934, four million people were employed by the government, a very small but real number of artists recruited. This first plan, which is characterized primarily by the hiring of artists in education, was a mixed success. From 1935, Roosevelt launched the “second New Deal” around the creation of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It is about putting millions of unemployed back to work, but this time the artists are more systematically integrated into the project. Roosevelt submits to a now famous saying: "Try, you have to try everything, experiment. And if it fails: you have to admit it failure and try something else. But the main thing is to try everything."

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I chose this image because I think it reflects in part the fact that all social groups have been affected. It's true that due to their appearances, these two men do not look poor. But when we look at the signs they carry, we can see that they lack a job to ensure their survival and the one of their families. The economic crisis affected the entire population, which gradually entered the destructive vicious circle for many years of anguish and poverty. Indeed, these two men present their identities through knowledge and some achievements, but was that enough to find a job? That’s why I think this picture is representative of the economic impact not only for the poorest but also for this type of social group in the middle class.This impact obviously shows that the Great Depression was one of the most significant in terms of the unemployment rate for everyone.

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I chose this picture because it shows the situation thousands of people were in. They were forced to leave their houses with only the bare minimum, not really knowing where to go...

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I choose this photography which shows the difficult living conditions of people who were forced to leave their houses during the crisis. This photography was taken by the American photographer, Dorothea Lange in 1936. In this photo we see a woman and her children under a tent, in a camp. This photo shows the effects of misery, migrants are living in a shanty town until they have enough money to find an accommodation. This people live in fear of an uncertain future. This photo shows that despite the poverty, distress and sadness this family perseveres. This photo shows the courage of the mother. The photographer Dorothea aims, through her poignant photos, to denounce reality and show the hard life of migrants during the crisis.

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I chose the cover of « The Grapes of Wrath » it’s an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and it was published in 1939. I read this book a few years ago and I think it is one of the best examples to understand the great depression and its issues and result.

Indeed, this book portrays how the great depression affected the lives of industrialists and the common people of the era in both a positive and negative way. It presents the men’s  inhumanity, the selfishness and the poverty during this period.

Grape of Wrath is also an interesting work because it depict a forgot side of this period like the development of fellowship and the power of the family.

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This document is a photograph taken by the famous Dorothea Lange, one of the main artists who portrayed the Great Depression, in 1936. It is striking because itreflect the situation of this period, we can see a tiny shanty town, things stored outside, a roof that seems far from waterproof. We can see two people at the entrance including a child, they live in poverty

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The Wall Street panic

This picture shows us the extreme  panic in the stock markets which is at the beginning of the Great Depression. The photograph has been taken on Thursday, October 24 1929, day known as the "Black Thursday". The massive crowd in front of the NYC stock exchange is composed by traders who lost everything on this tragic day. After years of unprecedented speculation, the market collapsed because of a huge panic movement. The small traders will be directly impacted. The stock market crisis is at the origin of an economic, social and political crisis, first in the USA, then in the world...

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This document represent  the discredit of the dollars these 106 last years, we could see that the crise of the subprimes  is insignificant in relation to the 1929 depression. However, we could think that this crisis was a forerunner for the economic stagnation which It will follow. It represents for me the emergency in which one the world is tumbled.

Source: USD Inflation since 1913 Annual Rate, the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI ;
link : https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1913?amount=1

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_marathon

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The video is explaining the life in 1929 from the point of view of an American citizen, from the beginning of the Great Depression, the black Thursday to the election of Roosevelt and the World War Two. I choose this video because I think this is a good way to explain how it was to live during this period. This video explain a lot of the aspects of the Great Depression, like economy, social, the causes and the consequences of the crash and how it affected the citizens of United State.

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Great Depression, What Was Life Actually Like

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This photograph was taken in the New Jersey, in 1935, but with an unknown photographer. I choose this picture because we see a queue of persons who are waiting specific shoes to work. These persons have walked across the country with the goal to find a new home. This relates to one of the Roosevelt’s measures who created Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), camps for workers and their families to give again new works for these persons who lost everything.

