Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: The Great Depression and the 1990s

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This site includes a unit about the Great Depression. Students will create a creative writing based on Dorothea Lange's 1936 "Migrant Mother" photograph. They will also write a position paper on the United States' current welfare issue....
Unit Plan
Georgia Department of Education

Ga Virtual Learning: Us History: The Roaring 20s and the Great Depression

For Students 9th - 10th
Learning module in U.S. History with interactive materials, assignments, projects and assessment on America during the 1920s and the Great Depression.
Article
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Gilder Lehrman Institute: History Now: The Wpa: Antidote to the Great Depression?

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] A good assessment of the Works Progress Administration and its contribution not only of providing jobs for the unemployed during the Great Depression, but for the lasting improvements it made in the...
Website
University of Washington

University of Washington: The Great Depression in Washington State

For Students 9th - 10th
This comprehensive and well-organized resource walks students through the Great Depression using concise summaries, pictures, and many primary source documents.
Website
New Deal Network

New Deal Network: The Great Depression: 1930s and the Roosevelt Administration

For Students 9th - 10th
The New Deal Network is devoted to students and teachers researching the Great Depression and the New Deal. Features include an extensive database of photographs, political cartoons, texts and a New Deal Network Classroom that has lesson...
Handout
University of Oklahoma

Congressional Archives: Archives of the Great Depression

For Students 9th - 10th
This site covers many aspects of the Great Depression and the New Deal programs meant to address the terrible economic issues.
Primary
Curated OER

History Matters: Donners Recall the Great Depression

For Students 9th - 10th
This description of a family in Dubuque, Iowa was part of a 1935 WPA sponsored project devoted to documenting the experiences of people during the Depression. From the book, The Great Depression, by David Shannon.
Handout
New Deal Network

New Deal Network: Great Depression and the Arts

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Part of a wonderful website devoted to researching and teaching the Great Depression and the New Deal. These pages are focused specifically on the arts during this time.
Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: The Great Depression and the 1990s

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students frequently echo sentiments such as, "The government is too big," or "The government should make welfare mothers pay for their own needs." It seems that many citizens, high schoolers included, have begun to believe in reduced...
Website
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Comission

Expore Pa History: Pa and the Great Depression: Public Works and Organized Labor

For Students 9th - 10th
A good look at how the Great Depression affected Pennsylvania. See how New Deal legislation brought relief to the unemployed in Pennsylvania after 1936.
Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: The Great Depression in North Carolina: Experiences

For Teachers 6th - 8th
This lesson plan will result in imaginary Works Progress Administration (WPA) interviews similar to those found in American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940 of the Library of Congress that...
Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: Migration During the Great Depression: Living History

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Most people in Central Florida came from somewhere else. Students first analyze life histories from American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940 to learn oral history techniques. They then interview...
Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: Found Poetry With Primary Sources: The Great Depression

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
Students explore poetry using American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940 collection of American Memory, which covers personal stories collected by the Works Progress Administration. In particular,...
Primary
City University of New York

American Studies Program: Songs of the Great Depression

For Students 3rd - 8th
A brief site that provides the words to three songs written during the Great Depression. Students can use these for various projects when studying this time in our history.
Activity
Then Again

Then Again: Web Chron: The Great Depression Begins 1929

For Students 9th - 10th
An overview of the Great Depression and its causes.
Website
Other

Hamilton College: The Emergence of Public Housing

For Students 9th - 10th
Read a history of the federal government's funding of public housing during the Great Depression. Find information about the Housing Act of 1937 and 1940.
Handout
George Washington University

Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project: National Youth Administration

For Students 9th - 10th
A good overview of the National Youth Administration and its goals in helping young people during the Great Depression. Of interest is the information on how invested Eleanor Roosevelt was in the development of the program.
Primary
Other

Ohio Department of Aging: War Era Story Project

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource provides first hand accounts and information about Ohio during the War Era and Great Depression.
Website
Columbia University

Columbia University: Harlem Hospital Wpa Murals

For Students 9th - 10th
Painted during the Great Depression and funded under the Works Progress Administration/Federal Art Project these murals carry with them a history worth noting.
Handout
Oklahoma Historical Society

Encyclopedia of Oklahoma: Federal Art Project

For Students 9th - 10th
As part of the Works Progress Administration, the Federal Art Project's goal was to provide employment to artists who would be educators and creators of public art. Read about the legacy of the Federal Art Project in Oklahoma during the...
Website
George Washington University

The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project: Alfred M. Landon (1887 1987)

For Students 9th - 10th
An interesting biography of Alf Landon, who ran for president against Franklin Roosevelt in 1936 even though he agreed with most of Roosevelt's positions and actions to pull the country out of the Great Depression. Read about his...
Unknown Type
EL Education

El Education: Faces of the Depression

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
This book was created by 5th graders in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, as part of a learning expedition on the Great Depression. Students learned about the Depression though several different sources: in addition to standard historical...
Website
Digital History

Digital History: President Roosevelt and the Wpa [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
Franklin Roosevelt had to deal with the Great Depression quickly when he became president in 1932. Read about the early New Deal legislation, how the money was spent, and who administered the programs. Find out about the Works Progress...
Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: An Evaluation of the New Deal

For Students 5th - 8th
No discussion about the Great Depression can be complete without a look at the legacy of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal programs. Read about the changes and effects on the economy brought about by the programs, but see what...