Overview
The widespread prosperity of the 1920s ended abruptly with the stock market crash in October 1929 and the great economic depression that followed.
Americans React to the Great Depression
The Great Depression began in 1929 when, in a period of ten weeks, stocks on the New York Stock Exchange lost 50 percent of their value.
Race Relations in the 1930s and 1940s
The problems of the Great Depression affected virtually every group of Americans. No group was harder hit than African Americans, however.
World War II
On December 7, 1941, following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, the United States declared war on Japan. Three days later, after Germany and Italy declared war on it, the United States became fully engaged in the Second World War.