Article
Curated OER

History Matters: The Bum as Con Artist

For Students 9th - 10th
History Matters reprints a 1929 newspaper article by journalist Tom Kromer, who contended that the beggar was a con man in the beginning of the Great Depression. It seems that Mr. Kromer became unemployed himself within the year, so...
Primary
US National Archives

Nara: A New Deal for the Arts

For Students 9th - 10th
Some of the New Deal programs during the Great Depression were designed to support artists and the arts. This National Archives and Records Administration site explores the products of the time period.
Graphic
US National Archives

Nara: A New Deal for the Arts: Rediscovering America

For Students 9th - 10th
As part of the artistic nationalism that took place during the Great Depression, this website from the National Archives and Records Administration focuses on many American scenes. Lots of focus on small-town life and various regions.
Graphic
US National Archives

Nara: A New Deal for the Arts Activist Arts

For Students 9th - 10th
The turbulence of the Great Depression is reflected in these images of workers in artwork from the NARA on this site.
Primary
The History Place

The History Place: Dorothea Lange: Migrant Farm Families

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about the history of migrant workers in America by viewing the work of Dorothea Lange, one of the most famous photographers of the Great Depression.
Website
Wessels Living History Farm

Living History Farm: Farming in the 1930s: Crash!

For Students 9th - 10th
A multi-page site that focuses on the effects of the Great Depression primarily in rural America in the early days before the election of Franklin Roosevelt. Find videos interviews with those who lived through the trying times.
Website
Digital History

Digital History: Why It Happened

For Students 9th - 10th
How did a country with such a booming economy in the 1920s sink into economic disaster in the 1930s? Prosperity was just an illusion. See the many causes of the Great Depression, and find out how all the signs were missed or disregarded.
Website
Historica Canada

Historica Canada: Heritage Minutes: Maple Leaf Gardens

For Students 9th - 10th
During the Great Depression, to create work, an icon of hockey was built. This dramatization of the building of Maple Gardens gives a great background to the Depression as well as other links to digital sources. The resource is available...
Website
PBS

Pbs Online News Hour Extra: u.s. Economy Officially in a Recession

For Students 9th - 10th
The verdict is in and the U.S. is in a recession. Find a succinct explanation of the 2008 recession and backtrack to the Great Depression. Follow up with discussion questions and a lesson plan complete with a glossary of terms. December...
Activity
ibiblio

Ibiblio: Hoover Library: A Thousand Fronts

For Students 9th - 10th
Provides a clear description of the problems Hoover faced as President during the Great Depression.
Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: Teachers: New Deal Programs: Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Photographs and life histories aid students in examining the lives of real people during the Great Depression, specifically those impacted by the New Deal programs and agencies. The culminating student products of this lesson plan will...
Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: The Market Crashes

For Students 5th - 8th
Although not the only cause for the Great Depression, the stock market crash in October 1929, showed the weakness of the American economy in a concrete way. Read about how the stock market values were run up by speculation, and how it...
Activity
Wessels Living History Farm

Living History Farm: Bank Failures

For Students 9th - 10th
The bank runs and bank failures of the 1930s are described here, as well as personal interviews with people who experienced the Great Depression.
Website
Digital History

Digital History: Keynes and the Multiplier [Pdf]

For Teachers 9th - 10th
John Maynard Keynes was an English economist who had definite ideas on how to end the Great Depression. Read about his economic theories and see whether Franklin Roosevelt followed his advice. Charts show information about the country's...
Lesson Plan
US National Archives

Nara: Teaching With Documents: Fdr's First Inaugural Address

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Features background on FDR and his platform for dealing with the Great Depression. Included are primary source documents of his first inaugural address and photos related to his New Deal programs.
Primary
Digital Public Library of America

Dpla: The New Deal

For Students 9th - 10th
This primary source set allows you to explore the crisis of the Great Depression, as well as the dramatic developments of the New Deal, through photographs, speeches, letters, and oral histories. Includes a teaching guide.
Article
Hartford Web Publishing

World History Archives: Indispensable Ally: Black Workers, Formation of the Cio

For Students 9th - 10th
This article relates the history of African Americans in the union movement during the Great Depression. Read about the importance of black membership in the CIO, the ILA, and the steel industry.
Lesson Plan
Digital History

Digital History: The First Hundred Days

For Teachers 9th - 10th
It is truly amazing to see how much legislation President Franklin Roosevelt was able to get through Congress in the first one hundred days of his administration. Read about the many programs that were implemented in an attempt to stem...
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...
Handout
Digital History

Digital History: Wagner Act

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the growth of labor unions during the 1930s as the Great Depression continued, due to the passage of the Wagner Act. Find out about the strikes and the conflict between labor and management, as well as conflict within the...
Website
Digital History

Digital History: President Hoover

For Students 9th - 10th
President Herbert Hoover spent his life in public service, and was a very intelligent man, but he was not able to see the problems caused by the Great Depression. Read about his comments and presidential actions in dealing with this...
Unit Plan
Scholastic

Scholastic: Book Files: Out of the Dust

For Students 9th - 10th
"Out of the Dust", a Newbery Award Winning, poetic book by Karen Hesse. The heroine, Billie Joe, faces issues of forgiveness and healing during the Dust Bowl. The story is set in Oklahoma, during the Great Depression. Make a smart choice...
Handout
Other

Nyit: School of Management: New Deal

For Students 9th - 10th
Explains the programs instituted by FDR between 1933 and 1938 to curb the effects of the Great Depression. Lists and briefly defines such programs as the Agricultural Adjustment Act, WPA, National Housing Act, etc.
Website
Other

Woody Guthrie: The People's Troubador

For Students 9th - 10th
The story of Woody Guthrie, the folk musician who wrote the score for the 1930s and the Great Depression.

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