SS5H5 The student will explain how the Great Depression and New Deal affected the lives of millions of Americans.
a. Discuss the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, the Dust Bowl, and soup kitchens.
b. Analyze the main features of the New Deal; include the significance of the Civilian Conservation Corps, Works Progress Administration, and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
c. Discuss important cultural elements of the 1930s; include Duke Ellington, Margaret Mitchell, and Jesse Owens.
a. Discuss the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, the Dust Bowl, and soup kitchens.
b. Analyze the main features of the New Deal; include the significance of the Civilian Conservation Corps, Works Progress Administration, and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
c. Discuss important cultural elements of the 1930s; include Duke Ellington, Margaret Mitchell, and Jesse Owens.
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover is remembered for being the unfortunate president when the stock market crashed in 1929. Everything seemed to go wrong for the next several years, as the farmer's crops failed, the banks went out of business and 25% percent of Americans couldn't find a job. Homeless people lived in shanty towns and called them "Hoovervilles." Even though it is debated if Hoover could actually have done anything to make the Depression end, he had no hope of being reelected, because people blamed all their problems on him.
Soup Kitchens
Soup kitchens and bread lines were filled with people during the 1930's, because 1 out of 4 Americans did not have a job. |
Black Tuesday
Throughout the 1920's people began buying stock from many of the thriving businesses. Because the economy was doing so well, people made a lot of money. However, many people foolishly began to borrow money so they could invest more and make even more money. When the stock market lost its value many investors could no longer afford to pay back the money they had borrowed. As a result the banks ran out of money, because they had loaned out so much money. This resulted in a rush on the banks. People desperately tried to get their money out of the bank before the bank ran out of money. Many people lost all of their money. This included many people who had not invested anything!
The Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl happened as a result of drought and poor farming techniques. When tractors were first introduced in the 1920's, farmers began to till up miles of land instead of the few acres that they could do with their horses. When drought hit, the dirt dried up and wind erosion took over. In many cases farmers tilled long straight rows and they worked like wind tunnels. The wind would come and blow down the rows picking up dirt with nothing to stop it. Farmers later learned that they should changed the directions of their crops or leave wind barriers in between their fields.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
President Roosevelt was elected in 1932 while America was suffering from the effects of the Great Depression. He promised the American People a New Deal. His New Deal plan was for the government to help meet peoples' needs by creating jobs and government programs to assist the American people. Some of the key programs he created were the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Works Progress Administration. To get a full understanding of the various programs you will want to visit the links provided, but here is a quick explanation of each program.
|
The New Deal
The New Deal was a series of domestic programs enacted in the United States between 1933 and 1938. They involved laws passed by Congress as well as presidential executive orders during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were in response to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call the "3 Rs": Relief, Recovery, and Reform. That is Relief for the unemployed and poor; Recovery of the economy to normal levels; and Reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression.
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25 as part of Roosevelt's New Deal. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who provided unskilled manual labor jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands owned by federal, state and local governments. The CCC was designed to provide jobs for young men, to relieve families who had difficulty finding jobs during the Great Depression in the United States while at the same time implementing a general natural resource conservation program in every state and territory. Maximum enrollment at any one time was 300,000; in nine years 3 million young men participated in the CCC, which provided them with shelter, clothing, and food, together with a small wage of $30 a month ($25 of which had to be sent home to their families).
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration; WPA) was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unemployed people (mostly unskilled men) to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads. In much smaller but more famous projects the WPA employed musicians, artists, writers, actors and directors in large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects.
|
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is the nation's largest public power
provider and a corporation of the U.S. government. TVA was established
by Congress in 1933 to address a wide range of environmental, economic,
and technological issues, including the delivery of low-cost electricity
and the management of natural resources. TVA’s power service territory
includes most of Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky,
Mississippi, North Carolina and Virginia, covering 80,000 square miles
and serving more than 9 million people. TVA sells electricity to 155
power distributor customers and 56 directly served industries and
federal facilities.
|
The Culture of the 1930's
Almost everybody knows about the Great Depression of the 1930's, but they often overlook some of the cultural elements that were still going on. Writers were writing, musicians were jazzing along, movies continued to rise in popularity and professional sports were still advancing. In addition, African Americans continued to make notable achievements despite the fact that they were still not accepted as equals.
Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington continued the jazz tradition of Louis Armstrong. He became one of the most popular musicians and composers in America despite continually facing the issue of racism in America.
Margaret Mitchell
Margaret Mitchell became famous for her Pulitzer Prize winning book, "Gone with the Wind." The book about life in the South during and after the Civil War was also made into one of top selling movies of all time, in 1939. Mitchell was born in Atlanta, Georgia and her book is a piece of literature with which every Georgian should be familiar.
|
Jesse Owens
Jesse Owens became a hero after winning 4 gold medals at the 1936 Olympics. In addition to winning he embarrassed Adolf Hitler at the games which were held in Berlin, Germany. Hitler believed that the Aryan (German) race was superior to everybody else. Owens severely disproved this theory by winning gold four times. Despite his incredible success, African Americans still were segregated in American and were not treated as equals.
|