The Great Depression, the United States' largest economic downturn, ushered in a period of unemployment, labor strife and cultural complications. At the peak of the Depression, unemployment reached an astounding 25%. Unemployed urban Americans were forced to wait in soup and work lines, steal and live in shantytowns. Rural Americans struggled especially when farmers had exhausted the ground in the central U.S. and Midwest. The result triggered a devastating 'Dust Bowl,' where enormous dust storms buried homes, equipment and livestock. The Great Depression devastated white Americans, but it essentially crippled minorities. Sharecroppers were evicted from the land. Hispanics and Asians became the focal point of white disdain, due to the belief that these individuals were taking away jobs meant for whites. African Americans faced similar struggles. Blacks were the first to be terminated from jobs in major cities. Additionally, Southern blacks faced hatred and violence from Southern whites. Southerners instituted a poll tax to prevent blacks from voting and serving as jury members. The suffering in the United States for all individuals continued until the American entrance into the Second World War.