Yesterday I was talking to some friends who shared some of their woes of the last years. Each said they had lost a home due to the falling economy that they did not see coming. Their businesses dropped drastically and had some hard times and are in recovery at this time.
I remember that twenty years ago, it was told from the pulpit that a "depression, worst than the one of 1929 would fall upon the world." Yes, the world. But hearing it and preparing for it even as it was warned didn't quite sink in to many of us, even though it was given to be prepared for this time. I see now in actuality, and perhaps some hard lesson learned through it I have learned myself.
This is an historical event of the past, being recycled into our day. How ironic!
80th anniversary: Wall Street 1929 crash (VIDEO) - "We lost our house. Had to move in with our grandparents," repeated retired physicist Tom Howe when asked about his recollection of the 1929 Stock Market Crash and the ensuing Great Depression. One month ago, a ten year old boy from Sacramento, CA (whose family wishes to remain anonymous), repeated the same words.
High unemployment rates, unprecedented government bail-outs and this year's deep recession make the 80th anniversary of the 1929 Stock Market Crash all the more poignant. Many now can relate to the first hand experiences of those who lived during that tumultuous time.
Historical activist and author Margaret Chai Maloney, is launching a site (www.1929anupperclassaffair.com) asking readers to share their own or their families' stories, experiences and photos relating to this time period. The website also contains pertinent information like a dictionary of popular era words, a bibliography of related works, videos, period music and photos. Chai Maloney's recently released novel 1929 AN UPPER CLASS AFFAIR, poignantly recreates the last decadent days of the roaring twenties, stock market crash & depression.
To Chai Maloney, the oral histories from this period provide a fascinating understanding not only of the time period, but also provide coping mechanisms that worked for those who had difficulties. In working on her novel, Chai Maloney encountered so many accounts from the Great Crash period that echoed those of today that she felt it was important for the resonating voices to be shared.
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