The Great Depression of the 1930s was caused by a stock market crash in 1929 and subsequent bank failures and business closures that led to mass unemployment across the United States. Rural areas were especially hard hit, with families losing their farms and homes during the Dust Bowl droughts and dust storms that ravaged the plains. Millions were left homeless and unemployed, living in shanty towns, while minorities faced discrimination with African Americans and Mexican Americans disproportionately impacted.