54 Historic Photos Louisiana Great Depression Rural Hard Times

This is another look at rural Louisiana during the 1930s. The hard-working people during hard times.

[@1946luke]

Proper management is the key. Take me for example. Way back 76 years ago, I started out with nothing, and I've still got most of it left.

[@adrienebailey9010]

Join the crowd.

[@tracyiler8650]

My Daddy was born in 1927 and always told me " The Good Lord most have loved poor folks cause he sure made a lot of us"

[@user-up8jx3mt6j]

😂😂😂😂 👍

[@rustymebane8265]

I came here with nothing. I will leave this earth with nothing. But it’s an amazing journey. Life is fun. Worked 44 years. Bible says A man is to earn his pay by the sweat in our brow. 2 back surgeries 2 knee surgeries Cut half in two over A lodged kidney stone. Worn out flat feet. Live in pain.. but to date I guess I have mastered the art of working myself to death. “ Have You lived here all Your life?” My answer “Not yet”😂

[@susieq8008]

Lol...good one

[@speedracer2336]

My grandmother lived in Alabama during this time on a farm. She said the Depression came an went and they didn’t realize how bad it was. Food was plentiful, they raised cows and hogs, crops. They didn’t have much before, during or after!

[@stanleystempinski235]

I heard that same story from a gentleman in New Brockton AL. back in the summer of 1992. He told me that folks around that area never had a whole lot so they never felt the effects of the depression.

[@speedracer2336]

@@stanleystempinski235 what a coincidence, my grandparents lived in the Wiregrass area too!

[@peggypasson8794]

An everyone pulled together to help each other . It was a time when Americans pulled together to help each other .

[@dottiecalderon8759]

I'm from that area Ponchatoula , Hammond this brings back memories my daddy was a share cropper .

[@jerryshepherd1645]

I remember my dad/mom/ grandparents telling me about the hard times but they always said they were blessed. Man do I miss them

[@matthewpocock4824]

Fascinating photos of some tough country folk who never ever quit. Much respect.

[@maltesemommabark5147]

sooner than you think America will be going through this again,but harder because many do not have the skills as before.

[@matthewpocock4824]

@maltesemommabark5147 it certainly is true that people everywhere are much less self-sufficient. I wonder how many people in the street could start a camp fire without matches?

[@RachelPenningtonHull]

1:03 My grandmother said that’s how people traveled cross country back in the 1920’s, 1930’s. You didn’t have Hampton Inn or even a Pines Motor Lodge or such. There wasn’t anyplace to stay. So they would usually see a good farm and ask the farmer if it was ok to camp on his land. Sometimes they would pay the farmer a little money. The men would sleep on the ground and the women slept in the car. They had a Coleman stove and a cooler for food and they cooked supper and breakfast on the tailgate. They weren’t poor or migrants, just regular decent middle class, but that’s how they traveled on road trips.

[@kensurratt2729]

Wow, That first picture looked my Grandparents from the 60's. They lived in N.E. Tx. Got married about 1915 had 12 kids. Made a small living off the land. We have nostalgic feelings about the old days. If you really lived it, I don't think you would feel nostalgic, just happy you survived.

[@linda5208]

I come from a family of seamstreses and my great grandmother used to follow many of these people thru the south mending and sewing their garments. Everyone was busy trying to survive and that's how they did it. They lived in tents and followed people around the south at least 8 months out of a year,

[@morrisonscott702]

Hello Linda.. How are you doing?

[@diegaspumper8501]

I grew up around Jeanerette and now live right outside of New Iberia. Life must have been very difficult for people back then, especially without electricity and air conditioning. Tough old people.

[@redfox1900]

Love the pictures. It explains a lot about the toughness of the people during tough times.

[@user-pb8cx4hf5m]

I have been researching my family for over 40 years and a few years ago I learned that some of members had been migrant workers during the Great Depression and, according to the 1930 Census, some were berry pickers around Hammond and Ponchatoula. This had never been discussed in the family before. Thanks for these pictures that put a face on that period, and makes me thankful that I have always had a permanent home and stability.

[@RS-gl9ht]

Goodness, what terrible poverty. Thank you for posting these reminders of just how difficult life was for so many during the Great Depression. Very sobering photos!

[@janettecase4732]

the photos of natives were dead no one alive

[@punkw7852]

Poverty?

[@franceskaCapone]

Remember our ancestors and what they went through to get us here.