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First inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt

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First inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt

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The first inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt was held the March 4th 1933 in Washington. Roosevelt ,newly elected face to Hoover, made a speech, during the inauguration which marked the commencement of his first term, about the Greet Depression. Indeed he was elected thanks to his program "The New deal" which promise help the nation and a new system of welfare state. This speech, broadcast on sevral radio network of the United stade, was heard and expected by millions of amercians which waited for Rooselvet's concreat answer to the crisis. First of all Roosevelt accuse bankers and buisnessmen for not seeing it coming and talked about the unemployement issues. And finaly he assured to his poeple that he would act swiftly and with determination against the crisis.

I think this document is very important because it mark the begening of the New Deal and the anwer to the crisis.

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Here is the front page of a British newspaper which is talking about the Wall Street crash. Indeed this London Herald's edition has been published on Friday, October 25, so the day after the beginning of the crisis in the USA. Even if the British population was not already directly affect by the stock market crash in NYC, this article shows a feeling of panic, and the importance of that event.
This document is also useful to see that the population all around the world was very quickly informed about the Wall Street crash. However, this newspaper published only one day after the event doesn't offer the possibility to understand it in perspective. This type of document highlights the fact that there was a feeling of emergency about this event. But they probably at this time, didn't have all of the information to understand perfectly what happened during the Black Thursday.

Source image : http://la-story.over-blog.com/2020/09/chapitre-1-l-impact-de-la-crise-de-1929-et-les-desequilibres-economiques-et-sociaux.1ere-partie.html

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I think this is a really good photograph to depict the hard times farmers had to go through during the Great Depression.  In the foreground, we can see two very young children, both suits with old and faded clothes. The older one is sitting in a broken chair, and there are two signs in between them. In the background, we can see their mother who is standing behind a small tent. This family, like numerous others farmers, had to move because of the great depression and the dust bowl. Even before the crisis most of them were already suffering from poverty, but then, they had to leave their farm and house and went from shanty towns to shanty towns, looking for a decent place to live and hoping to find some work.

Their first sign is asking for help and is a funding request, the second sign, with a pun, shows that they are still suffering from the crisis…

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The Depression is His Fault.” Nate Collier. Life, March 1932, p. 60

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The Depression is His Fault.” Nate Collier. Life, March 1932, p. 60

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The Depression is His Fault.” Nate Collier. Life, March 1932, p. 60
A version of our "ballon debate"? In any case, it's interesting to see that causes for the Depression were hotly debated at the time

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If you want listen this famous speech it's here !!!

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If you want listen this famous speech it's here !!!

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Roosevelt brought precisions about new deal and what he intended for the country. He also talked about the impact crisis.

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President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his first inaugural address after being sworn in by Chief Justice Charles Hughes on March 4, 1933. It was the last inaugural ceremony held in March. Brief footage of his arrival was also shown. When he was inaugurated the country was in the middle of the Great Depression. Several million American's heard Roosevelt's address, which was broadcast nationwide via radio. He had defeated the incumbent Herbert Hoover, and in his speech he began laying the groundwork for his New Deal policies and economic programs. close

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President Roosevelt 1933 Inaugural Address

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President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his first inaugural address after being sworn in by Chief Justice Charles Hughes on March 4, 1933. It was the last inaugural ceremony held in March. Brief footage of his arrival was also shown. When he was inaugurated the country was in the middle of the Great Depression.

