This is me, Lauren.

I grew up on a farm in Indiana.

1924 I graduated from the Indiana University with a teaching degree when I was 21 years old

This was my graduating class.

1925 After graduating I moved to New York City.

In NYC I got a job at James Madison High School in Brooklyn making $75 per month.

The same year I meet my future husband a construction worker named Will Ward.

The man in the middle

A year later in 1926 we were married.

We then moved to an apartment in Brooklyn.

We loved crossing the Brooklyn Bridge.

After we got married I was let go from my job.

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Back in Indiana my family's farm was failing.

They could not pay back their loans for their crops and this was a major cause of the depression.

1927 we had our first child Seth.

1928 i got a job in a department store.

I worked at Macy's

selling clothes.

While working there everyone put their purchases on their credit card. Credit was building up which was a major cause of the depression

One of Will's jobs was building a house for a very wealthy man. We knew that there was uneven distribution of money between the rich and the poor.

This was the house. We later learned that the uneven distribution of money was one reasons for the depression.

October 29, 1929 the stock market crashed and is known as Black Tuesday

After the crash I lost my job a Macy's, Will couldn't find work, and we lost our apartment.

We moved into a shantytown called Hoovervilles. Poverty was spreading and many people lived in the towns.

This was our shack.

For food we ate at soup kitchens.

I also volunteered at soup kitchens.

During the day Will would go job hunting.

The urban life was changing all of the banks were shutting down and everyone was in a panic. Lots of people lost their money, job, and homes.

Rural life was also changing. The dust bowl hit the Midwestern plains in 1931 and destroyed many farms and lives.

My brother, Joe, had a farm that was affected by the dust bowl. They lost all of their crops and were losing money.

1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected as president. He created many new deal programs which greatly helped my family and many other families.