Above is a picture of Martin Luther King Jr. at The March on Washington D.C. - Relates to The Civil Rights Movement Section
Great DepressionThe Great Depression (1929-39) was the deepest and longest economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world. In the United States, the Great Depression began when the stock market crashed in October of 1929. Wall Street went into a panic and wiped out millions of investments, which raised unemployment. By 1933, 13 to 15 million Americans were unemployed. President Franklin D. Roosevelt helped decreased the worst effects of the Great Depression in the 1930s. When World War II kicked American industry into high gear, the economy boomed, but many people would not recover from the debt (Gaskins and his family). Gaskins was only a kid at this time, but the great depression left him and his family in a poverty state. The Great Depression maybe didn't affect Gaskins, but if it did it could be that he was intimidated by his victim's successes or wealth.
The Cold WarDuring World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union fought together as allies against the Axis powers, but the relationship was tense. Americans were tired of Soviet communism and concerned about Russian leader Joseph Stalin’s tyrannical, blood-thirsty rule of his own country. After the war ended, these two countries developed an overwhelming sense of mutual distrust and enmity. Soviet expansionism fueled many Americans’ fears of a Russian plan to control the world. No one party was responsible for the Cold War, in fact, some historians believe it was inevitable. Gaskins was a teen and a grown man during this time period. The Cold War could have added to that psychopathic thinking he was experiencing and it could have an impact on victims of Russian decent.
|
World War IIThe instability created in Europe by the First World War (1914-18) set the stage for another international conflict–World War II (1939-1945). Rising to power in Germany, Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist (Nazi Party) signed treaties with Japan and Italy. Hitler’s invasion of Poland drove Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany in 1939. WWII was worse than WWI because it took more lifes. 45-60 million people were estimated to be killed in WWII. 6 million Jews were murdered in Nazi concentration camps as part of Hitler’s diabolical “Final Solution" or the Holocaust. Gaskins was still a kid at this time period, but this event could have an impact on his victims that were of German, Italian, or Japanese decent.
Civil Rights MovementNearly 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans in Southern states still faced segregation. “Jim Crow” laws at the local and state levels barred them from classrooms, bathrooms, theaters, train cars, juries, restaurants and legislatures. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the “separate but equal” doctrine that formed the basis for state-sanctioned discrimination. Civil rights activists used nonviolent protest and civil disobedience to bring about change. The federal government made legislative headway with initiatives such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968. Many leaders rose to fame during the Civil Rights era, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Andrew Goodman and others. They risked and lost their lives in the name of freedom and equality. Gaskins lived in South Carolina for most of his life, so he witnessed the Civil Rights Movement for himself. This event could of set his psychopathic behavior off which resulted him to killing more victims.
|