What actions did people take to survive, cope with poverty, pay bills, remain in their homes or on their farms

As a result of the impact of the Great Depression, millions of Americans lost their jobs and saw their lifestyle affected. Practically everybody in the country had to adapt to a different life in those terrible years. In the middle of the USA, besides facing the effects of the depression, farmers also faced droughts; thousands of farmers and their families, with no income and many debts, moved west with the hope to start again. Women had traditional roles at home, but as material difficulties mounted, many women had to look for jobs outside home and sometimes, they had to take jobs formerly done by men, joining the workforce and thus bringing change in that area; though their life was already hard before the depression, African Americans were hit hard, too. They took jobs in dagerous places such as foundries and in dangerous conditions, they took jobs as domestic servants to white people, they were labor for railroad construction, steel mills and coal mines.