United States History: 1877 to the Present

Turmoil and Change: 1890s to 1945

SUGGESTED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

• Begin the unit by asking: what were the causes of the Great Depression; how were the lives of Americans affected by the Great Depression; and what were the major features of the New Deal.
• Explain that the optimism of the 1920s concealed problems in the American economic system and attitudes about the role of government in controlling the economy.
• Discuss how the Great Depression had a widespread and severe impact on American life.
• Explain how Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal used government programs to help the nation recover from the Depression.
• Discuss the causes of the Great Depression by explaining that:
  • People overspeculated on stocks, using borrowed money that they could not repay when stock prices crashed.
  • The Federal Reserve failed to prevent the collapse of the banking system.
  • High tariffs strangled international trade.
• Explain the impact on Americans that occurred due to the Great Depression, including:
  • A large numbers of banks and businesses failed.
  • One-fourth of workers were without jobs.
  • Large numbers of people were hungry and homeless.
  • Farmers' incomes fell to low levels.
• Introduce the major features of the New Deal, such as:
  • Social Security
  • Federal work programs
  • Environmental improvement programs
  • Farm assistance programs
  • Increased rights for labor
• Remind students that the decade of the 1920s was a time of unbridled optimism. The economy was healthy and the average person was investing and making money in the stock market. A good resource for information on this topic is "The Crash of 1929" found athttp://www.btinternet.com/~dreklind/Jazzhome.htm. Divide the class into three equal groups. Distribute to students the Stock Expenditures worksheet and game money as follows: Each student in group1 gets $500, each student in group 2 gets $700, and each student in group 3 gets $1,000. Tell the students that the different dollar amounts represent the different income levels of individuals and that they will be using their money to buy stock in the latest hot investment, Scooter, Inc. Because Scooter, Inc., experienced record profits last year, the price of their stock is sure to go up. For the Stock Expenditures worksheet, CLICK HERE.
• On the first round of trading, stock in Scooter, Inc. will sell for $5 a share. Students are permitted to buy up to three shares only at this low price. In the first round, stock will be purchased from the teacher. Warn students that the price of the stock could rise in the next round. Note: This lesson can be done over a series of days or compacted into one or two class periods.
• As indicated on the worksheet, the stock increases to $10 a share in round two of trading. Students may sell stock to each other for no more than $9 a share, as indicated on the worksheet. Rounds can be as short as 7 minutes and as long as 10 minutes. It is helpful to use a signal (e.g., a bell or a flashing of the lights) to indicate to students when the round is over. Emphasize to students that they want to buy low and sell high -- this is how they will make money. Also emphasize that the more stocks a student owns, the more control he/she has in the company and the higher his/her dividend at the end of the year. (Note: The teacher may need to explain the concept of dividends.) Some students, of course, will be constrained by their income.
• With each round, the stock price continues to rise or decline, but only slightly. Before round nine, explain to students that the economy is starting to take a turn for the worse. Consumer confidence is fading, and business investment is declining. Sales of scooters slowed in the past year. Therefore, shares of Scooter, Inc. are declining in value. After round nine is completed, ask students what their first instinct was when the price of their stock dropped. The students should answer that their inclination was to sell off what they could. Explain to students that this situation was similar to that of the Crash of 1929. Stock prices became inflated -- the stocks were being sold at much higher prices than they were actually worth. When the economy began to falter, stock prices fell, and people panicked. People began selling off their stocks at considerably lower prices than those at which they were purchased. Needless to say, people lost money.
• At this point, you may choose to explain to students how people also lost money by buying stocks on margin. "The Crash of 1929" provides a clear explanation of the way buying on margin worked. This lesson also provides an opportunity to discuss the role of the Federal Reserve, prevailing attitudes regarding the role of the government in controlling the economy, and high tariffs on imports. Note: A helpful aid in explaining the mechanics of bank failure is a scene from Frank Capra's film It's a Wonderful Life, in which the "run on the bank" at the savings and loan illustrates the lack of government control of banking procedures.
• Prior to the lesson, review the terms overspeculation, tariff, and stock.
• Explain that the optimism of the 1920s covered up many problems in the American economy. Some groups of people, such as unskilled laborers and many African Americans, did not share in the widespread prosperity. Also, some types of businesses, such as the textile industry, did not thrive at that time.
• Display the transparency, The Great Depression: Causes and Effects, covering the Effect column on the right. Ask pairs of students to work together to complete the Effect column, using the textbook and the information from the previous session. For a copy of the the Great Depression: Causes and Effects worksheet/transparency, CLICK HERE.
• Reveal the answers on the transparency. Solicit the students' answers and discuss them. Show that the listed causes did have more than one effect. Discuss the importance of the government's inaction during this crisis.
• Explain to students that after the "boom" in the economy during the 1920s, the economy in the 1930s saw a "bust." Provide students with American economic statistical data from the 1920s and 1930s (for example, "Unemployment as a Percentage of the Labor Force 1920-1939" and "Business Investment 1920-1939"), and have them graph these data with colored pencils on a teacher-produced worksheet. (Note: It will probably be necessary to do one sample graph with students as an example.) A variety of economic data can be found on the Web site Digital History at http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/us34.cfm. Additional data can be found at Historical Census Browserat http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/census/.
