Great Depression: the bleakness of Black Thursday

But the relief was short-lived. After a nervous weekend for much of America, there was a rush of selling on Monday 28 October. It went down in history as Black Monday, with the Dow ending the day 13% lower The following day the drama continued and the colour remained the same. The Dow shed another 12% on Black Tuesday when 16m shares were sold — a record that stood for 40 years. It closed at 230.07 points – having been as high as 381.17 at the start of the previous month. Photograph: Hulton archive/Getty

October 24 1929, New York, US: Brokerage house customers wait at the entrance to the New York stock exchange after the stock market crashes Photograph: Bettman collection/Corbis

October 24 1929, New York, US: Panicked stock traders crowd outside the New York stock exchange on the day of the market crash Photograph: Bettman collection/Corbis

October 1929, London, England: The huge crowd outside the London stock exchange discussing the sensational collapse of the Hatry group stocks. The total capital of the group, which was controlled by Clarence E Hatry, was said to be about $60m. The drop in value of the stock amounted to $40m and many small investors were wiped out by the crash Photograph: Bettmann collection/Corbis

October 31 1929, London, England: A young telephone operator at St Phalle Limited writes share values on a blackboard as he hears them straight from New York via a headset Photograph: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis

ca. 1930, US: Men eating in a soup kitchen Photograph: Bettmann collection/Corbis

1930, London, England: The March of the Unemployed from the Thames Embankment to County Hall Photograph: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis

November 16 1930, Chicago, US: Notorious gangster Al Capone attempts to help unemployed men with his soup kitchen, Big Al's Kitchen for the Needy Photograph: Bettmann archive/Corbis

October 26 1936, England: The Jarrow Marchers passing through Lavendon near Bedford as 207 men walked from Jarrow on Tyneside to London to lobby parliament for jobs Photograph: S&G and Barratts/PA

1939, London, England: A group of British strikers stage a "lie down" protest on Oxford Street Photograph: AP