1. The Great Depression Georgia CTAE Resource Network
Instructional Resources Office
Written by: Amanda Supra and Frank Flanders
July 2009

2. Objectives 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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3. Note to the teacher:
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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5. Unemployment
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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7. Farm Foreclosure Sales
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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9. Employment Agencies
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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11. Political Cartoons: “The Philanthropist”
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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13. Donations for the Unemployed
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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15. Soup Kitchens
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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17. Irony Behind the Breadline
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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19. Political Cartoons: “1929 vs. Today”
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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21. Schools During the Great Depression
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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23. Christmas During the Great Depression
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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25. The Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl intensified problems during the Great Depression for farms in the Southern Plains ( ).
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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27. Train Hoppers
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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29. Walking to California
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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31. “Okies” Travel to California
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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33. Migrant Mother
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
Discouraged
Depressed
Dejected
Demoralized
Despondent
Desperate
Down-hearted
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35. Migrant Workers
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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37. Squatter’s Shack
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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39. Political Cartoons: “Helping Uncle Fish”
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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41. Civilian Conservation Corps. – Planting Trees
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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43. Civilian Conservation Corps. – Brick Laying
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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45. Resettlement Administration: Rural Rehabilitation
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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46. Summary
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.