Black Thursday

Black Thursday. 1929. Headlines across the Nation announced the news. The stock market had crashed. History books would never be the same.

People from the far corners of the United States had horror stories to tell, and many of them sounded alike. They had "lost their shirts." The crippling effects of the economic loss would be passed down from generation to generation in years to come.

Technological advancements had spun the web of prosperity for families and business owners UNTIL they failed to meet the test of keeping our country's economic state stable and growing.

On October 24, 1929 the U.S. Stock Market sold millions of shares, but by November 13th of that year billions of dollars in stock shares were wiped out, marking the onset of the Great Depression.

As a result, millions of Americans lost their homes. Spending money became a thing of the past, as poverty ran rampant.

Today, Black Thursday is a big Christmas shopping day here in the U.S. While many, in a hurry to prepare for the upcoming Christmas season, forget the meaning of the day, others cannot overlook the trauma that the event on this date in 1924 has had on parents and grandparents, friends and neighbors.

Here is a poem from my devotional book. It is a fiction story set during the Great Depression Era, titled LOVE AUNT ALMA, that tells the story:

Black Thursday

It's a day I won't forget at all. Times got bad. We had a fall. People thought that life was great, but good times brought a different plate.

Full-course meals and lots of cash led way to scraps and a market crash.

Thursday, October 24th, 1929 prices dropped,investors lost, and banks fell behind. The 20's were justa rockin in the U.S.A. and world. But, wages took a hike and economics took a twirl. Technology improvements made folks think all was well. They put their money into stocks and suddenly they fell.

The finance analysts warned of problems drawing near, but craze for more riches made people sell their lot in fear.

Four billion dollars was lost on that day. Accounts were wiped out and their gold turned to hay.

LOVE AUNT ALMA, published by White Oaks Creations, 1999

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