others in rural areas not connected to the financial sector, a demographic that encompassed more than half the nation. For them, the Depression, such as it was, began in 1920 and lasted twice as long as it did for those who would later write the history books. For the rural poor, who remained mired in economic stagnation throughout the 'Roaring Twenties,' their troubles began in earnest in 1927, when the Mississippi flooded and washed away so many farms and lives.