All these photos taken by Eddie Jackson, encapsulate the despair and tragedy that the depression had on Americans from all walks of life. The majority of these photographs of the Depression have never been published.

1933 New York City ~ Hundreds of men stand in line during one of the city’s worst blizzards to get a job shoveling snow. Photo by Eddie Jackson.

Body of a Pennsylvania bootleg coal miner killed in cave-in is mourned by his children. There was no money available for a normal funeral so the body will be interred at a local ‘Potters Field.’ People would ‘bootleg’ coal from closed mines to heat their homes and to buy food.

Health care was not available to this homeless immigrant family from Romania. The patriarch of the family lies close to death while the family pays last respects to him in the tent that they have called home for over a year.

Unemployed workers knew no race or color as they sit on this park bench in New York’s Bowery district talking
about better days.

Selling home-made pretzels on a street corner in the Bowery sometimes earned enough to buy food.

Down on his luck, a homeless man begs for change on a Bowery street. Living in a local flophouse, the box in his pocket is Black Flag insect powder—a vital necessity in his bug ridden shelter.

Selling newspapers on a Bowery street. For the homeless, newspapers served a more practical use—the papers were stuffed under clothing to provide insulation against the bitter cold.

Evicted from his rented room, this homeless Bowery man transports his meager possessions in a salvaged baby carriage.

Many abandoned children of the depression had only each other for friendship and help.