Via Sapientiae at DePaul University
The Great Depression of the 1930s
A 10-lesson unit takes young historians through a study of The Great Depression and life in the 1930s. The crash of the stock market, the Dust Bowl, unemployment, and mass migration west are all addressed through the analysis of primary...
PBS
Myth of the West: Lonely But Free I’ll Be Found
Tumbling tumbleweeds! Scholars work with video clips, primary and secondary documents, and song lyrics to uncover life in the Old West. They examine song's lyrics to uncover myths told in the 1930s about life in the Wild West.
Louisiana Department of Education
Out of the Dust
The Grapes of Wrath may be the most famous novel set during the Dust Bowl, but what other stories cover the same time? The unit focuses on the Karen Hesse novel Out of the Dust. Learners keep a timeline of the Dust Bowl, maintain a...
Curated OER
Out of the Dust: Background notes about the novel, The Great Depression, and The Dust Bowl
If your class is reading the historical fiction novel, Out of the Dust, then you are in luck. Here are a few slides that will help you provide historical context for the book, as well as define main characters, setting, symbolism, and...
PBS
Master of the Airwaves: How FDR Used Radio to Ease the Public’s Fears
The political and economic climate during the 1930's was uncertain and tumultuous. But Americans' minds and hearts were eased with the reassuring words of their president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and addresses over the radio. High...
Curated OER
Read All About It! California History of the 30s and 40s
Explore the Great Depression! Discover the challenges people experienced during the time period. Learners investigate photographs from the Dust Bowl and WWII era and create a story line about the photographs, writing a newspaper article...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
The Effect of the Great Depression on Children
How did the Great Depression affect children? Sometimes studying the Great Depression means only studying about how it affected adults, however, relating the experiences of children and peers their age to themselves may make the...
Penguin Books
A Teacher’s Guide to the Penguin Edition of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath
The dry Oklahoma landscape in America's Dust Bowl sent many farmers in search of the promised land. A teacher's guide to John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath discusses the characters' desire for a better home along with other themes...
Curated OER
The Dust Bowl: Out of the Dust
Is your class going to read the novel, Out of the Dust? If so, you can prep them with a presentation that provides both images of the Dust Bowl and quotes from the book. Tip: Have learners use the images to compose descriptive...
Curated OER
What Was Life Like During the 1920's?
What a wonderful way to begin an exploration of the Great Depression. Using this colorful and interesting presentation, teachers can give students an overview of the life in the 1920's and 1930's. The pictures, quotes and poetry used in...
Curated OER
A Multi-Media Approach to Teaching The Grapes of Wrath
Integrate history, math, and art into a study of The Grapes of Wrath with a series of activities that ask learners to investigate the social, political, economic, and environmental factors at play during the 1930s. Designed to be used...
Historical Thinking Matters
Social Security: 3 Day Lesson
What does social security reveal about the political and social culture of the 1930s? After beginning with a brief introductory video on the impact of the Great Depression and how various Americans, such as Huey Long and Francis...
Curated OER
The Great Depression
Any resource capable of serving two purposes is a good resource, in my opinion. Not only will learners be able to follow lecture and discuss the causes and effects of the Great Depression, they'll also use their critical thinking skills....
Curated OER
The Great Depression and The Dust Bowl
First take a look at images from the Dust Bowl, then discuss its causes and effects. Captured here are primary source images taken by Dorothea Lange, informational text, and a diagram that shows the causes and consequences of this major...
Learning to Give
The Beginning of the Storm
Introduce readers to Mildred Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry with a instructional activity that sets the context for the novel. Class members research the bigotry in Mississippi during the Great Depression and identify examples in...
EduGAINs
Introduction to the Great Depression—Canadian and World Studies
Ah, the classic business cycle model: recession, depression, recovery, prosperity. And then there was the Great Depression. Groups investigate the economic conditions that led to and social movements of the 1920s that great out of the...
Curated OER
Life in the Dust Bowl
Learners consider the accuracy of the book Out of the Dust as they view primary source images taken during the Dust Bowl. Each slide contains an image, a question, and a quote from the book. This would be great to use when covering...
Curated OER
About Life: The Photographs of Dorothea Lange Going to the Promised Land
To better understand the migrant experience during the Great Depression, pupils analyze two primary resources: photographs by Dorothea Lange and a U.S. Map that shows the Dust Bowl. They compare and contrast Lange's images to Steinbeck's...
Center for History Education
The Federal Theatre Project: Analyzing Conflict Among Relief, Art, and Politics in 1930s America
In the effort to soothe the suffering of the Great Depression, New Deal programs funded a variety of approaches - including a theater project that proved controversial! Using documents such as oral histories, as well as photographs of...
Curated OER
Out of the Dust: Visions of Dust Bowl History Lesson Overview
Students complete activities with the book Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. For this literature lesson, students read this story and view the Dust Bowl history from the eyes of a child. They discover the Great Depression and life in...
Curated OER
Important People from the 1930s to 1940s
Students study contributions of important people during the Great Depression. Using the internet, they research and collect information on an assigned individual. Students write an essay on the person researched.
Curated OER
The Brief American Pageant: The Great Depression and the New Deal
Experience the soaring highs and crashing lows of the 1920's and 1930's in this stark presentation. Though brief at eight slides (two are title slides), the graphs and maps would make a good accompaniment to your unit on the Great...
Smithsonian Institution
Hidden Histories: Mexican Repatriation During the 1930s
Mexican Repatriation: the forgotten deportation of American citizens. The resource focuses on the deportation of Mexican American citizens during the Great Depression. Young historians read documents, complete a free-write, and fill out...
Warren County Public Schools
Small Group Discussion Questions
Support a class reading of the novel Song of the Trees by Mildred D. Taylor with this series of discussion questions. Covering a variety of topics from character and setting to historical accuracy and symbolism, these questions...