The Great Depression

by Kym Wright

Being a pivotal event in the 20th Century � economically, artistically, nationally, politically, and other ways � the Great Depression was a time of great turmoil for the American people.

The results of the stock market crash brought about the phrase, �Brother, can you spare a dime?� which came to epitomize the indignity and hopelessness many felt about their lives and their livelihood. At the same time the Dust Bowl of the 1930s impacted the southern Plains, and in fact this agricultural devastation helped lengthen the Depression, making the effects felt worldwide.

To understand the impact of the Great Depression, it�s helpful to go back and research the years just prior: World War I and the Roaring Twenties. Then study the 1930s and examine the initiatives and programs which made up Roosevelt�s New Deal and the lasting legacy of these programs. Art and literature were commissioned as part of the New Deal, so studying these cultural dimensions will give you an insight into the lives and times of the Great Depression. With money scarce, movies, parlor games and board games became popular. Radio brought people together. Big bands were the sound, swing dance the move. It was the �Golden Age� of movies and the mystery novel.

In studying the Great Depression, we come to understand the root causes of that era and can gain an appreciation of the human spirit which can overcome even in the most trying of times. As hard as the Great Depression was, we must remember that Americans did persevere. As we can see, they did regain their dignity. And America then, like the America we know today, rose to the occasion and worked its way out of the Great Depression.

Timeline: Visit a website or look in a resource to build a timeline of the eras preceding the Great Depression, and the important events during those years in America. Visit www.cla.calpoly.edu/~lcall/timeline.dep.html.

Biographies: Read about the people and leaders of the time to understand the culture and the human spirit. Dig into the research and write a biographical report about one of these people.
Visit one of these websites to help you write a biography:

www.bham.wednet.edu/bio/biomaker.htm or www.infoplease.com/homework/wsbiography.html
Eleanor Roosevelt, F.D. Roosevelt, John Dillinger, Mary McLeod Bethune, Bonnie and Clyde, J. Edgar Hoover (FBI), Duke Ellington, Huey Long, Cole Porter, Mickey Mouse, Richard E. Byrd, Father Charles E. Coughlin, Mildred Babe Didrikson, Amelia Earhart, Jesse Owens, Frances Perkins, Will Rogers, and Walter Winchell.

Economics: Study the reasons for the Depression and how the stock market crash of 1929 affected America and the world.

Compare and contrast the stock market crash of 1929 with the 500 point drop in the stock market in 1987. How were they different? How were they similar? Why didn�t a depression ensue after the drop in 1987? Were any changes made after the 1929 stock market crash to prevent the same results from happening after the 1987 drop? Write a brief report on the preventive changes made.

Were there other causes of the Depression besides the stock market? Did the banks have any affect on it? Why did over 9,000 banks close between January 1930 and March 1933?

Price Comparison: The prices of things have changed dramatically since the depression years. Back then people could not afford much, nor could they pay much for what they needed. Women returned to sewing their own clothes and for their families, embellishing with pieces of fur, little beads and rocks. They would also window shop and watch upperscale people on the street, then go home and sew the clothes they had seen. Study the clothing of the time � both for the wealthy and for the middle-class who became the new poor.

For a clothing price comparison project visit: http://killeenroos.com/5/1930prices.html

Research: These are topics you might write a research paper about. Remember to keep the topic narrowed to the 1930s and the effect it had on the Great Depression, or its influence by that era.

Cultural Studies: Studying the plight of different ethnicities here in America during the 1930s will give you a better picture of America�s Great Depression. Gershwin�s �Porgy and Bess� is a great depiction the African American�s life in that era. Study the lives of this group along with Irish Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans in that era.

Family Life: How did family life change during the Great Depression? Fathers traveled the railways searching for work and boys set out to find them. More women had to find work and still keep their families together with the menfolk absent. Scarcity of food gave rise to more �stone soup� meals and soup lines. Study how family lives changed during this time. Another interesting and eye-opening study is to find photographs and research the different homes people made for themselves during that era. Compare them to the homes of today. What were the neighborhoods like? What were communities like? Did the economic stress bring people and families together, tear them apart, or both?

Local History: To understand how this era affected your area, go to your local public library and ask the research librarian to help you locate old documents and other historical pieces written during the 1930s. Visit the local Historical Society and learn what they know about the Depression. Find school yearbooks from that era. Locate a person who lived through the Depression, and ask to interview them about their life, then write a report about it. Some information you might want to gather is how old they are, and how old they were during the Great Depression. What do they remember about that era? Where did they live? Can they show you any photographs from that time? Did they work or go to school? What type of transportation did they use? Was there any job security? Did they lose their job during those years or know anyone who did? Did they or their friends work for the CCC or WPA? What was their family life like? What did they do for fun? What were meals like? What was the hardest part of living?

You might also ask them to compare and contrast the youth of the Great Depression with the youth of today. Visit http://newdeal.feri.org/classrm/partr1.htm.