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The first document is a newspaper article from The Seattle Star dating back March 4, 1933, the day of the inauguration of Roosevelt. This front page, entitled “Roosevelt promises national relief” (one of the three ‘R’ of the New Deal), shows Roosevelt as the saviour of United States and the man which will right the ship. It reveals that in 1932 and 1933, millions of people across the United States were condemning Hoover and the Republican Party and argued for strong actions to fight the Great Depression, which led to a landslide win for Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and also that a majority of newspapers – actually almost everyone – supported Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

The second document is a poster dating back 1940, during the election campaign for a second re-election of Roosevelt. The portrait of president Roosevelt is at the centre of the poster, and on the left we see the condition of USA on 1932, before Roosevelt was elected – there were “bread lines”, “homeless[ness]”, and “banks [were] closed” – and on the right we see the condition of the country on 1940, thanks to the New Deal of Roosevelt: there were “higher wages”, “low rent homes” and a “social security”. The portrait of Roosevelt is surrounded like if it was a painting; there is a grandiloquent side.

Both documents show a glorified, idealised picture of Roosevelt. It reveals that lots of people and press supported actively Roosevelt: he was a very popular president. However, the two documents hide some things: first, on 1932, when Roosevelt was elected, his program wasn’t very clear: people voted for Roosevelt knowing he will do something for them, but no what exactly. Moreover, the results of the New Deal, if they are of course positive, like the poster campaign shows it, are all the same contrasting, with still almost 14% of Americans out of work on 1940. In addition, the second document doesn’t show that the war was an important campaign subject, Roosevelt being sometimes accused of being not ready for a war, and sometimes accused of preparing US to join the Second World War (whereas Congress was at that time in favour of an isolationist policy). To conclude, if they show the victories and popularity of Roosevelt, both documents hide some things and have a committed stance.

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Second document : poster in favour of Roosevelt re-election

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This photography shows the "Hollywood Sign" originally and before 1949 as "Hollywoodland". This sign is the symbol of the world most influential city of the cinema industry at that time : Hollywood. (Which is, by the way, still the one currently). In fact the 20's are called the "Roaring twenties" due to the economic prosperity before the Great Depression. At that time, the movie industry grew very fast and the city provided hundreds of movies per year to the world. The cost of a movie ticket was very cheap, that's why people gathered in movie theater especially during the Great Depression, in order to forget the outside's issues, and get entertained during a moment. Several studios emerged, many are still running to this day, such as the Paramount, the WarnerBros Studios, and more. The movie industry really shot up at that time, helped people during the Great Depression to get better, and ended up being now a part of the US soft power in the world.

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You will find here an other newspaper front page about the Wall Street crash. This time this is a US newspaper the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
These two documents show the role of the media and their importance during the crisis. The feeling of panic is again present, as we saw with the British newspaper.

Source image : https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/mar/04/crash-1929-wall-street-what-the-great-depression-reveals-about-our-future

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This is a photograph taken by John Vachon 1940, one year after the american stock market crash. In the foreground there is what seems to be a direct victim of the great depression. This person is facing a billboard claiming the benefits of capitalism and the american system . This picture is quite ironical beacause the person is a victim of the system glorified on the billboard, and he had to see the picture everytimes he went pass of it. The fact that the advertisement is still here could sugest that the governement is not concerned about taking it down. But despite that, this is only a photograph, so we are limited to what's shown to us, the ad could be fake or the person could be an actor, the photograph could even be older.

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This document is a painting from year 1939 so very soon after the crash and made by Joseph Paul Vorst, it's called “Sharecroppers’ Revolt". This art piece show us the misery of the farmer and more precisely the sharecroppers who where farmer paying rent for their land. We can see that their face do not look very happy and they are living in what seems to be sheets. The style of the picture is also quite bleak,the sky, especially is made out of grey and black shades. This represent very well the misery known by a lot of american during the crisis. The one problem is that a painting is very subjective to the artist and the truth may not be that bad or maybe worse.

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This photograph was taken on December 25 1931 in New York. I find it very interesting because it shows hundreds of people lined up and waiting for food, and it shows that even the day of Christmas, will not be enjoyable for all these people. An other contradictory element on this photo is all the cars parked right next to them and that shows the even bigger inequalities between the different people in the society during this difficult crysis.

