LIFE and TIMES of the 1930s
What inferences can you make about the 1930s based on this picture?
picture
1929: Describe what is happening in this cartoon.
“BLACK TUESDAY”: The Stock Market Crashes October 29, 1929 People realized they were paying too much for stocks and panicked. When everyone tried to sell their stocks at once, the price of stocks plunged and people lost all the money they had invested. Led to the worst economic crisis of all time: businesses failed, banks failed, people lost their jobs and even homes. Resulted in the Great Depression that lasted from 1929 to 1941.Great Depression
The unemployment rate was 25% at the height of the Great Depression.
Many soup kitchens were established to help feed massive numbers of hungry Americans.
“White Angel Breadline” by Dorthea Lange
The New Deal Stimulates Economy First time gov’t stepped in to help people by giving them money (e.g. social security & welfare.) Public Works Programs created jobs (building bridges and roads; bringing electricity to rural areas). Gov’t insured banks.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt Inaugurated in 1933 “HAPPY DAYS are HERE AGAIN!” So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself…the only thing we have to fear is fear itself
The Golden Age of Hollywood Movies were a popular form of entertainment during the 1930s. Throughout the decade, 90 million Americans went to a movie weekly. Why do you think movies were so popular during these times?
Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896 Making segregation legal. Homer Plessy was 7/8ths white. Boarded a “Whites Only” railroad car in Louisianna and was arrested. His case went to the Supreme Court which ruled... …that segregating people because of their race was legal as long as everyone had “equal” facilities. The doctrine of “Separate but Equal became the law of the land.
Even though music, movies, and other forms of entertainment helped many American get their minds off of difficult times, there were major issues concerning the CIVIL RIGHTS of our citizens. THE RACIAL DIVIDE
Compare these two schools from Alabama
Notice how is the school on the left different from the one on the right. Compare these two schools from Kansas City
Jim Crow Laws separate but NOT equal
RACISM was PREVELANT and ACCEPTED in the South during the 1930s Harper Lee addresses this issue in To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee, early 1960s HARPER LEE Harper Lee, 2006 Pulitzer Prize winning author of To Kill a Mockingbird
MORE on Harper Lee Nelle Harper Lee was born in Monroeville, AlabamaMonroeville, Alabama on April 28, 1926April Alabama was a hotbed of Civil Rights activity, especially during the 1950s when Lee wrote this book. Lee set the novel during the Great Depression because Civil Rights issues really started to heat up during this time period. It was also the time when she was a little girl.
Alabama The book takes place in Alabama during the 1930’s.
Focus on one of these photographs from the 1930s and complete the writing exercise, using your knowledge of this time period: Tell the “story” behind this picture. Write from the perspective of one of the people in the photo. Who are you? What are you experiencing, feeling, thinking, or saying? Be as descriptive as possible. This short story should be AT LEAST one full page.
MAKING PREDICTIONS Look at the cover of this book. What do you notice? What questions do you have?