Transcript The Great Depression - North Yarmouth Academy

The Great Depression
Georgia CTAE Resource Network
Instructional Resources Office
Written by: Amanda Supra and Frank Flanders
July 2009
Objectives
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Students should review the slides and be able to:
Interpret what the significance of each photograph
is
 Understand how the Great Depression affected
people
 Give examples of how people tried to live during
this time
 Discuss how the government helped during the
Great Depression
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Note to the teacher:
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This slide set contains historical photographs from the
Great Depression. Students should interpret the photos
and explain what they see in each one.
There is also an attached worksheet for students to use
while following along with the power point.
In each of these slides have students compare and
contrast America’s economic situation of today to the
Great Depression.
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Unemployment
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During the Great Depression, many people faced losing
their jobs because of various reasons and found it very
hard to find a replacement job to support their families
The unemployment rate jumped to a record 24.9%
during the Great Depression
This put 1 in 4 Americans out of work, to lose their
homes, possessions, and farms.
In this picture, notice how the two men are wearing
signs exclaiming that they need a job to support their
families.
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Farm Foreclosure Sales
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During the 1920’s, many farmers borrowed money
from banks to purchase land or equipment
During the Great Depression, many farmers couldn’t
make their payments to the banks and eventually had
their land taken away from them.
The banks would then try to sell the farms to others at
a very low, discounted rate.
In this image, there are many townspeople out to watch
the foreclosure sale. Many of them were unable to
purchase the farm, even though it was at such a low
price.
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Employment Agencies
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Many people turned to trying to find jobs at
employment agencies
However, there were so many people looking for
work that people had to stand out in long lines
just to get a chance to get one of the jobs.
Here, men are standing outside of an
employment agency hoping to get in to possibly
find a job.
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Political Cartoons: “The
Philanthropist”
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The Great Depression had affected many people, causing up to
25% of the job force to lose their jobs.
During this time, many people turned to other ways to make
money.
One way that people were able to make money was to sell apples
on the street, often trying to sell the items to those who seemed
“better off ” than they were.
Some people who weren’t in that predicament felt pity for apple
sellers and would sometimes spend their money just so they
could “feel a little bit better about themselves”.
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Donations for the Unemployed
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People are standing outside of a food bank
offering free doughnuts and coffee to the
unemployed
Many types of food kitchens and food banks
popped up to help
This particular soup kitchen was sponsored by
the Chicago gangster, Al Capone.
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Soup Kitchens
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Soup kitchens were set up for people who were unable
to afford food.
Many times, soup kitchens were established by
philanthropists (a generous person who donates to
promote human welfare) who wanted to donate and
help out the needy.
The easiest and least expensive food to make was soup
– which became a staple in these food lines for people
to get.
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Irony Behind the Breadline
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Prior to the Great Depression, the standard of living in
the United States was soaring.
During this time, people were unconcerned about
money because a lot of things, such as food, were
cheap and plentiful.
When the Great Depression came, everything changed
and people had to deal with a much lower standard of
living.
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Political Cartoons: “1929 vs. Today”
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Many people are comparing what happened in
the Great Depression to what happened in the
recession of 2009.
This political cartoon suggests how modern
recessions are similar to what happened in 1929.
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Schools During the Great Depression
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Children were finding it hard to stay in school, usually
dropping out to sell newspapers on the street or shine
shoes.
Many rural school teachers didn’t have much education
– usually only a high school diploma.
During this time, salaries of school teachers were also
cut drastically, making it hard for some school teachers
to live comfortably. Many school teachers would
actually live in the school house.
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Christmas During the Great
Depression
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Since people were worrying about serious things, such
as being able to feed their families, Christmas gifts
became less important.
The most some families got for Christmas was a
freshly-baked cake. And maybe, if they were lucky, a
small Christmas tree.
Just being able to eat a decent dinner was what many
families had as a Christmas present.
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The Dust Bowl
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The Dust Bowl intensified problems during the Great
Depression for farms in the Southern Plains (19301936).
The land was left bare and dusty due to the
overgrazing, excessive farming, and drought.
When the drought came, the over farmed and
overgrazed land began to blow away because of strong
winds through the region.
The dust storms were so heavy that sometimes families
would look through the windows of their homes and
only see black dust clouds.
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Train Hoppers
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At the height of the Great Depression, there were
more than 250,000 hobos roaming around the United
States.
To alleviate the hardships on their families, many young
teenaged boys would leave their families and become
“train hoppers”. With great sadness, many young men
left home so the limited food supply could be used for
their siblings and parents.
They would illegally ride on the trains so that they could
ride to somewhere new that would possibly have an
opportunity of a job for them.
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Walking to California
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During the Great Depression, many people lost
their jobs and their homes and other
possessions.
Many people became homeless and traveled
West, trying to find jobs in places like California.
The homeless would live in tent cities, often
called shantytowns or Hoovervilles.
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“Okies” Travel to California
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During the Great Depression, there was a large
migration of Oklahomans to the Western states.
Oklahoma was drastically affected by the Dust
Bowl – in addition to the depression.
A common destination for Oklahomans was
California and Arizona.
Those states then coined the phrase “Okie”
denoting any poor person who came to their
state looking for a job.
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Migrant Mother
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This is one of the most famous of the depression era
photographs.
The “Migrant Mother” photo captures the
hopelessness of the Great Depression.
Other words to describe this scene may be:
Hopeless
Dejected
Discouraged
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Discouraged
Demoralized
Desperate
Depressed
Despondent
Down-hearted
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Migrant Workers
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A large portion of migrants were from
Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri.
Once they traveled across the United States, they
would find themselves settling in little towns
made up of others who had migrated.
In this picture, a woman is standing in one of
these towns with her two young children as her
husband is out trying to find a job.
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Squatter’s Shack
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Many people migrating to find jobs settled in
squatter camps.
This image is of a squatter shack on land that
did not belong to the people who lived in the
shack.
Often times, squatters lived in abandoned
warehouses or buildings.
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Political Cartoons: “Helping Uncle
Fish”
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Many politicians were trying to find ways to help fix the
Great Depression.
During this time, there were many radical ideas that
were new to the time, such as pensions to citizens over
the age of 65, to giving monthly payments to families
to help relieve their hardships.
President FDR decided on something more moderate,
called the New Deal, which focused on the “Three R’s”:
Relief, Recovery, and Reform.
In this political cartoon, it shows Uncle Sam trying to
grab onto the New Deal while others are trying to
distract him with the other radical ideas of reform.
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Civilian Conservation Corps. –
Planting Trees
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The New Deal established the Civilian
Conservation Corps. (CCC)
This organization focused primarily on
conservation of natural resources
The CCC helped by providing jobs for the
unemployed.
In this image, men were employed by the CCC
to plant trees.
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Civilian Conservation Corps. – Brick
Laying
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Members of the CCC lived in camps under a
quasi-military environment.
Common projects including building roads,
hospitals, government buildings, etc.
Here, men are being paid to build a brick road.
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End Slideshow
Resettlement Administration: Rural
Rehabilitation
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Between 1935 and 1936, another organization
was created called the Resettlement
Administration.
Their main priority was to relocate struggling
families to communities created by the federal
government.
In this image, it shows one of the projects
funded through the administration -- making
weaved baskets.
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Summary
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The Great Depression was the most serious economic
period of modern times.
The economic recession of 2009 has many parallels
with the Great Depression.
The faces, sights, and feelings of the Great Depression
were captured in photography.
The effects of the Great Depression were intensified by
the Dust Bowl.
With no jobs and no home, many people migrated for
other areas in search of prosperity.