[@morrisonscott702]

Hello 👋 how are you doing?

[@richoooo8956]

Back when people were tough & resilient & honourable. Look at what we have today. I’d give anything to go back to these times. Society today is a joke.

[@robertmandell526]

Look at the squalor. No wonder the fit young men were lining up to join the WWII military. Three squares, clean clothes, good barracks, modern transport. Getting ready to fight was as good as finding a kind, rich uncle. Uncle Sam.

[@historystuff5516]

I met many old timers who told me they gained weight during boot camp, because they could drink milk every day! Something they never imagined.

[@mwillblade]

@@robertmandell526 Most were drafted. Things were getting better in the late 30s'. Got the info from my dad who lived back then.

[@martinalewis2844]

No disrespect but you have gotta be kidding

[@monamorrow8716]

Careful what you wish for, Biden’s comatose “woke” transformationalist has America on a pathway to the Gates of Hell. Media and Washington D.C. mis Representitives are struggling mightily to find an expressway and a crow bar 🔥 2024 Status Quo = Decimation, denigrating and the accelerated dismantling of America. 2024 Trump MAGA = Preservation, Correction, and Restoration of the “United” States and The once “One Nation Under God” 🙏🏻🇺🇸🙏🏻

[@Knife_Collector]

Your passion for finding and posting these pictures, is a blessing for those of us who can appreciate history. For me, I find the early 1900s thru the 1950s as the most interesting time period, with inventions and technology increasing at a tremendous rate, and it was just a simpler time.

[@historystuff5516]

Thanks, people like you are why I do this!

[@martinalewis2844]

And one of the bloodiest one. Two World Wars with the Korean War and Cold War at its heels. Tough times 😢

[@TheCarnivalguy]

I’m amazed that both sets of my grandparents made it through the Great Depression. My paternal GPs had 10 children and my maternal ones had 9. Both sides were from rural North Georgia. Thanks for the haunting, poignant images.

[@historystuff5516]

Thanks for sharing!

[@bubbaandrayearl1678]

Life down on the bayou sure has changed. And not for the better. Cool music BTW.

[@meauxjeaux431]

YEAH, I'D TRADE TODAY'S LIFE ON THE BAYOU FOR BACK THEN...IN A HEARTBEAT. "LIFE ON THE BAYOU" NOW IS BASICALLY A DISTANT MEMORY. WE ARE OVER BUILT, WHAT LITTLE CULTURE WE HAVE IS BARELY HANGING ON BY AN OLD, WORN OUT THREAD, WE LOST THE LANGUAGE, OUR INNOCENTS, THE SOLITUDE, THE TRADITIONS, THE LAND....THE LIST IS ENDLESS.

[@terrylucas630]

Awesome channel. Love the old pics. What a beautiful bunch of people. Thank you for the upload. I hope this reaches you and those you love in great health and happiness❤️🙏 Subscribed🫡

[@wealthyraeharward5334]

It is amazing how well we live now, as compared to then. The next generation from 2020 will never know how hard their ancestors had it. Thank you for sharing these photos and thank you to the families, organizations, etc. that shared. Shalom😊

[@vlmason9072]

My mother was born in New Iberia in 1926, her last name was Theriot. She used to tell us stories that she grew up hearing about the depression. They were so poor their lives did not change much even after the depression. She remembers very hard times there.

[@morrisonscott702]

Hello how are you doing?

[@pheddupp]

Thank you very much for posting this. I live around New Orleans and have had ancestors in Southeast Louisiana since the middle of the 18th century. This photo compilation is fascinating, and I've been to many of these places in my travels. I will be sharing this with many of my family members. Thanks again.

[@historystuff5516]

THANK YOU!

[@MsLou-su5pj]

@ History Stuff, I enjoy your videos of past times. I grew up in the 1950s in the area out of Crowley. My grandparents were rice farmers that were living fairly comfortable for the times. But I heard many stories how they were well off until the Great Depression wiped them out and they never regained their wealth. As a kid I never realized how devastating those times were. I just remember the good times at grandma’s house. I absolutely love learning about historical facts and do a lot of reading and searching on my own. Great channel, thank you. Ms Lou

[@mikefishhead]

The adage adversity builds character is still true today most people just complain . I was a commercial fisherman when was a young man and starting off was tough work but it paid off with some sweat and calluses on my hands from using a bull rake I made a living and learned to take the lumps like navigating thru the ice when narragansett bay froze up and working in rough water or recovering my rig when it sunk in a gale. I'm old and retired now But I still see the younger guys coming into the business and mostly all of them have the right stuff. These guys are the future for the industry and hard luck when it comes will make you stronger and smarter. Will power is an amazing thing it can move mountains.

