Warm Up/Bell Ringer:  How did you feel when you came in this morning and realized that we were watching a movie?  How did watching a movie change your feelings about the day?  How do you think this experience can help you understand the experience of Americans during the Great Depression?

Our first question:  How did the Great Depression affect workers?

During the worst years of the Depression ( ) 25% of people were unemployed. Another 25%: pay cuts or part time work It was not until 1941, when WWII was underway, that unemployment officially fell back below 10%.

An early form of Social Security began Aug 14, 1935, to implement social insurance for the elderly who did not have enough money to support themselves.

The most famous demonstration during the Great Depression was held by the “Bonus Army.” Desperate for $$$, WWI veterans requested financial bonuses that were scheduled to be given in 1945 to be paid instead in The U.S. Army was called in to disperse them.

Many people tried apple selling to avoid the shame of panhandling. In New York City alone, there were as many as 6,000 apple sellers

 Between 1930 and 1935, nearly 750,000 farms were lost through bankruptcy or sheriff sales.

2/13/13Bell Ringer/Warm Up: Today’s bellringer will NOT be in your spiral. Please take out a piece of paper and write your name, date and period. Objective: Students will explore the experience of Americans during the Great Depression.

 Some Americans chose to invest large amounts of money in the Stock Market during the 1930s. These individuals lost substantial amounts of money, and many accumulated large debts. Some Americans lost everything during the Great Depression, even though they never invested any money in the stock market. Write a paragraph explaining how this could happen.

Our next question:  What did Americans do to escape reality during the great depression?

During the Great Depression, a record million Americans went to the movies every week. (35¢ )

 Biggest blockbusters: 1933 King Kong, 1939 The Wizard of Oz and 1939 Gone with the Wind

 At the start of the decade 12 million American households owned a radio, and by 1939 this total had exploded to more than 28 million  Families would gather around the radio to listen to radio dramas and news programs!  Clip Clip

Our next question:  How did living conditions change?

Our next question:  How were children affected?

Scholars estimate that nearly 50% of children during the Great Depression did not have adequate food, shelter, or medical care.

By the 1930s, thousands of schools were operating on reduced hours or were closed down entirely. Some three million children had left school, and at least 200,000 took to riding the rails

Some people (including Children) who became homeless would ride on railroad cars because they didn’t have money to travel.

Our next question:  What other changes did Americans encounter?

Discrimination during the Great Depression against women was common: they were seen as taking away jobs from men.

African-Americans were the hardest hit during the Great Depression, and they were often the first to get laid off

John Dillinger Machine Gun Kelly Baby Face Nelson Pretty Boy Floyd As businesses and farms closed during the Great Depression, an alarming number of Americans began turning to crime

And Bonnie and Clyde….

 After the initial crash, there was a wave of suicides in the New York’s financial district.  It is said that the clerks of one hotel even started asking new guests if they needed a room for sleeping or jumping.  One American sheep farmer found that he would not make money off of his sheep during the depression.  Rather than watch his 3,000 sheep starve to death, he cut their throats and threw them in a canyon  The board game Monopoly, which first became available in 1935, became immensely popular perhaps because players could become rich— at least in their imagination.

The Great Depression changed the family in several ways:  Many couples delayed marriage  Divorce rates dropped  Birth rates dropped  Some men also abandoned their families  A 1940 poll revealed that 1.5 million married women were abandoned by their husbands

Exit Ticket  Review: List 10 ways in which Americans were impacted by the Great Depression.

Warm Up/Bell Ringer2/14/13  Happy Valentines Day  In your opinion…what was the most difficult part of life for an Americans during the Great Depression? Why?

Bell Ringer/Warm Up What OBSERVATIONS can you make about the photo? What INFERENCES can you make about the photo? What PREDICTIONS can you make about today’s lesson based on the photo?