Science: The New York World�s Fair gave nearly 26 million visitors a glimpse of the future: TV sets, seven-lane highways, and medical advances such as safer blood transfusions and blood banks filled with blood from live donors. Albert Einstein immigrated to the US, became a professor at Princeton University, and wrote his famous letter to President Roosevelt recommending the development of the atomic bomb.

Study topics: Pluto, better refrigeration for foods, synthetic materials such as plexiglass, nylon, and cellophane, and the polymerization process.

The Arts: Like everything else, the arts were dominated in the 1930s by the Great Depression. The Public Works of Art Project, the Federal Art Project, and The New Deal�s Federal Theatre Project were created by the government during this time to support the arts. Study how they affected the social, economic, and political issues of the times. What is the rationale for the creation of government programs to pay for the arts? Do the arts of that time inform us about historical issues and events? Do you think the government was right to support the arts then? Was the art of that time used as propaganda? If so, how? Learn about the medium of journalistic expression called political cartoons which blossomed during the 1930s. Political cartoons provide insight into different sides of the historical issues. Visit www.archives.gov/exhibit_hall/new_deal_for_the_arts/ for more insight and http://newdeal.feri.org/nchs/.

Study the Mount Rushmore Memorial and its funding. Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning were well-known artists of this time. Grant Wood painted his famous �American Gothic.� Georgia O�Keefe had southwestern themes and Edward Hopper showed realistic scenes from city life.

Skyscrapers were completed in the early 30�s, while Frank Lloyd Wright designed masterpiece homes.

Theatre, Film, and Video: During this time theatrical productions flourished with musicals and Broadway. Study the plays and playwrights of the day: William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, �Green Pastures� by Marc Connelly, �The Man Who Came to Dinner� by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, �The Children�s Hour� by Lillian Hellman, �Winterset� by Maxwell Anderson, �Abe Lincoln in Illinois� by Robert Sherwood, and �Waiting for Lefty� by Clifford Odets. The foremost American dramatist, Eugene O�Neill, won the Nobel prize for literature for such works as �Anna Christie� and �Mourning Becomes Electra.�

Movies encouraged escapism, letting people forget their everyday troubles for a few hours. Early actors include: Clark Gable, Bette Davis, Greta Garbo, Errol Flynn, W. C. Fields, Bob Hope, Marx Brothers, Shirley Temple, Busby Berkeley, and the highly acclaimed duo Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Grapes of Wrath and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs debuted, as well as one of the top money-makers of all time Gone With the Wind.
Watching movies from or about that era can help you understand the times more fully. You can order some of these videos from www.tekdata.com/webcat/

Literature: Many of America�s most distinguished writers produced works of fiction during the thirties. Some explored the events of the era and its influence on America. Writers to study include F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, and Thornton Wilder, John Steinbeck, James T. Farrell, Richard Wright and Erskine Caldwell.
America celebrated the poetry of Carl Sandburg, Ogden Nash, Dr. Seuss, and Wallace Stevens who were published in the 30�s. The public speaking instructor, Dale Carnegie, in 1936 penned the book whose title How to Win Friends and Influence People was to become a part of the language.
The Newbery Awards, began in 1922, were awarded chronologically to these children�s books in the 30�s:
Hitty: Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field
The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth
Waterless Mountain by Laura Adams Armer
Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Lewis
Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women by Cornelia Meigs
Dobry by Monica Shannon
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
Roller Skates by Ruth Sawyer
The White Stag by Kate Seredy
Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright


Radio: This media reached its zenith of popularity in the decade of the 30�s with 80% of the population plugged in. Comedians Jack Benny, Fred Allen, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Amos and Andy, and Fibber McGee and Molly were popular. �Our Gal Sunday� was the most popular daytime soap opera dominating the air waves, beginning each episode with, �Can a girl from a little mining town in the west find happiness as the wife of a wealthy and titled Englishman?� Women tuned in to find out.
Other radio shows include �The Lone Ranger,� the �Green Hornet,� and �The Shadow.� These along with �Jack Armstrong, All-American Boy� thrilled listeners both young and old and sold countless boxes of cereal. Franklin Roosevelt used the medium in his �Fireside Chats� to encourage Americans about their plight and events in Europe.

Songs: Studying the music of the times helps you understand our country�s response to the economic depression, the lyrics reaching into the heart of America. Below is a list of some of the most famous songs from those years:

Field Trips: Seeing things from the past, or modernity which began during bygone years, helps us understand the economic stress and conditions during those times.
Arrange a field trip to a brokerage house or other financial institution that deals in stocks and bonds. Learn about this field before going. Ask questions about the 1929 stock market crash. Could it ever happen again?
Go to a bank or credit union and learn how to open and manage a checking and/or saving account. Going further, how would you feel if you suddenly went to the bank only to find a sign that said �Closed � Out of Business� on the door? How would this affect you?
Visit any Depression historical sites in your area.
Visit a senior citizen�s home and listen to stories from the past.

� Copyright and written by Kym Wright.

Published in The Mother's Heart magazine and The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.