Transcript Chapter 25, Section 4 - Union Endicott High School

Chapter 26, Section 4:
The Nation in Hard Times
Main Idea: Many Americans found
relief from the hard times of the
Great Depression in the work of
creative artists.
A. The Dust Bowl

The Dust Bowl - name given to part of
the Great Plains due to a severe drought
& resulting dust storms (black blizzards).
Buried Under Dust


Dust storms buried areas, blowing
everywhere & getting in everything.
The cause was years of over-grazing by
cattle & over-plowing by farmers,
followed by drought & high winds.
Migrant Workers

“Okies” - name given to farmers from
Oklahoma that had to pack up & move
West to become migrant workers -drifters
moving from one area to another in
search of work.
– Many settled in OR, WA, & CA picking fruit
(apples, oranges, grapes).
– Many were not wanted there by the locals,
who feared they would take their jobs, &
were often sent away by angry mobs.
– John Steinbeck – The Grapes of Wrath
depicted the struggles that the Okies
faced as they tried to find work in CA.
B. Women Face the Depression

Women were usually the last to be hired. A
woman would not get a job before a man.
– The federal government would not hire a
woman if her husband already had a job.
Women in the Workplace

During the Depression, the number of married
women who worked increased by over 50%.
– Educated: secretaries, teachers, social workers
– No education: maids, seamstresses, factory workers
An Active First Lady

Eleanor Roosevelt broke the mold for first
ladies. She was the “eyes & ears” of FDR.
– Toured the nation, talking to the unemployed &
visiting homes of the poor & downtrodden
– Told President what she had seen and heard
– Wrote her own newspaper column, called “My
Day,” and had her own radio show

For speaking out about women’s rights &
pushing for social justice, Eleanor was very
controversial in her day. While many people
admired her for her views, many others
despised her for expressing them (polarizing).
– Most first ladies before her did not speak out.

C. African Americans
African Americans were often the first to lose their jobs.
– Black unemployment was 50%, double the national average.
– They were often denied public works jobs with the government.


Some charities refused to serve African Americans in need.
Because FDR did more to help them than any President since
Lincoln, many African Americans became Democrats.
– He did not, however, support an anti-lynching law because he feared
losing support for the New Deal from southern Democrats in Congress.

Roosevelt invited black leaders to the White house to advise
him on race issues. They were known as the “Black Cabinet.”
– Robert Weaver, Mary McLeod Bethune (1st black agency leader – NYA)
D. Other Americans Face the Depression




Mexican Americans
Over 400k were deported to Mexico
during the 1930s (some born in US).
Asian Americans
The Repatriation Act (1935) provided
free transportation to Filipinos who
agreed to return to the Philippines &
not come back to the U.S.
Native Americans
Indian New Deal gave Native Americans
more control over their own affairs.
John Collier headed the Bureau of
Indian Affairs & ended the government
policy of breaking up Indian lands.
– The Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) even
expanded Indian reservation lands in 1934.

The Indian Emergency Conservation
Work Group provide jobs for Native
Americans controlling soil-erosion,
irrigation, & land development.
E. The Arts of the Depression
Painting & Photography




Thomas Hart Benton painted murals of
frontier/western life.
Grant Wood painted American Gothic.
Dorothea Lange photographed the suffering
of Dust Bowl families.
Margaret Bourke-White photographed poor
tenant farmers in the South.
Radio During the Depression

Radio (“talking furniture”) provided an
escape for people during the Depression
– George Burns & Gracie Allen – comedy team
– Soap operas were serial dramas that usually
aired during the daytime (sponsored by soap
companies to target housewives)
– “The War of the Worlds” - Halloween, 1938


Actor Orson Welles presented a “newscast”
based on the book. He did it in a style that
made it sound like we were actually being
attacked by alien invaders from Mars.
This caused mass hysteria because some
people tuned in late & didn’t realize it was fake.
Movies During the Depression
• The “Silver Screen” also provided a
chance for people to escape their
problems for a while. Many movies
from this time tried to be optimistic &
told stories with happy endings.
• Shirley Temple was a child star
who was most famous for singing
“On the Good Ship Lollipop”
• Disney’s Snow White & the Seven
Dwarves was the 1st full-length
animated film, released in 1937.
• Judy Garland starred in The
Wizard of Oz in 1939 .
• Gone With the Wind was the most
expensive & popular movie of the
1930s. It romanticized the Civil
War Era & life in the Old South.
• This movie reminded Americans
that they had survived hard times
before (Civil War), and they would
survive this too.