What impact did the Great Depression have on Virginia public schools and more generally on American society?
The Great Depression is most easily understood as a sequence of causes and effects. The sudden fall in stock prices led to the collapse of banks and decreasing demand for goods and services. These declines in demand led businesses to reduce their production, which meant cuts in jobs, lower salaries and wages, and companies that went out of business. As the economy weakened, individuals and corporations paid less in taxes, and government revenues declined as well. For schools, the decrease in tax revenue at the local and state level meant less money to pay for services such as teachers' salaries, textbooks, heating fuel, transportation, and other school supplies.
See Introduction for more discussion of the context.
