1. Topic 5B – Life in the Depression
Objectives:
Explain how economic changes affected everyday life on the farms, in the city, and in the family during the 1930s
Describe the consequences of the Depression and Dustbowl on various groups of people including Mexican-Americans and Midwestern farmers.
Describe how the American people coped with the Great Depression using examples from primary sources.
Relevance: Large numbers of people lost their jobs and homes in the Depression. People’s lives were wrecked on the farm and in the city. Americans coped with these losses in various ways, some beneficial, but most were destructive.

2. Depression on the Farms
Dangers of Progress
Tractor development and 1920s craze to make money led to overproduction of crops.
Decreased the price of crops and food in the market place due to so many being available for sale.
Farmers tried to make as much money as possible, so they grew as much as possible, forgetting traditional farming methods.
Drought hits the Midwest.
Dust storms begin
Soil is barren and flies away easily from Midwestern winds.
Area/event known as Dust Bowl

3. Depression on the Farms
Massive Migration
If you can’t farm, and your life/town is agricultural based, you cannot stay, you have to move.
Most Midwesterners moved to California to continue agricultural work.
Other immigrants go back home.
Racism
Mexican/Mexican-American population blamed for taking agricultural jobs
Massive deportations of Mexican population…even if you were a citizen…

4. Depression on the farms
Create a timeline that shows the progression of events leading to the Depression affecting life on the farms. Please include how the Depression affected people in the 1930s, on the farm. (exact dates are not necessary; but think of World War I and general trends of the 1920s and how they affected farming)

5. ON THE FARMS ON THE FARMS
Describe the images above. Use as many adjectives as possible and point to the areas on the photo where you see these adjectives depicted.
ON THE FARMS

6. Depression in the City
By 1933 one of every four people was out of work.
To reduce living expenses, people moved in with relatives.
As many as 15 people would crowd into an apartment built for a family of 3.
People refused to leave their homes until the sheriff’s were forced to kick them out
Many wandered around as hoboes, riding trains looking for work.
Many wandered around as hoboes, riding trains looking for work.
“[They have] one-room shacks usually about 10 by 12 feet, have no rug, no water, no bed. In one corner there is a little iron wood stove. Water must be carried from the faucet at the end of the street.” – John Steinbeck, from The Harvest Gypsies, 1936
Unemployment Rates
Buffalo 30%
Chicago 50%
Toledo 80%

7. IN THE CITY Estimated by 1932 that 2 million people were homeless.
Hoovervilles – makeshift cities for the homeless.
Named after President Hoover who was blamed for the economic catastrophe
Most Americans suffered more from the loss of hope brought on by unemployment.

8. In the City

9. In the City
Making a “T” chart below, compare the lifestyles of Americans living in America in the 1920s with those who lived in the 1930s.

10. IN THE FAMILY
Women ran the household, revived home crafting (canning vegetables, sewing, etc.) and usually held a job.
Domestic Upheaval – families broke apart due to fathers and mothers not finding work.
The Depression was psychologically and spiritually draining for men, women, and children.
Women were very important in keeping stability in the home during the 1930s. What do you think this fact may mean for women in the 1940s and 1950s?

11. In the Family

12. In the Family
How did the life of the standard American family change during the Great Depression?
How would you have handled a situation like the Great Depression?

13. Coping with the Depression
Arts and Entertainment
Music, art, poetry, photography, Broadway, movies, etc. all reflected life during the Great Depression
Both on the farm and in the city
Comic books offered children a chance to escape reality.
Examples:
Batman (1939) & Superman (1938)
John Steinbeck – The Grapes of Wrath(1939) (migrant farm workers)
Wizard of Oz (1939) – Escaping the harsh Kansas life and lifting people’s spirits
Woody Guthrie – This Land is my Land (1940) protest song against workplace injustice and the cause of the Great Depression
Why would music, art, and literature appeal to this American audience? (hint: it is somewhat similar to why these things are still popular today)