For many people in the 1930's living conditions were not as
adequate as they needed to be. The stock market had just crashed
in 1928, and the US was in the midst of the Great Depression.
Many people suffered from lack of money, and many others suffered
from lack of food. One group of people who suffered greatly
during this time period were the southern share croppers.
Factors that caused the substandard living conditions of the
southern share croppers in the 1930's include lack of education,
poor health care, and inadequate living facilities.
The first factor that caused the substandard living
conditions of the southern share croppers was their lack of
education. There were several reasons the share croppers didn't
get the education they needed. One main reason was because many
children didn't go to school. Harold Walker writes that Southern
cotton states ranked lower in rate of attendance for each student
enrolled than any of the other states in the nation (4). A
factor that contributed to this was their excessive mobility,
which inhibited many children from going to school (Corder 27).
It is common knowledge that any child who constantly moves around
will not be able to attend school on a regular basis, and even if
they go to a school when they get a chance they will be so far
behind they would have a difficult time catching up. Another
factor that impeded on a child's attendance at school was the
fact that they never went to school when there was cotton to be
picked (Walker 8). This may not seem like a large task, but some
times it could take weeks to pick all the cotton. These few
weeks that a child spent picking cotton was valuable learning
time, and missing it could put a child too far behind to catch
up. Another reason share croppers didn't get the education they
needed was because many southern rural schools had short...