• Once students have completed their graphs, have them write questions based on their graphs that ask for factual information and questions that require inferences or generalizations to be made. You may choose to modify this lesson by creating the questions for the students in advance. Some examples of such questions are as follows:
  • In what year was the Great Depression at its worst?
  • How did the increase in business investment in the 1920s contribute to the "boom" economy of those years?
  • What accounts for the increase in federal spending during the 1930s?
  • Did increases in federal funding help create a recovery in the economy?
• Have students share their questions in a class discussion, or, if questions were generated in advance, ask students to share their answers.
• At the end of the session, discuss with students the social impact of the Great Depression, pointing out that this crucial aspect of the Depression is only distantly reflected in the economic statistics just examined.
• Explain that this session is a follow up to the previous session. By examining photographs from the 1930s, students will begin to understand the human costs of the Great Depression that are not reflected through statistics and graphs. Help students recognize some of the major social effects of the Great Depression, such as homelessness, bread lines, farm foreclosures, sharecropping, and migrant workers. Point out that the unfortunate drought and the subsequent Dust Bowl compounded these hardships.
• Tell students that they will be creating electronic presentations, using documentary photography from the period of the Great Depression. Form groups of three to four students and distribute the student instruction sheet, The Great Depression in Pictures, to each group. Have the students review the instructions, and answer questions they may have. Give specific instructions about things that should be included in the presentation. For a copy of the Great Depression in Pictures worksheet, CLICK HERE.
• Point the students to sources for photographs. The following Web sites provide such resources:
  • American Memory: Historical Collections for the National Digital Library.http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amhome.html.
  • U.S. History -- Topic: Great Depression. Best of History Web Sites. http://www.besthistorysites.net/USHistory_GreatDepression.shtml.
• Have the groups give their presentation to the class. Each group might print out their presentation in the handout format for each member of the class so that everyone will have a printed version to attach to his/her notes taken during the presentation.
• Optional activity: The teacher may modify this session by creating the electronic presentation in advance. During the presentation, the teacher would then lead students to analyze the photographs and write questions. The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration offers a photo-analysis worksheet for students at http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/analysis_worksheets/photo.html.
• For a sample grading rubric for this session, CLICK HERE.
• Introduce students to the purposes of oral history by asking the following questions:
  • What can a historian learn from an oral history that cannot be learned from reading a secondary account?
  • What are some advantages to using oral histories to do historical research?
  • What are some possible problems with using this method for gathering historical information on a topic?
• After this discussion, introduce one of America's great oral historians, Studs Terkel. Studs Terkel: Conversations with America at http://www.studsterkel.org/offers information about him and excerpts from his radio broadcasts. Explain to students that they will listen to a series of short oral histories from Hard Times, a collection of oral histories related to the Great Depression. Many of the interviews will follow up on the themes from the previous session.
• Provide students with the Oral Histories Student Instruction worksheet before they begin. You may choose to assign all students the same interviews or to assign a variety of interviews. If you do not have access to computers with the capability of playing the interviews, hard copies of these interviews can be found in Terkel's book, Hard Times. (Note: Even if the audio interviews are used, some students may benefit from being able to read along.) For a copy of the Oral Histories Student Instruction worksheet, CLICK HERE.
• After the students have finished listening to the interviews and answering the questions, ask some follow-up questions in a whole-group discussion. Some sample questions are as follows:
  • Was there something you did not understand in the interviews?
  • What was your general reaction to the interviews?
  • What emotions did you sense among the people you interviewed?
  • Did you agree with the actions of the farmers?
  • Why do you think people blamed themselves for the Great Depression?
  • What interview made the biggest impression on you?
• Optional activity: As a follow-up activity to this session, have students conduct their own oral-history interview of someone who remembers life during the Great Depression.
• Explain to students the purpose and goals of the New Deal programs, including the concept that the programs were based on the idea of relief, recovery, and reform. It is important for students to understand that the New Deal constituted a shift in the role of the federal government in the economy and in peoples' lives. Whereas the government had previously adopted a "hands off" policy regarding the economy, the New Deal programs sought to regulate the stock market, reform the banking industry, and bring people relief through work programs and economic aid.
• Give each student (or each small group of students) the New Deal Programs worksheet. Have students complete the second column of the chart, using the textbook and other resources. For a copy of the New Deal Programs worksheet, CLICK HERE.
• After students have completed the second column, help the students complete the third column, which addresses the legacies of these New Deal programs.

WEB SITES

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsowhome.html
Great Depression

http://www.amatecon.com/gd/gdtimeline.html
America's Great Depression

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/peopleevents/pandeAMEX05.html
People & Events: The Great Depression

http://newdeal.feri.org/
New Deal Network

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rails/
Riding the rails

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/
Surviving the Dust Bowl

http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Copyright ©2008 Prince William Network/Virginia Department of Education