How farmers fought the banks and won: Penny auctions in the Great Depression

The Real News Podcast · Nov 14, 2025 · 4m

It was the Great Depression. Early 1930s. United States. More than a thousand mortgages a day were being foreclosed on. Hundreds of thousands of families were losing their homes each year.

Times were hard for everyone. Especially hard for farmers. But neighbors found a way to push back and help their friends in a very creative way. They called it a penny auction.

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