[@mdavis3610]

Growing up during the Great Depression in Louisiana, a man told me his family had no money even for a chocolate bar to divide for his siblings. He later became a dentist.

[@opybrook7766]

I would so like to have one of those beautiful cane chairs!

[@kdl28]

I know about half of these places, born in far northeastern, Louisiana. Winnsboro. New Iberia has many relatives from there. All of my grandparents and my parents have all passed on. I would love to go back just to see what the town looks like now. I have lived in Texas most of my life.But home is always home.

[@pamelaevans6485]

Thank you for a very interesting glimpse into history. Fascinating. I used to live in NOLA for a while and thoroughly enjoyed it. People were so kind.

[@historystuff5516]

Thanks!

[@trevorjennings720]

Hello Pamela, how are you doing today, hope you’re fine and safe from the Virus??

[@jackstapleton5818]

Remember Louisiana was sold by the French cell settled by the French the ones that went pledge allegiance to Canada I would not pledge allegiance to Canada to a British so the women and children were sent by boat to Louisiana and the man middle age boys had to walk so there by which that's why there are so capable and tough

[@rosajacobsen8140]

Thanks for the wonderful pictures.

[@jimmykirby2582]

My grandma up here in Arkansas told me that exact same thing. She canned polk salat, blackberries, black eyed peas and such. If the pear tree was loaded, she made pear preserves. She said we never stood in a soup line, and I'll add... No EBT !!!

[@Geoduck.]

My fathers side of the family scraped by out of the dust bowl by working in the Texas Panhandle oil fields. They were poor but better off than many during the dirty thirties. We had family in Oklahoma and Louisiana. I have Dad's grandparents wedding certificate from Oklahoma Territory. Sadly we lost touch with those family in Louisiana.

[@maryguy9013]

love this music love the banjo, dulcimer, and guitar

[@historystuff5516]

Thank you!

[@maryguy9013]

@@historystuff5516 I am going to put this in my "play every day list" these are truly some sweet sounds

[@trevorjennings720]

@@maryguy9013 Hello Mary, how are you doing today, hope you’re fine and safe from the Virus??

[@williamhulsey9209]

What suprised me most (my own old family photos from North Mississippi not much different) was the photos in stores and cafes of ordinary people (excluding field workers and farmers) all in clean, pressed shirts and khakis. Do you have any idea how incredibly difficult it would have been to do laundry outdoors then ironing with the infamous "Sad" iron heated with coals? The only thing worse than being a housewife back then would have been working in the cane fields.

[@paulodisano502]

I’ll never complain about anything ever again.🇺🇸🇨🇦

[@renafielding945]

❤

[@irisscott9488]

Interesting and also SAD video but I enjoyed it and will share it with family! I live next to Paradis....and used to spend some summers over in Hammond as a child! Step great grandfather was a strawberry tenement farmer and grew lots of other veggies also! Another grandma was born and raised in Pointe Coupee parish then moved to the NOLA area...very nice video! Thanks for sharing! ❤️😘👍😍

[@sondrasmith2691]

Do you know Jimmy or Francis Swaggart?

[@irisscott9488]

@@sondrasmith2691 No! 😪

[@mildredsegarra5136]

God bless these hard working people. They had a hard life.

[@rhondasibley7679]

Anyone notice...Not a n overweight person in this whole reel. Enjoyed watching, thank you from South Louisiana!🙂

[@fortheearth]

Thank you for posting these historic photos.

[@patbowman6723]

I love old pictures. Thanks

[@jackenglish1153]

Thank you for the video.

[@historystuff5516]

Thank you for your support!

[@hendrikdebruin4012]

Awesome glimpse into the past. One wonders what these folks will think of the USA as it is now. Great music - what is it? Greetings from Africa.

[@johnathanlee5478]

Perfect video brings back memories of being raised by people that went through that life. Try to make one of Texas,west Texas lol

[@jillgarrison1917]

Thank you for a great video, I just subscribed! No intrusive comments, fascinating subject matter and lovely music. I wonder if the men sitting by the train tracks are just waiting on the train to bring 'em a breeze, which is very rare here in LA in the summer. Perhaps they were heading north looking for work. I had no idea that the industrious people of LA made things out of moss! Sending love from Louisiana ❤

[@BluegrassBarn]

Great selection of photos! I grew up near several of the towns mentioned in southern Louisiana.

