The Great Depression

"My parents said that they would be back for me. They said they were going to look for work and they would be back soon. I was six weeks old when they left. They never came back."
"In the third grade, my teacher announced a spelling bee. I was very excited because if you won, you received a prize of twenty-five cents. This was a lot of money. I studied very hard and was nervous, but I did win. My mother took my twenty-five cents to buy food."

 

Factors that lead to the Great Depression

Speculations in the 1920s caused many people to by stocks with loaned money and they used these stocks as collateral for buying more stocks. Broker's loans went from under $5 million in mid 1928 to $850 million in September of 1929. The stock market boom was very unsteady, because it was based on borrowed money and false optimism. When investors lost confidence, the stock marcket collapsed, taking them along with it.
Short signed government economic policies were one of the factors that led to the Great Depression. Politicians believed that business was the key business in America. Thus, the government took no action against unwise investing. Congress passed high tariffs that protected American industries but hurt farmers and international trade.
The economy was not stable. National wealth was not spread evenly. Instead, most money was in the hands of a few families who saved or invested rather than spent their money on American goods. Thus, supply was greater than demand. Some people profited, but others did not. Prices went up and Americans could not afford anything. Farmers and workers did not profit. Unevenness of prosperity made recovery difficult.
Stock Market crash of 1929
This pathfinder will lead you to resources that explore these reasons, as well as other issues, of the Great Depression.

"During Christmas we never received toys. We could never afford them. My best Christmas was when I was in the first grade. My teacher gave every girl a doll and every boy a truck. I took the doll home and shared it with all my siblings. I was so happy to finally have a doll."
"When we had vacations from school, we would pack a lunch, usually a piece of bread and fruit, and go in a big group for picnics under the pine trees. We thought it was so great. We looked forward to vacations..."
"Every fall my parents would make tunnels of dirt and plant cabbage and vegetables int he tunnels. This preserved the vegetables. We would then dig them out in the winter and cook them. We never went hungry. My mom preserved everything."
"Mama made our bloomers out of flour sacks for all four of us girls. They were thin material in floral patterns. All of our friends did the same."
Children's Books
Children
EASY L718P
Lied, Kate

Potato: A Tale of the Great Depression

This tale from the Great Depression links us to an important truth about family stories: they let history become real and make children curious about their own connections to those times and places.

 FIC P367L
Peck, Richard

A Long Way From Chicago

A boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois with his sister during the Great Depression to visit their larger-than-life grandmother.
Children
Fic
C978

Bud, Not Buddy

It's 1936, in Flint, Michigan. Times may be hard, and ten year old Bud may be a motherless boy on the run but he has a flyer that will help him find his father. Enjoy the adventures that Bud faces by reading this unique novel to your class.

    
Internet Resources

http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/b/a/bas184/stories.html

A collection of stories, interviews and photgraphs from the Great Depression can be found on this website.

http://www.newdeal.feri.org

The New Deal Network is an educational guide to the Great Depression of the 1930s.

http://www.memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsowhome.html

The images in the Farm Security Administration Office of War Information Collection are among the most famous documentary photographs ever produced. Created by a group of U.S. government photographers, the images show Americans in every part of the nation. In the early years, the project emphasized rural life and the negative impact of the Great Depression, farm mechanization, and the Dust Bowl.

http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/depression

This website includes: definitions of key terms, causes of the Great Depression, problems of the Great Depression, philosophies of President Hoover and President Roosevelt, successes and failures of Roosevelt's "New Deal" programs and legacy of the New Deal.
Video
VTV4060

The Grapes of Wrath

B & W (129 min.) The migration of the Joad family to California from their dust-bowl farm in Oklahoma during the Great Depression.

 VTV5822

The Great Depression Series

These four videos are 50 min. each and cover the many different event that occured during the Great Depression.

 VTV2427

Twentieth Century History

B & W (80 min.) Describes the political and social changes throughout the world during the period following World War I to the Great Depression.

 

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Elisa Claire Frost

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Last updated 06/23/03


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*Quotes found on this website: http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/b/a/bas184/stories.html

**Photographs found on this website: http://www.memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsowhome.html


Curriculum Reference

Curr/Ref
SocStu
M169
1987, v. 6
pgs. 21-27

American Timeline 1901-1939

This book has reproducibles about the unemployment rate during the Great Depression and FDR's policies while he was president.

 Curr/Ref
SocStu
S469
1993

Living History in the Classroom

Alternative ideas for teaching history from mock trials to creating political cartoons and learning historical events through music.

