Life is hard. I am shamed by society. I am a single mother of two little girls, their names are Clarence who is seven and Meredith who is ten, my name is Christina Yang. We live in a medium sized house, we have electricity and running water. I am the head chef of a restaurant- or i was. Now the restaurant is not doing very well. Since the banks have crashed people can no longer afford to eat out. I remember when this place was slam packed with people. Everyone would dance and eat and just enjoy each other. I remember every tuesday night we would have jazz night, couples would come and dance with each other, families would come and eat. I remember my little girls running around with our family in that restaurant. They would sing and laugh until late in the night. Anyone could come in and everyone was welcome. But the loss of money has impacted our community so much that now even the regulars don’t come in. There is clear signs of racism and as much as we try to stop it it is something that just can’t be prevented.
Since people have lost their money we have had to start giving away food. I love helping people but i need to make money, i still have a family that i need to support. That’s when i started stringing bags. I still have to work at the restaurant because otherwise people wouldn’t have an food. People need me and i don’t want to fail them but i am barely getting any money for my job. People come to my restaurant and stand for hours waiting for food. It is mostly white men who don’t want to burden their families with having to feed them. There is barely enough food to go around, we serve soup bread and coffee. There are so many people counting on me, men don’t want to let down their families, people without families, children who need the food. I can’t let them down. So every night after work i drive to get more tobacco bags, it’s hard work but it is worth it. My children used to help me until President Roosevelt made that fair labor act. I love our president but i do wish he hadn’t done that. I don’t want my children to have to work but that is what it had come down to. But once children weren’t allowed to work we had to stop, which reduces the amount of income.
I don’t know what happened. I don’t know how all of us lost our money. we had it invested in the stocks using credit, the stocks were doing great. I remember that thursday when it happened, they called it black thursday. That was when all the stocks crashed. I had almost all of my money invested in the stocks, well all of my credit money, my family was doing great. I remember that day like it was yesterday. My children came running into my restaurant with the biggest smiles on their faces, they were each holding a piece of paper, it had drawings on it, they said it was our family. I took it and hung it up on the fridge in the kitchen. We were all so happy. Then it was time to go home, i had stopped by the bank first and that’s when i found out about the crash. I had no money. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to worry my children so i didn’t say anything. We have been barely getting by ever since. With me working all the time and my children still attending school money is very tight, but some people have it worse so i don’t want to complain to much.
Annotated Bibliography
Ware, Susan. “Women and the Great Depression.” Women and the Great Depression. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2016. <https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/great-depression/essays/women-and-great-depression>.
I learned how the society treated women during the great depression.
“NWHM Exhibit: A History of Women in Industry.” NWHM Exhibit: A History of Women in Industry. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2016. <https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/industry/12.htm>.
This helped me learn more about the difference between female and male employees during the great depression.
“America’s Great Depression and Roosevelt’s New Deal.” Omeka RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2016. <http://dp.la/exhibitions/exhibits/show/new-deal/relief-and-recovery-workers/women>
This site helped me to learn how women where stereotyped and what jobs they where supposed to have and how they where supposed to be treated.
“Challenging Gender Stereotypes during the Depression: Female Students at the University of Washington.” Women at the UW. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2016. <https://depts.washington.edu/depress/women_uw_changing_roles.shtml>
I learned about how during the great depression women had to become more self sufficient and learn how to take better care of themselves and their families while also working or doing other jobs.
“Women’s Work Relief in the Great Depression.” Women’s Work Relief in the Great Depression. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2016. <http://mshistorynow.mdah.state.ms.us/articles/251/womens-work-relief-in-the-great-depression>
This site helped me to know first hand experiences of women during the great depression.
“The Invisible Women of the Great Depression.” The Invisible Women of the Great Depression. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2016. <http://www.peakoilblues.org/blog/2009/01/14/the-invisible-women-of-the-great-depression/>.
This gave me more information about women in the work force.
The Great Depression in North Carolina 