The year is 1929. Baltimore is sharing in the good life of the Roaring Twenties, until October 29, when the stock market crashed and the lights went out. The day marked the beginning of a decade known as the Great Depression. Author Gil Sandler narrates a history he wrote of the Great Depression, as it was lived out in Baltimore.

They were years of sorrow for white and black, young and old, rich and poor. One out of four were out of a job and couldn’t find one.. Paychecks stopped, as did payments of rent and mortgages. Families were evicted from their homes. Money to buy groceries was scarce. Banks failed; some shut their doors forever, taking with them the life savings of depositors.

Though times were dark, people found ways to get through them. And survive them. 

Gil tells this history with small stories that made up the big story-- through to the end of the Depression era in the late 1930s.In the end, you will hear how the Great Depression of the 1930s has affected our lives profoundly—down to today.