My name is Joe Mommah. This is a section of my journal that was written around the time of the Great Depression. I was a farmer during the depression, so my time was harder than others.

Background

July 25th, 1928

I married my girlfriend named Nacho today. Today marks a new journey in my life. We are starting a family.

We moved to Arkansas to start our new life. These is a bigger farm here than where I used to live

October 28th, 1928

Crop prices are continuing to fall. I sold my crops this year at a record low price. My profits were slashed into two.

Long droughts also killed a large proportion of my crops.

October 1st, 1929

I put $200 in stocks because of how much the prices are rising. I will wait 2 months and sell them for a profit.

My wife is complaining about how she is treated at her job. The businesses here are very unregulated.

October 24th, 1929

The stock market is beginning to crash. Many people are taking back their stocks and the banks are running out of money. I took my stock out and got $150 after I paid $200 for it.

October 30th, 1929

It appears that the stock market has stopped crashing. It is at an all time low, and the country is in a panic.

November 5th, 1929

My wife lost her job today because the company could not pay her for how much she worked. We now have no steady income. I received my check for my crops 2 weeks ago, and will not last long.

November 25th, 1929

My wife and I ate only bacon and sandwiches for Thanksgiving because we did not want to spend money on a giant turkey.

December 12th, 1929

My wife finally found a job working on airplanes. We finally have a steady income for now.

December 25th, 1929

We had to skip Christmas this year because we could not afford gifts for each other. We still celebrated the holiday, just with no gifts.

July 20th, 1930

A massive storm of dust hit our town. People are calling this the start of a dust bowl. We spent 2 days cleaning some of the dust in our house.

August 24th, 1930

The dust storms continue to hit our house. My wife and I started going to soup kitchens today. We have no money for food anymore.

October 18th, 1930

I got my paycheck for my crops for this year. It was half of what I earned last year. I am going to sell half of my farmland next week.

March 8th, 1931

My wife got fired from her job today. We may have to sell our house if we cannot get money soon.

My friend that lives in the city was talking to me about how bad it was there. It is even worse than the countryside.

November 10th, 1932

Not much has happened this year. Roosevelt was elected now, and I hope that he fixes this mess.

March 20th, 1933

After Roosevelt's Emergency Banking Act, the banks received money and I finally took out all of the money that was in there before the depression.