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This document is a photograph taken in 1932. It shows a burning camp of the bonus army in Washington. The bonus army is a group of World War 1 veterans who wanted their bonuses to have some money, and they confronted to the american police to do that. I find this photograph very interesting because in the background, we can see the Capitol which is a symbol of power and prosperity while in the foreground, we can see burning shacks built quickly, symbol of the extreme poverty of the american people at this time (1932). So there is a big opposition in this photograph

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203. Quand un fantôme inspire Springsteen : "The ghost of Tom Joad"

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203. Quand un fantôme inspire Springsteen : "The ghost of Tom Joad"

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En 1995,
Bruce Springsteen publiait son 11° album et sortait un single éponyme pour l'accompagner : "the Ghost of Tom Joad". Cette chanson est dédiée aux laissés pour compte des Etats-Unis, aux recalés du système, aux homeless, aux travailleurs pauvres, aux pauvres tout court, dont le nombre est estimé à l'époque à plus de 36 millions, ce qui représente 14% de la population totale du pays d'alors.

Ces personnes vivent en dessous de ce que l'on appelle le seuil de pauvreté. Aux Etats-Unis, il est défini par le gouvernement fédéral en conditions de vie, en fonction d'estimations de besoins de revenu. Par exemple, une personne seule est considérée comme vivant en dessous du seuil de pauvreté lorsqu'elle dispose de moins de 9800 dollars de revenus annuels.

La chanson de Springsteen est donc une évocation de cette grande misère dans le pays le plus riche du monde. En effet, cette dernière décennie du XX° siècle sera dans le pays ,et au delà dans l'ensemble du monde occidental, celle du creusement des inégalités : les riches sont de plus en plus riches, les pauvres, eux s'appauvrissent.

Springsteen, en musique et en paroles, nous renvoie à des images très familières et assez honteuses de nos sociétés occidentales, marquées, par ailleurs par l'opulence, le gâchis parfois, et un luxe tapageur totalement indécent. Il décrit les dessous d'autoroutes urbaines devenus le refuge des sans-abris, les braseros et les cartons pour seuls remparts, la dure quête de justice et d'emploi décent, les violences de "l'autre société" qui ne les regarde plus autrement que comme des marginaux dans l'illégalité; les chassant du peu de territoire qui est encore le leur, de leur "oreiller de pierre".

Men walkin' 'long the railroad tracks

Goin' someplace there's no goin' back allant vers un endroit dont il ne pourra revenir Highway patrol choppers comin' up over the bridge une patrouille de police arrive au dessus du pont Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge Shelter line stretchin' round the corner Welcome to the new world order Bienvenue dans le nouvel ordre mondial Families sleepin' in their cars in the southwest No home no job no peace no rest The highway is alive tonight But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light Searchin' for the ghost of Tom Joad Cherchant le fantôme de Tom Joad He pulls prayer book out of his sleeping bag Preacher lights up a butt and takes a drag Le prêcheur allume une clope et tire une bouffée Waitin' for when the last shall be first and the first shall be last In a cardboard box 'neath the underpass Dans un carton du passage souterrain Got a one-way ticket to the promised land You got a hole in your belly and gun in your hand Sleeping on a pillow of solid rock Dormant sur un oreiller de pierre Bathin' in the city aqueduct
The highway is alive tonight But where it's headed everybody knows Chacun sait où elle commence I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light Waitin' on the ghost of Tom Joad Attendant le fantôme de Tom Joad Now Tom said "Mom, wherever there's a cop beatin' a guy Maintenant Tom dit "Maman, partout où il y a un flic qui tabasse un type Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries Where there's a fight 'gainst the blood and hatred in the air Wherever there's somebody fightin' for a place to stand Look for me Mom I'll be there Or decent job or a helpin' hand Wherever somebody's strugglin' to be free The highway is alive tonight La route est animée ce soir Partout où l'on se bat pour la liberté
Look in their eyes Mom you'll see me." Regarde dans leurs yeux, Maman, et tu me verras" But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes Mais personne ne plaisante sur l'endroit où elle mène

