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Pictured
LIFE OF POVERTY

Heartbreaking pics of the Great Depression reveal miserable and squalid conditions kids were forced to live in

Striking images taken in the 1930s show the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialised world

HEARTBREAKING photos show the squalid conditions children were forced to live in during the height of The Great Depression in the US.

Striking images taken in the 1930s show a shivering child sitting barefoot in the snow as he digs for scraps of coal to fend off the cold.

A nursery set up in an abandoned mine building in West Virginia
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A nursery set up in an abandoned mine building in West VirginiaCredit: Mediadrumimages/PublicDomain
A family huddle around a fire for warmth - music and drawing are cheap ways to keep everyone distracted from the cold
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A family huddle around a fire for warmth - music and drawing are cheap ways to keep everyone distracted from the coldCredit: Mediadrumimages/PublicDomain
The children of out-of-work miners play with bricks as there's no money for toys
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The children of out-of-work miners play with bricks as there's no money for toysCredit: Mediadrumimages/PublicDomain
A family sits down for supper - there's not much to go around and it appears newspaper has been put up in lieu of wallpaper
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A family sits down for supper - there's not much to go around and it appears newspaper has been put up in lieu of wallpaperCredit: Mediadrumimages/PublicDomain
The whole family help out on this Tennessee farm to make molasses
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The whole family help out on this Tennessee farm to make molassesCredit: Mediadrumimages/PublicDomain

While another photograph shows a dejected mother clinging to her child in a ramshackle hut in a poor state of repair, and the hopeless faces of the children of miners with little or no hope of employment.

The upsetting snapshots were captured by humanitarian photographer Lewis Hine, a pioneer of photography in the US who used his talents to document the life and times of the country’s most vulnerable people.

During the Great Depression, Hine worked for the American Red Cross to show how citizens across the United States were economically crippled as a result of the stock market crash of 1929.

'WORST ECONOMIC DOWNTURN'

Unemployment was rife with as many as one in five Americans faced with no job prospects and no means to provide for their families.

The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialised world.

It began after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors.

Over the next several years, consumer spending and investment dropped, causing steep declines in industrial output and employment as failing companies laid off workers, especially in key industries such as mining and farming.

By 1933, when the Great Depression was at its most severe, some 15 million Americans were unemployed and nearly half the country’s banks had failed.

Some towns faced unemployment levels as high as 80 or 90 percent, especially in rural locations.

The economic plight of the US citizens was alleviated somewhat by the election of Frank D Roosevelt in 1932 who introduced sweeping reforms in his "New Deal".

The Second World War, which the US entered in 1941 following the attack on Pearl Harbour, eventually saw unemployment levels drop and factories operating at full capacity once again.

This photo was taken in 1936, seven years after the Wall Street Crash. It seemly likely that all three children have known nothing but poverty
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This photo was taken in 1936, seven years after the Wall Street Crash. It seemly likely that all three children have known nothing but povertyCredit: Mediadrumimages/PublicDomain
It promises to be a bare Christmas but this community enjoys a carol in 1937
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It promises to be a bare Christmas but this community enjoys a carol in 1937Credit: Mediadrumimages/PublicDomain
A miner's child, whose father is listed as 'unemployable', puts a brave face on a dire situation
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A miner's child, whose father is listed as 'unemployable', puts a brave face on a dire situationCredit: Mediadrumimages/PublicDomain
The building used to house miners and their equipment. Now it serves as a creche as parents do whatever it takes to earn some food or money
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The building used to house miners and their equipment. Now it serves as a creche as parents do whatever it takes to earn some food or moneyCredit: Mediadrumimages/PublicDomain
These young men, pictured in 1937, have faced some trying years
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These young men, pictured in 1937, have faced some trying yearsCredit: Mediadrumimages/PublicDomain
The glum Johnson family whose father has no job, like millions of other Americans
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The glum Johnson family whose father has no job, like millions of other AmericansCredit: Mediadrumimages/PublicDomain
Young helpers do what they can with what they've got at a local community centre in West Virginia
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Young helpers do what they can with what they've got at a local community centre in West VirginiaCredit: Mediadrumimages/PublicDomain
Just two days before Christmas, this young boy was out barefoot in the snow trying to find some coal for the family fire
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Just two days before Christmas, this young boy was out barefoot in the snow trying to find some coal for the family fireCredit: Mediadrumimages/PublicDomain
Squatter's home on Andersonville Road, Tennessee - the house is a made-over houseboat
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Squatter's home on Andersonville Road, Tennessee - the house is a made-over houseboatCredit: Mediadrumimages/PublicDomain
Reverend Lovelace and some children from an orphanage conduct the Sunday afternoon service, October 1933 in Tennessee
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Reverend Lovelace and some children from an orphanage conduct the Sunday afternoon service, October 1933 in TennesseeCredit: Mediadrumimages/PublicDomain
This 100-year-old cabin looks in need of repair as a desperate mother hugs her child closely
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This 100-year-old cabin looks in need of repair as a desperate mother hugs her child closelyCredit: Mediadrumimages/PublicDomain

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