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.

Striking Back

As the Depression lingered and the New Deal failed to live up to people's expectations, some Americans fought back against a system they felt had betrayed them. Workers everywhere went on strike and were often met with bullets. Riots rocked Harlem after rumors circulated that an African-American boy had been beaten to death for stealing from a white-owned five-and-dime. Bank robber Pretty Boy Floyd carved a place in American folklore before being gunned down by J. Edgar Hoover's FBI. Striking Back relives the desperate acts of people who had been pushed too far by the crisis.

Vocabulary

• hunkered
• wrath
• vanquished
• Nepotism
• solidarity
• calamity
• monotonous
• Ornery
• anarchy
• spasmodic
• disenfranchised
• Foreclose
• notorious
• impose
• retrospect
• Fugitive
• endure
• resilient
• immune
• Depict

Discussion Questions

1. Prior to FDR's New Deal, unions were not legitimate in the United States. Why?
2. What did unionization provide for the workers of America?
3. Unionization changed the nature of business relations between workers and employers. How were these relations different before and after the legalization of unions?
4. The violence of the 1930s was the result of a "wounded society." How was the U.S. a wounded society?
5. Criminals such as Pretty Boy Floyd, Bonnie and Clyde, and John Dillinger were heroes during the Depression. Why did these criminals become heroes?
6. How did these criminals epitomize the discontent of those devastated by the Great Depression?
7. In order to find work and feed their families, African-American women subjected themselves to the "slave markets" of the Bronx in New York City. Discuss what these "slave markets" were and how they operated. Discuss the role of racism in these markets.
8. Although most Americans suffered during the Depression, African-Americans were particularly hard hit. How and why did African-Americans experience tougher times during the Depression than their white counterparts?
9. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia tried to suppress the report of the findings about the 1935 Harlem riot. Why did he try to do this? How did the African-American press force LaGuardia to release the report? What were the results?
10. During the 1934 Southern textile strikes, mill workers all across the South united to close down the mills. Why did these strikes fail? What price did the workers pay for their attempts to unionize the mills?

Extended Activities

1. Create a poster encouraging mill workers to join the 1934 strikes.
2. Create a wanted poster for one of the hero-criminals of the Great Depression.
3. Imagine that you are a newspaper reporter and are assigned to cover the Harlem riot. Write a story for your readers that gives a first-hand account of the incident.