Wall Street is famous for being the centre of the world’s financial economy. The name not only refers to the road that houses the New York Stock Exchange, but the city’s entire Financial District. The district is home to some of the world’s biggest banks, as well as the site of the former World Trade Centre. The Wall Street Crash in 1929 sparked the Great Depression, which saw a quarter of America’s workforce made redundant. While several factors led to the Depression, from the overproduction of goods to dipping crop prices, the stock market crash kick-started the crisis. President Roosevelt’s comprehensive New Deal programme helped the country out of depression.
It pushed the workforce back into traditional American industries, on farms and in factories.
The New Deal benefited citizens who had no part to play in the Wall Street Crash but were deeply affected by it.
During the Depression, much of the workforce was made up of immigrants who had come to America with the hope of finding employment and having a better life.
As the original gateway to America, New York is one of the world’s most ethnically diverse cities.
More than 12 million immigrants arrived at New York’s Ellis Island between 1890 and World War I.
By 1900, New York was home to the highest numbers of Italians, Poles and Irish in the world, outside of Rome, Warsaw and Dublin.
Today, more than 36 percent of New Yorkers are foreign born.