1929 started out to be a good year. Popeye the Sailor Man was created.

Babe Ruth became the first to hit 500 home runs.

The first telephone booth was opened in London.

But then came Black Tuesday 91 years ago today.

Don’t confuse this term with Black Friday after Thanksgiving when sales “in the black” is a good thing for business.

The New York stock exchange crash was called black because of the darkness it caused.

Panic selling snowballed.

Many realized the companies they had invested in were not worth what the stock market claimed.

There was a lot of corruption in the market.

Greed and fear played major roles in the crash.

In total, $25 billion (about $319 billion in today’s dollars) was lost in a matter of weeks.

The nation was thrown into a 10-year Great Depression that affected the whole world.

My father-in-law was born in 1926 and was just a little boy during the depression.

He doesn’t recall his family struggling financially because his father did not lose his job as millions of others did.

But his generation certainly learned the value of a dollar and was raised to be very frugal.

After the Roaring ‘20s, which saw great wealth expansion, the ‘30s were a humbling wake-up call for Americans to come back to their Christian roots.

God was preparing this nation for the demands and sacrifices that were to be made in the ‘40s in WWII.

My father-in-law is also a WWII Army veteran.

His name is Emil Emanuel of Lancaster, SC.

Those who are called “The Greatest Generation” are those patriots who lived through both the Great Depression and WWII.

If strength grows out of adversity, perhaps there will be yet again a generation that will be called the greatest.

But I doubt that any of us will be around to shake their hands.

Next week: Are we still one nation?

Dan Williams is the senior adult pastor at Lexington Baptist Church.