It was a time of dashed dreams and lost fortunes. But it also proved America's resilience-hardship was met by hope, and tragedy was answered with daring plans. From the stock market crash of 1929 to the recovery spurred by the coming of World War II, The Great Depression is an illuminating look at a difficult age. Americans united in the face of despair-escaping their troubles with dance marathons, helping each other on the hard road from the Dust Bowl to California's "Promised Land", and rallying behind the revolutionary policies of FDR's New Deal. The Great Depression would be useful for classes on American History, American Culture, Political Science, Economics and Civics. It is appropriate for middle school and high school.

Face the Music

Faced with hard times, Americans sought release wherever they could find it, from marathon dancing to going to the movies. Hollywood responded with films that offered escape from the harsh reality of life. Radio, too, enjoyed incredible popularity, pioneering new genres like the sitcom and soap opera years before the debut of television in 1939. At the same time documentary photographers finding work in the New Deal programs captured the essence of the Depression in images such as Dorothea Lange's classic "Migrant Mother".

Vocabulary

• gilded
• vanguard
• gothic
• retaliation
• aberration
• integral
• sanitized
• pompous
• fascism
• equivalent
• theoretical
• hordes
• harrowing
• incongruity
• compelled
• profound

Discussion Questions

1. While most industries suffered during the Depression, there were some that flourished. What industries thrived during the Depression? Why did these industries experience growth and prosperity while other industries experienced decline and failure?
2. The motion picture industry soared during the Depression. Why were movies so popular during the Depression? What purpose did they serve?
3. What other forms of media entertainment flourished during the Depression?
4. Mae West was one of the most popular stars of the 1930s. An older, somewhat plump woman, West nevertheless captured the imaginations of movie audiences. Why? What made West so popular?
5. What was the role of censorship during the 1930s? How is censorship accomplished today?
6. Radios became a household staple in the 1930s. How did a radio provide the listener with a link to the outside world and help ease the loneliness of isolation?
7. How were radio shows the forerunners of many of today's television formats?
8. Radio provided a new medium for manufacturers to sell their products. How did radio revolutionize the advertising industry? How and why were women a special target of advertisers?
9. How did FDR use the medium of radio to encourage and reassure the country?
10. New Deal programs such as the Works Progress Administration (WPA) employed photographers. What was the role of these photographers in chronicling the Depression? Discuss the record these photographers left for future generations.
11. Dorothea Lange's photograph "Migrant Mother" is the most popular image of the Great Depression. Why did this photograph have such an impact?

Extended Activities

1. Write and perform a radio skit that takes place during the Great Depression.
2. Unlike movies theaters today, the movie theaters of the 1930s were elaborate palaces that transported audiences to another world even before the show started. Design a grand movie theater of the 1930s.
3. Write and perform a radio news broadcast about the Hindenburg disaster.