Chart showing disparate growth of income in United States
If you don't look close enough, you'll miss the tree
14: Depression and New Deal
United for a Fair Economy
UFE raises awareness that concentrated wealth and power undermine the economy, corrupt democracy, deepen the racial divide, and tear communities apart.
FDR's Fireside Chats: The Power of Words | EDSITEment
In this lesson, students will gain a sense of the dramatic effect of FDR's voice on his audience, see the scope of what he was proposing in these initial speeches, and make an overall analysis of why the Fireside Chats were so successful.
This lesson will focus on two of FDR's Fireside Chats. The first, "The Bank Crisis," was given on March 12, 1933, and the second, "On the New Deal," was given on May 7, 1933.
The Social Security Act | EDSITEment
This lesson engages students in the debate over Social Security that engrossed the nation during the 1930s. Students will be given the opportunity to examine the 1935 Social Security Act, and to read, listen, and watch the debates surrounding the development of this important legislation.
The activities in this lesson have students use primary source documents to develop their own points for a debate. In addition, analysis of visual, audio, and video sources will enable the students to evaluate the reasons for the creation of this act and related agency.
Lesson 3: African-Americans and the New Deal's Civilian Conservation Corps | EDSITEment
This lesson explores that struggle and its implications for the New Deal's impact on American society; it examines a series of documents written by New Deal officials, including the President that concerned black CCC workers. It also considers documents that present the CCC from the perspective of black participants and observers. Drawing on other background readings and the diversity of views that these documents reflect, students will analyze the impact of this New Deal program on race relations in America and assess the role played by the New Deal in changing them.
SLANG in the Great Depression
African American Great Migration - Africana Age
The top three maps in this collection offer a detailed view of African-America migration out of the south into northern cities in the United States during the Great Depression. Charts show which cities saw black migration from particular southern states.
Race Relations during the Great Depression
Great material from the Center for New History and the Media and Montgomery County Maryland. Lesson has teacher background, questions, primary documents.
In this lesson, students will focus on interactions between "ordinary" Americans seeking to improve their economic circumstances: Did new initiatives (such as the WPA) foster competition or cooperation between the races? Did similar circumstances lead to a sense of solidarity or reinforce notions of "us vs. them"?
Social Security and its role in the nation's debt - The Washington Post
Required reading for teachers who talk with students about the relationship between Social Security and the national debt. The complexity involved in even the most moderate conclusion about the issue must be acknowledged. Even if students cannot wrap their heads around this complexity, we shouldn't pretend that it does not exist and facilitate a debate between students while pretending the complexity doesn't exist.
What Extent Is the Federal Government Responsible for the Welfare and Security of the Individual?
Great debate series. Two short readings with comprehension and critical thinking questions. FDR in 1932 campaign speech and Robert Taft in 1939 appraisal of the New Deal program
Communications Act of 1934 - creation of the FCC
Commonly ignored by "Alphabet Soup" lessons of the New Deal, the creation of the FCC and its regulatory authority over information and communication systems in the United States may strike a cord with students enveloped in the information and communication revolution of the 21st Century. Why not link students to the document and simply ask them to scroll through it and comment on the degree to which the term "free market" applied to this industry in the early 1930s?
The Motion Picture Production Code
What better way to teach the "gray" area of real life by designing a free speech lesson around the Motion Picture Production Code of 1930. Comparisons of censorship by the state can be compared with the private censorship of an industry. This can also be used in a media lesson that ties the social changes of the 1960s to the end of this code in 1968.
The Big Strike: Labor Unrest in the Great Depression
This module invites an intensive study of the 1934 Pacific Coast waterfront strike and the documentary record it produced as a way to explore the broader social, political, economic, and cultural tensions of the New Deal era. Great for teachers willing to jump off the coverage wagon and dig deep into one event to gain perspective of forces driving the broader narrative
NFL had a long, pricey and secret Super Bowl wish list for Minneapolis | Star Tribune
Teachers who find themselves leading instruction to anything within a mile of "economic systems" or using the terms "capitalism", 'communism", or "laissez faire" should think about using this information as an example. Think of the degree to which the city of Minneapolis and state of Minnesota would be contributing to the private profit of a private business (NFL) which already benefits from the federal government's classification of them as a non-profit organization. - You can tie it us easily with the question - "Would you work for the NFL for free?" by volunteering at the superbowl?
Thanksgiving DBQ
In 1939, FDR changed the date for celebration of Thanksgiving from the fourth to the third Thursday on November; acceding to the requests of merchants hoping to expand the holiday buying season. Traditionally, the date for the celebration of Thanksgiving was set by presidential proclamation as the fourth Thursday in November every year since Lincoln first set it in 1863. This collection of documents from the FDR library shows what an upheaval this caused across the country as schools, chambers of commerce, as well as state and local governments had to change their plans. This is a great way to teach about complexity, and about the role of the government in the economy and daily life of the people. Liberty? Freedom?
