1. LO: What issues were prominent in American in the 1930s
LO: What issues were prominent in American in the 1930s? Can I identify these issues in ‘Of Mice and Men’?
1930s America
‘The Great Depression’
What do you know about ‘The Great Depression’ in America?

2. Effects of The Depression
LO: What issues were prominent in American in the 1930s? Can I identify these issues in ‘Of Mice and Men’?
Effects of The Depression
Describe the faces of the people in the film.
Why were so many of them queuing?
What kind of work were the men looking for?
How would you describe their lives?
Factories and Mills closed
Manufacturing cut in half
Unemployment rose from 3.2 % to 24.9%
Banks ran out of money
Homelessness; poverty
“Riches to Rags”
White people took over jobs held by minorities who were seen as inferior.
Click on banner for hyperlink – answer questions on the film

3. LO: What issues were prominent in American in the 1930s
LO: What issues were prominent in American in the 1930s? Can I identify these issues in ‘Of Mice and Men’?
Along with the great depression there was also a severe drought in the central states – which were heavily farmed. This caused huge dust storms that turned the sky black and ruined the ground.

4. Read the stories from migrant workers.
LO: What issues were prominent in American in the 1930s? Can I identify these issues in ‘Of Mice and Men’?
These dust storms destroyed the farming industry in the central states and sent farmers migrating to California.
People heard that in California the soil was still good and there was plenty of room and opportunity for work.
Read the stories from migrant workers.

5. Imagine you are one of these people in the images.
LO: What issues were prominent in American in the 1930s? Can I identify these issues in ‘Of Mice and Men’?
Imagine you are one of these people in the images.
Use the stories to write your own diary entry.