Life During the Depression
The Great Depression &The New Deal
Chapter 26, Section 3
Essential Question:
• What does it mean to be “spoiled?”
Mary McLeod Bethune• Founded Bethune-
Cookman College
• Appointed by FDR as Director of Negro Affairs @ the NYA in 1936
• Ran Training Programs for 600,000+ African American Youths
• Supervised Her College from Afar
Causes of the Dust Bowl of the 1930’s
• Droughts in the Great Plains for Several Years
• Overgrazing of Livestock
• Over-Plowing of Fields
• Destroyed the Natural Grass & Soil (BAD DIRT!)
Dust Bowl• Drought in the
Midwest:– Winds Picked Up Dirt
From the Dry Fields– “Noon Turned into
Night”
• Dust Damaged Farms Across a 150,000 Square Mile Region (THE DUST BOWL)
• Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico
“I’m Outa’ Here!”• Ruined Farmers
Moved Out West
• “Okies” Heard California & Pacific Coast States Needed Workers (Jobs!)
• 2.5 Million People Migrated West
“Honey… Make sure you bring the Goat!”
Route 66
“Get Outa’ Here You No Good Okies!”
• 2.5 Million People Moved Out West!
• OVERPOPULATION!
• “Okies”- Name for the Migrating Farmers to the West (Most Came From Oklahoma)
• Hard to Find Jobs/Food/Housing
“Okies”
“It’s a Good Thing We Brought the Goat!”
Children During the Depression
• Kids Had to Contribute to the Family Income & Grow Up Fast!
• After School:– Boys Had to Find
Work!– Girls Often Stayed
Home & Took Care of Children (So Mom Could Work)
• Some Kids Dropped Out of School to Work!
Teenagers During the Depression
• Worked to Help the Family!
• Many Teens Who Couldn’t Find Jobs Ran Away from Home (Didn’t Want to be a Burden/Felt Guilty!)
• 1932 - ¼ Million Teens Roamed the Country– Sneaked Onto Freight
Trains– Begged for Food– Lived in Camps Along
RR Tracks
Women During the Depression
• Working Women Were Pressured to Give Up Jobs to Jobless Men
• Women Forced to Take Jobs Men Didn’t Want (Servants)
• New Deal Projects Would Only Hire Women Only if Husband Had a Job!
Hands of a Farm Women 1936
James Agee & Walker Evans
• Wrote Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941)
• Wrote About the Harsh Lives of Tenant Farmers During the Depression
John Steinbeck• Wrote The Grapes of Wrath
(1939)– Told of Okies Who Had
Been Driven Off Their Land by Drought & NO $$$!
– Told of Okies Going to California in Hope of Finding Jobs!
– Baby Starves to Death From Malnourished Mom
• CLASSIC BOOK ABOUT GREAT DEPRESSION!
Richard Wright• Author Hired by the
New Deal WPA – Wrote Native Son
(1940)
• Wrote About Limitations That Society Placed on African Americans
• Expressed African American’s Anger Toward’s Society’s Racism
Dorothea Lange• Photographer Hired
by the WPA to Document the Times
• Pictures Show the Hard Lives of Poor People During the Great Depression
• Most Famous Picture is “Despair” (Woman Holding Her Three Children)
Eleanor Roosevelt• The 1st Lady = FDR’s Wife
= Wanted to Help the Poor
• “FDR’s Eyes & Ears” of the Country (FDR Had POLIO)
• Toured the Country Visiting Coal Mines, Work Camps & Hospitals
• Find Out How FDR’s New Deal Programs Were Working
Eleanor Roosevelt 1933 1939 1957
• The 1st First Lady to Hold Weekly Press Conferences
• Started Writing a Syndicated Newspaper Column, "My Day"
• Introduced Women in Charge of New Deal Programs to the Press
Hmmmm…..
• Why do you think Eleanor Roosevelt publicized the women who were placed in charge of running numerous New Deal programs? (Hypothesize)
The Next Cover of Time Magazine?
Francis Perkins• FDR’s Selection for
Secretary of Labor (1933)
• Given MOST IMPORTANT Job During the Depression
• What Does That Tell YOU About FDR?
• 1st EVER Female Cabinet Officer
• Supported Laws Such As:– Granting Minimum
Wage– Limit on Child
Employment– Unemployment
Compensation
Signing of the Social Security Act
FDR’s Black Cabinet• FDR’s “Black Cabinet”
– African American Advisors Selected by FDR to be in the Cabinet
– Robert C. Weaver: Economist (Harvard) FDR Made Him Advisor on Racial Issues
– William Hastie: Brilliant Lawyer Who FDR Made the Head of the Department of Interior
– What Does That Tell YOU About FDR?
Minorities During the Depression
• Although FDR Had African Americans in His Cabinet, He Did NOT Support an Anti-Lynching Law!
• FDR Hated Racism!
• “If I Support the Anti-Lynching Bill, the Southerners will Block Every Bill I Ask Congress to Pass to Keep America From Collapsing.”
Minorities During the Depression
• Mexican Americans Living in Rural Farming Areas Competed for Jobs with Migrating Farmers (“Okies” from the Dust Bowl)
• Immigration from Mexico Declined During the Great Depression
• Many Mexican Americans Returned Back to Mexico
• Mexican American Citizens Feared Applying for New Deal Programs! Afraid of Being DEPORTED by the US Government!
Minorities During the Depression
• Indian Reorganization Act:– Restored Some
Reservation Lands to Native Americans
• Indian Arts & Crafts Board:– Promote Native
American Culture
Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)
• 1938 - CIO Broke Away from the American Federation of Labor (AFL)
• CIO - Industry Wide Union that Included BOTH Skilled & Unskilled Workers
• AFL Only Allowed in Skilled Workers!
• CIO = More Open to Women & Minorities!
Sit-Down Strikes• Very Effective
Bargaining Tactic!
• Instead of Walking Out in Protest, Striking Workers Remained Inside the Plant Not Working!
• Factory Workers Could NOT Hire Strike Breakers! (Scabs!)
• Peaceful Strategy!
Unions• Wagner Act (1935,
FDR’s 2nd New Deal)– Protected Workers Rights
to Form Unions & Set Up a Board to Hear Labor Disputes
• Gave Unions the Ability to Negotiate Better Working Conditions
• Made Unions Stronger!
• Union Membership Increased:
2.7 million in 19337 million in 1937
Name That Person!
Eleanor Roosevelt
Francis Perkins John Steinbeck
Richard Wright
Mary McLeod Bethune
Essential Question:
• What does it mean to be “spoiled?”
Top Related