[@jellyomelette87]

Little bits of people's lives. Very interesting

[@historystuff5516]

Thanks!

[@oliverharris7366]

There was very little for them but through all the suffering in the end Jesus brought them home were there are no more tears.

[@jesvans]

100 years ago. what will we look like 100 years from now ....

[@PhotoEcho]

liked it. Thank you.

[@ChristaFree]

Actually, if you read old newspapers articles from back in the day, the Springhill area didn't suffer at all during this time because they were self sufficient. When you don't need government it becomes irrelevant.

[@bluemoon3699]

I got to tell you folks, I picked strawberries one summer when I was a teen. Strawberry season last only a few weeks. June. Not much income for those people.

[@FiveElements00]

The U.S. was different than this by the time I was born in 1970. The last generation in my family that looked like and lived like this was my mom's parents who were born in 1907. By their 40's, they were living in broken down shack house with tall grass because no one mowed their yard then. This was in the 1950's. My life has been a lot different than that.

[@deplorablecovfefe9489]

The crash of 2007 was worse. The bad stuff isn't all in the past.

[@historystuff5516]

I would have to respectfully disagree, but thanks for your input!

[@paulodisano502]

@@historystuff5516 The Great Depression of the 1930’s was a billion times worse that 2007.

[@historystuff5516]

@@paulodisano502 I totally agree.

[@johnsharrow9196]

Southwest Louisiana in the 50's, at least where I grew up, wasn't much different.

[@lagirl599]

Nice job, the music is nice. Where did you find the pictures?

[@historystuff5516]

There are some archives that kept them. That way they can always be around.

[@bobbyb322]

I'd rather be living in the 50s than now, but those folks had it tough.

[@butch3ful]

Lordie Lordie as Mom would say Great Depression didnt make any difference to hard working country people or NYC tenement dwellers

[@calvingrondahl1011]

I remember the 1950s… I was inspired the Dr. Martin Luther King and Star Trek.

[@neonknight2464]

🖖

[@courtneesdad]

Wow. I just looked up Pilottown. It’s all under water now. The gulf are it up.

[@Yonnie2436]

These are mostly down south Louisiana. Some of these towns are new to me. We are from Central and Northern Louisiana..

[@jackgilley7425]

That mother of three on the porch swing was definitely hacked off about something. Seems to be glaring at the camera; Maybe she hadn't given permission to be photographed.

[@venetia6296]

Louisiana ppl are the salt of the earth👍

[@morrisonscott702]

Hi how are you doing?

[@ArnCital]

;:40 Anyone else notice prices at a half cent such as sugar, 5 LBS for 24 and a half cents (24 1/2 cents)? How did the storekeeper make change?

[@renafielding945]

This ❤

[@siameseblue4824]

I can't imagine how they lived there before AC..

[@susanvictoriaroot5708]

What is that name of the band that plays that wonderful music???

[@susanvictoriaroot5708]

Never mind I found it...duh 😂

[@garyv2196]

My mom was from Port Eades.

[@user-dk9tm3iy1e]

Before air conditioning and how many fans you see in the rooms.

[@cupidhart-james4277]

I don’t think Louisianians were much worse during the Great Depression. We were already poor. But we had good to eat, because we grew it.

[@meauxjeaux431]

EXACTLY ! WE EITHER GREW IT, CAUGHT IT, SHOT IT, IT, OR KNEW PEOPLE WHO DID. FREE FOOD WAS ABUNDANT.

[@darrellcrawford4946]

Today Ms generation couldn’t make it through a hail storm

[@courtneesdad]

I didn’t see one person on their phone. The good ole days

[@1boboloco1]

Sure wish a sampling of the accents and type of speaking back then was posted, eh chè? Wonder what music band is playing, they sound cool.

[@annette4444]

My ancestors settled the Bayous after leaving Canada 🍁,

[@noobie7719]

Believe it or not, they probably did better than big city folks…🤷🏻‍♀️

[@ourv9603]

In a lot of places La is still in the great depression. !

[@brendadoran9228]

There is another part of Louisiana that you forgot and that is north and central Louisiana. Depression affected these people also and they are overlooked and forgotten.