Joseph Breen, administrator of motion picture production code of ethics at meetin...HD Stock Footage - YouTube
Joseph Breen of the Production Code Administration explains that the PCA is not a "one man operation", yet students should listen closely to his words and perhaps read along with a transcript to look more closely into the PCA's actions in Hollywood.
The Motion Picture Code of 1931
Commonly referred to as the "Hays Code", this is the motion picture industry's guidelines for subject matter in films. Largely ignored until 1934 and the appointment of Joseph Breen, it defined the parameters of social issues in motion pictures from 1934 through 1968
Carole & Co. - Motion Picture, April 1931: Hollywood vs. the Corn Belt
Red and blue states a new thing? Think again. This article from 1931 reflects regional differences of opinion that pre-date the divide many see now
Photogrammar - Depression Era Photograph Archive
Photogrammar from Yale University is a web-based platform for organizing, searching, and visualizing the 170,000 photographs from 1935 to 1945 created by the United States Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information. Students can search photographs in several different ways. Why not have them in groups assigned to different regions of the country to present what they have found and what questions they've raised by reviewing the photographs?
FDR Pres Order 6102 - citizens must surrender their gold
"Do Now" primary document idea - what would students makes of this?
FDR's executive order demanding citizens surrender their gold to the Federal Reserve. How can we still teach free market capitalism with a history such as this?
Great Depression Cooking - Depression Breakfast - YouTube
This is history that can't be found in any textbook or corporate online program. A collection of videos of a 93 year-old woman, cooking meals from the Great Depression. More important than the recipes (which reflect the era), Clara recounts her childhood and tells stories of her family during the Depression. Social history on an intimate level.
Farm Security Administration Photographs - NYPL Digital Collections
177 Photographs from the Farm Security Administration - some of the famed Dorothy Lang pictures are included. Can students browse through these photographs and get a real sense of the Depression? What questions to these images provoke?
By the Book: Herbert Hoover
How much should current scholarship shape teacher's instruction? This quick summary of literature on Herbert Hoover from the University of Virginia's Miller Center shows that the general consensus on him is changing. It's scary to think that much of the vast mountain of high school instructional material hasn't changed in years, yet the real discipline of history doesn't stop changing.
The Big Strike: Labor Unrest in the Great Depression
This module invites an intensive study of the 1934 Pacific Coast waterfront strike and the documentary record it produced as a way to explore the broader social, political, economic, and cultural tensions of the New Deal era.
Mapping Inequality - Redlining in New Deal America
The New Deal Agency, the Home Owners' Loan Corporation recruited mortgage lenders, developers and real estate appraisers in 250 cities to create maps that color-coded the credit worthiness risk of residents. With over 150 interactive maps and 5000 individual area descriptions, this site allows students to see Depression-Era America as developers, realtors , tax assessors and surveyors saw it. Teachers could set their student loose in this archive to draw their own conclusions of urban America both in the Depression and today.
Depression-Era Photographs: Worth a Thousand Words | EDSITEment
Throughout the Great Depression, the federal government employed photographers to document the need for New Deal programs and the extent of these programs' successes. Today, through the Internet, students can view this record of an era and see for themselves how Americans faced the challenge of those testing times.
Illuminating Reno's Divorce Industry | Reno Divorce History
Our students know that divorce is part of life, yet it is not a part of their history courses, it is rarely, if ever mentioned. Divorce has a history all of it's own, and many, many American's lives were shaped by it. In the early 1900s, the ability to obtain a legal divorce was difficult and in some instances, required relocation to a jurisdiction that offered liberal divorce laws. Although Las Vegas, Nevada might be known for quick marriages, it was in Reno, Nevada that legal divorces were available to residents who there for only six weeks. This online exhibit organized by Special Collections at the University of Nevada, Reno, Libraries, presents documents from the city's heyday as the divorce capital of the United States. A chart of divorce rates through the 20th century can be found here http://www.randalolson.com/wp-content/uploads/marriages_divorces_per_capita.png
Periodic Table of New Deal
This graphic from the FDR library lists information about New Deal Programs and the people involved in creating them. This is one way to show students the complexity of the history of the New Deal. The validity of claim made about what the new Deal was intended to do, what it really did and whether it was successful or not has to be measured against all of these programs and all of these people
Color Photos of the 1939 New York World's Fair - The Atlantic
For students who only know the world in black and white
Monthly report of the Federal Emergency Relief ... 1933:May-1934:Dec.. -
Instead of having students copy down a few statistics found in a textbook, they can scan through this primary document to get a sense of the effects of the Great Depression. The first two pages provide a clear perspective of the relationship between the government and the people that could serve as a spark for a discussion. There is also a lot of material for a DBQ.