I'm sittin' downhere in the campfire light

Voici comment il le chante et l'évoque par une mise en image puissante du texte. Parmi les plans qui renvoient à la grande pauvreté et à l'anéantissement du rêve américain une bannière étoilée délavée, des chaussures en bout de courses, des caravanes, des maisons vendues après la ruine de leurs propriétaires endettés, des barbelés qui empêchent de passer la frontière, des noirs, des prostituées, des personnes désœuvrées assises sur les trottoirs, des usines fantômes. Mais aussi les images du rêve : les grands espaces mythiques de l'ouest, la Californie et sa route 66, ses énormes trucks, ses promesses divines qui sont loin d'être réalisées pour tous.

Et puis, dans cette grande fresque du mirage américain revient un personnage dont le nom est scandé à chaque fin de refrain. C'est le fantôme qui hante le texte de Springsteen : Tom Joad.

Héros du roman de John Steinbeck "The grapes of wrath" ("les raisons de la colère") publié en 1939, et du film qu'en tira John Ford dans une adaptation cinématographique l'année suivante, Tom Joad est une figure classique de l'homme qui , bien qu'épris de justice, est broyé par le système économique et contraint à la marginalité.

En 1 929, le krach boursier plonge les Etats-Unis dans une crise économique profonde qui atteindra son paroxysme en 1932 : la Grande dépression sert de toile de fond à l'histoire de cette famille de fermiers de l'Oklahoma. Ruinés et endettés, ils sont chassés de leurs terres devenues infertiles en raison des dust bowls (les tempêtes de sable). Ils décident de tout quitter pour aller vers l'ouest, en Californie,où les attend une vie meilleure, ils partagent cette certitude avec des milliers d'autres de leurs concitoyens réduits à la misère. Tom Joad a déjà fait de la prison, un pasteur accompagne la famille dans son voyage sur la route 66 parsemée de campements de fortune, peuplés des victimes de la crise.

Arrivés en Californie, ils déchantent. Trop de pauvres agriculteurs jetés sur les routes cherchent à se faire employer sur les fermes. Les salaires sont misérables, les Joad intègrent une Hooverville (ville-campement rebaptisée du nom du président Hoover qui nia l'existence de la crise). Utilisés comme briseurs de grève, la famille finit d'imploser sous le poids du malheur : Tom Joad venge le meurtre de son ami le pasteur et est contraint à la fuite promettant à sa mère de continuer à se battre contre l'injustice.

Une fois posé ce parallèle : le fantôme ne hante plus le texte du Springsteen, il l'éclaire. Tom Joad existe encore en 1995, car la crise n'a pas disparu, l'injustice encore moins. Le nouvel ordre mondial n'est pas si nouveau, les victimes du système capitaliste dans ce qu'il a de plus débridé sont encore jetées sur les routes.

"The Gost of Tom Joad" est donc une sépulcrale mise en abîme du chef d'oeuvre de John Steinbeck dans une chanson de la fin du XX°siècle. Parfois, il faut croire que l'histoire se repète et que la fiction la rattrape.

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203. Quand un fantôme inspire Springsteen : "The ghost of Tom Joad"

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En 1995, Bruce Springsteen publiait son 11° album et sortait un single éponyme pour l'accompagner : "the Ghost of Tom Joad" . Cette chanson est dédiée aux laissés pour compte des Etats-Unis, aux recalés du système, aux homeless, aux travailleurs pauvres, aux pauvres tout court, dont le nombre est estimé à l'époque à plus de 36 millions, ce qui représente 14% de la population totale du pays d'alors.

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Tom Joad's final speech - Grapes of Wrath

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Tom Joad's final speech - Grapes of Wrath

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Tom Joad : I been thinking about us, too, about our people living like pigs and good rich land layin' fallow. Or maybe one guy with a million acres and a hundred thousand farmers starvin'. And I been wonderin' if all our folks got together and yelled...

Ma Joad : Oh, Tommy, they'd drag you out and cut you down just like they done to Casy.