[@peggypasson8794]

To this day I do believe

[@lillieraylevy9878]

Wouldn’t more traditional music of South LA have been more appropriate?

[@historystuff5516]

Unfortunately, I don't have unlimited royalty free music available. Thanks for your support!

[@deborahmccall711]

Great photos but that music isn't Louisiana music.

[@JamesEBraus]

Certainly looks like my relatives and ancestors.

[@jameshartsfield8585]

I would NOT call it a melting pot. Lot of stewing going on, however...

[@historystuff5516]

So very true!

[@christineorlandi6215]

Ma and pa kettle

[@darlenesmith1605]

We all need these reminders, cause when you have no earthly goods, I believe your priority can then be in the right place, and you then worship the creator, not THINGS. We are and have been a very blessed nation, and most of us have no ideal what it was like to have had nothin. But as the bible says, what has been, will be again. And the way things look, we may very well experience worse than this. God help us all, and keep our focus on what's really important and what really matters . America has left the God that caused her to flourish, and sin has taken hold and it will produce its own fruit. We must repent and turn back to the God of Abraham, Isaac and jacob.

[@LaYarddog]

More to Louisiana than the south. How about adding pictures of other places.....mid and north

[@coobay4786]

A lot of barefoot people in the day.

[@rodneymills5581]

And it didn’t happen to one”Ethnicity “

[@rollitupmars]

No one said that it did?? the Great Depression affected everyone..

[@ThePrinceOfTheTalkbox]

this is NOT iin North Louisiana.. only the south... why????

[@Anthony-yq7hk]

South LA is the only important part of the state 😂🤣

[@ThePrinceOfTheTalkbox]

in ur dumb eyes... until a hurricane comes .. yall run up north@@Anthony-yq7hk

[@janettecase4732]

blind too see those two dark spots above eyes holding eyelids open

[@Corgis175]

A sad life

[@DavidCajun-qf9ti]

We are in a depression right now and it's gonna get worse if we get another Biden in office. Food,gas,goods is way up and meanwhile the pay is still the same old scale sitting in the bottom of the bucket. It's sad we don't have righteous good government and state officials leading our country nowadays for our people. Houma La.

[@meauxjeaux431]

HOUMA (BAYOU BLUE) HERE ALSO, AND YOU ARE RIGHT ! AND YOU KNOW THAT DOWN HERE, THE PEOPLE BACK THEN WERE SAYING..."DEPRESSION ? WHAT DEPRESSION ?" NOBODY STARVED AROUND HERE ! THE "POOR FOLKS DOWN HERE" ATE A BETTER THAN THE "RICH FOLKS UP THERE." A LOT BETTER !

[@michaelmeacham1084]

this is depressing....

[@richardrose9943]

And we’re about to see it again without the family ties and work ethic I fear

[@biggiebaby3541]

I love all the photgraphs documenting the obscene examples of the excesses of White privilege. I grew up in the uber wealthy land known as Appalachia, and from experience there's nothing more indulgent than the sting of a welfare Christmas!

[@JackComeaux-sl3pc]

I had to stop watching when the guy in the dress suit and shoes was picking berries..

[@JZ-gr1tz]

4:13 all those were deplorable looking and that who was a grower and picking his own even the luxury to work on his farm like he was to meet his girlfriend instead the 🍓 70 years latter and still any are in the limbo

[@Schaneification]

Looks the same to day

[@robertmandell526]

Can't look the same today. The people are different. The outside world encroached every waking minute. Those in deep poverty (as most of these folks appear to be) would not tolerate a world outside flush with plenty, while they remain desperately poor, and poor in opportunities. It was a simpler, more encapsulated world.

[@historystuff5516]

Thanks for your support!

[@herbhouston5378]

You don't have the voice for this kind of thing.

[@historystuff5516]

Thanks for your input! :)

[@karenmatthews1751]

so depressing

[@janettecase4732]

that man maybe alive but female is dead for photo

[@jenniferpoland8886]

White privileged right??

[@janettecase4732]

many of those r dead people

[@trevorjennings720]

Hello Janette, how are you doing today, hope you’re fine and safe from the Virus?

[@opybrook7766]

PLEASE! STOP THAT AWFUL MUSIC 😝

[@robinlanier6886]

I really liked the music. 🎼🎵🪕🎻🎸

[@morrisonscott702]

Hello how are you doing?