Curr/Ref
SocStu
P273
1992
pgs. 64-73

The Social Studies Teacher's Book of Lists

From slang of the 20s, 30s, and 40s to fads and fashions from those three decades, this book is full of interesting facts that make this period of history more personal for students.

 Curr/Ref
SocStu
C563
1988
pgs. 106-109

American History Jeopardy

Jeopardy questions about entertainment, slang, sports and crimes during the 1920s to 1940s.
Curriculum Secondary
Curr/Sec
SocSci
Hist
K19h
1993
pgs. 58-88

Mulitcultural America: The New Freedom to the New Deal

This book gives the voices of African-American, Filipino-American, Mexican-American and women a chance to share their triumphs and struggles during the Great Depression.

 Curr/Sec
SocSci
Hist
S811s
1993

We Want Jobs!

This book is based on the story of John Waskowitz of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and his experiences during the Great Depression.

Curr/Sec
SocSci
Hist
S811s
1993
pgs. 35-37

Stories of America

This is an activity book to accompany the book above, with ideas about how to teach the Great Depression by writing scripts to a movie, journal entries and art projects.

 Curr/Sec
SocSci
Hist
B791a
1996

The American Nation

This is a companion book to the textbook that can be found in the same location. This binder has references to videodisc, transparencies and lesson plans for the Great Depression and the New Deal.
General Collection

E801.S6
Smith, Gene

The Shattered Dream: Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression

This book describes Herbert Hoover's policies while he was the president during the Great Depression.

 HG2481.W4
93 1996
Wicker, Elmus

The Banking Panics of the Great Depression

This is a full-length study of five of the US banking panics of the Great Depression that will increase your understanding of the economic problems that occurred during this period in history in order to better the understanding of your students.
HC106.3 M4
Merrill, Edward Hackett

Responses to Economic Collapse of the 1930s

This book is full of dates, facts and important stories from the Great Depression that will allow students and teachers a chance to see how different parties in the United States responded to the crash of 1929.

    
Recipes

Depression Cake

1 cup raisins
2 cups cold water
1 cup sugar
2 T. butter
2 cups flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. baking soda

Cemetery Stew
It was the best substitute he could find for "real" cereal.

2 slices of white bread, torn into bite-sized pieces
1 cup milk
(sprinkle sugar if you have it)


 

Meatless Loaf

1 cup rice
1 cup peanuts, crushed
1 cup cottage cheese
1 egg
1 T. oil
1 tsp. salt

POOR Man's Casserole

1 small head of cabbage
2 large potatoes
1 large onion, diced
1 1/2 lbs of hamburger
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 stick butter or margarine
1/2 tsp. salt, more or less, depending on taste
pepper to taste
dash of paprika
Cream butter and sugar until real smooth. Cook raisins in water until water is reduced to 1 cup. Sift all dry ingredients together. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the raisins and the liquid. Grease and flour a tube or loaf pan. Pour the cake mixture into pan and bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes, or until done when tested with a tooth pick in the center of the cake. Mix ingredients together and enjoy like a bowl of cereal. Combine all the ingredients together. Bake in a loaf pan for 30 minutes or until loaf is good and set. Cut cabbage into cubes, salt and pepper to taste and cook until well done. Drain. Peel and quarter potatoes. Salt and cook until well done. Drain and mash potatoes with butter but make sure the mashed potatoes are on the dry side. Place hamburger in large skillet, add onion and cook until well done. Drain off all the fat. Stir in the cumin. Line baking dish at least 3 inches deep with cabbage. Place meat mixture on top of cabbage. Cover the top with the mashed potatoes, sprinkle with paprika. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Makes 4 large servings. In the casserole you had your whole meal. Meat, potatoes, and your vegetable.
Periodicals
Oasis
May 2002
pgs. 18-23

The Mean, Lean and Hungry Years

Activities to reinforce this unit on the Great Depression, as well as a brief summary of the events that took place during 1929-1941.

 Oasis
Jan/Feb 1999
pgs. 8-12

The Depressing Thirties

A brief summary of what happened before, during and after the Great Depression, along with activity ideas can be found on pag. 8-12.
Oasis
Mar/Apr 1996
pgs. 38-40

Great Depression: 1929-1941

Critical thinking activities and reproducibles can be found on pgs. 39-40 about the Great Depression. Literature to accompany this historical topic is also suggested on pg. 38.

 Mailbox Intermediate
Apr/May 2002
pg. 44

The Early 20th Century

By using the reproducible on pg. 48 your students can create a timeline of the events that lead up to the Great Depression and how it affected everyday folks.