Tom Joad : They'd drag me anyways. Sooner or later they'd get me for one thing if not for another. Until then...

Ma Joad : Tommy, you're not aimin' to kill nobody.

Tom Joad : No, Ma, not that. That ain't it. It's just, well as long as I'm an outlaw anyways... maybe I can do somethin'... maybe I can just find out somethin', just scrounge around and maybe find out what it is that's wrong and see if they ain't somethin' that can be done about it. I ain't thought it out all clear, Ma. I can't. I don't know enough.

Ma Joad : How am I gonna know about ya, Tommy? Why they could kill ya and I'd never know. They could hurt ya. How am I gonna know?

Tom Joad : Well, maybe it's like Casy says. A fellow ain't got a soul of his own, just little piece of a big soul, the one big soul that belongs to everybody, then...

Ma Joad : Then what, Tom?

Tom Joad : Then it don't matter. I'll be all around in the dark - I'll be everywhere. Wherever you can look - wherever there's a fight, so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad. I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready, and when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise and livin' in the houses they build - I'll be there, too.

Ma Joad : I don't understand it, Tom.

Tom Joad : Me, neither, Ma, but - just somethin' I been thinkin' about.

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This document is a painting made by Ronald Debs Ginther shows people doing a hunger march in March 1933. The thing that I find very interesting in this painting is that we can see in the foreground some people taking some food from the car of a sympathetic farmer. It shows that even in this very difficult crysis, some people continue to help the others. Another interesting thing is the tones of th painting. There is the white of the snow (and shades of white) and the other colours are shades of flesh tones. It shows that the people are suffering to their flesh in these difficult times.

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New-York, 1941the Empire State building

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Arts, Entertainment and Communism in 1936 New York! 

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Arts, Entertainment and Communism in 1936 New York! 

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Photogrammar (yale.edu)
In this website, we can explore the USA crise with all the pictures which was taken by all the photographers employed by the government to cover the great depression. It's very interresting because we can follow the advancement of the crises by years ( 1935 to 1945 ) and by states .
We can also see the impact of the second world war  and the new deal to revive the economy on the picture because  as early 1940's,  there is a lot of employement and new construction scheme.
With this website, we follow the crises from quite is lowest point to the moment where the Usa became a world superpower  at the end of the war

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The most common types of music in the United States in the 1930s were swing and jazz.

Here an exemple of 1930s swing music:

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Les musiques populaires dans les années 30.

Les types de musiques les plus poulaires aux USA dans les années 30 etaient le Swing et le jazz.

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 Most famous jazz songs from the 1930s in USA

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 Most famous jazz songs from the 1930s in USA

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One of the most famous jazz song from the 1930s

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One of the most famous jazz song from the 1930s

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Blues Brothers - Minnie the Moocher (Cab Calloway)

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This document shows a young man standing before a employment agency, therre are a few posters for a job application to a farm, actually, all the jobs that are highlighted here are juste about farms, it is also said that they need young men to work there and that they will be well paid with this job. At this time of the crisis, farmers need wrokforce and youth need money.
source: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/how-rebuild-nation/611704/

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This picture shows a little boy who might be 7 years old, begging people to give his dad a job, related to hte other document because of the same nature, at this point, everyone is poor and they all lookin for employment, what's shocking there is that it's a little boy begging and not just asking for his dad who may begging for a job two streets away.
source: https://jobs.lovetoknow.com/Unemployment_During_the_Great_Depression

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Factory Worker : fordism - assembly line - working conditions during the 30s

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Factory Worker : fordism - assembly line - working conditions during the 30s

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Economics :  "Hands-of policy" VS Keynes

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Economics :  "Hands-of policy" VS Keynes

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Music : Blues - Jazz- Country and the music industry during the 30s

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Music : Blues - Jazz- Country and the music industry during the 30s

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Banker : the reform of the banking system

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Banker : the reform of the banking system

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Revolt of banking system in the USA  (1)