Lesson Plans The lesson plans presented utilize the blog posts and the primary source material in the posts. Each lesson plans contains a listing of the National History Standards that it aligns with for grades 5-12.
Continuing Their Stories
Introduction
Franklin D. Roosevelt came into office at the height of the Great Depression, when unemployment was reaching 25% and thousands of banks were failing. During his first hundred days in office, his administration hit the ground running, getting numerous acts passed through Congress to address the issues facing banking, agriculture and industry. However, these actions did not end the Great Depression, more still needed to be done, which is why a second major wave of projects were pushed through Congress. Commonly referred to as the Second New Deal, these included the creation of agencies such as the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and new programs to aid tenant farmers and sharecroppers as well as legislation such as the Social Securities Act.
At the end of the First Hundred Days most of our contributors were hopeful about the future, but their situations had not dramatically changed. The real impact of some of the legislation passed would not be seen until weeks and months later.
Objective
To examine the impact of New Deal legislation by creating a narrative that picks up the story of one of the First Hundred Days blog contributors a few years after the blog ends. Analyze and discuss the lasting impact of the First New Deal legislature on the contributor. Identify key pieces of legislation and how they affected the contributor.
Standards (according to National History Standards 5-12)
- 1.C. Establish temporal order in constructing historical narratives of their own.
- 2.D. Differentiate between historical facts and historical interpretations.
- 2.E. Read historical narratives imaginatively.
- 2.F. Appreciate historical perspectives.
- 3.B. Consider multiple perspectives.
- 3.C.Analyze cause-and-effect relationships and multiple causation, including the importance of the individual, the influence of ideas.
- 4.B. Obtain historical data from a variety of sources.
- 4.C. Interrogate historical data.
- 5.C. Identify relevant historical antecedents.
Task
1. Choose a contributor to write about. Read their posts, taking note of the issues they are facing and the legislation that is impacting them during the First New Deal.
2. Examine the primary and secondary sources below.
3. Write 3-5 blog posts as the contributor that take place in 1935 or 1936 utilizing what you know from the blogs and the primary and secondary sources. How has legislation from the First New Deal impacted their lives since they last wrote? How is the Second New Deal impacting the lives of them and those around them?
4. Be sure to utilize pertinent pictures, video, documents or radio broadcasts in each post.
Resources
Works Progress Administration Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq5UiGdje8U
National Archives YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/usnationalarchives#p/c/6C92411EB3B3D76B
Eleanor Roosevelt’s My Day columns: http://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/myday/
New Deal Network: http://newdeal.feri.org/default.cfm
Voices from the 1930s: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wpaintro/exhome.html
Manuscripts from the Federal Writer’s Project: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wpaintro/exhome.html
FSA/OWI Black and White and Colored Photographs from the 1930s and 1940s: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/fsacabt.html
Document Based Question
Introduction
Following years of economic prosperity, the United States entered into prolonged economic depression following the stock market crash in October 1929 known as “Black Tuesday.” The two presidents during the Great Depression, Herbert Hoover (1928-1932) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) would undertake various strategies to alleviate the depression with limited success. This blog shows the first steps taken by the FDR administration.
Objective
Analyze specific primary source material found in the First Hundred Days blog and answer questions. Compare the strategies and approaches taken by the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations in attempting to get the country out of the Depression.
Standards (according to National History Standards 5-12)
- 2.C. Identify the central question(s) the historical narrative addresses.
- 2.H. Utilize visual, mathematical, and quantitative data.
- 3.A. Compare and contrast differing sets of ideas.
- 4.C. Interrogate historical data.
- 5.A. Identify issues and problems in the past.
- 5.F. Evaluate the implementation of a decision.
Task
- Using the following sources and your knowledge of US History and government, examine the following documents and the answer accompanying questions.
- Utilizing the sources presented, craft an essay answering the three questions below.
- Describe the economic problems that existed in the Great Depression.
- What strategies did Hoover use to combat the depression? What strategies did FDR use?
- What impact did these strategies have on Americans?
Moving Image: Disney’s Three Little Pigs cartoon
How does this story reflect attitudes towards work during the Depression? What could the Big Bad Wolf represent? What lessons are learned from the pigs?
Image:Dust Storm
Describe the conditions illustrated in this picture from Nebraska, 1933.
Audio: FDR’s First Fireside Chat
According to FDR, why did the banks close and what is the government going to do next?
Newspaper:
According to this headline what happened to the American stock market in October 1929? What came to an end?
Document:
“President Hoover wanted to promote recovery almost from the beginning of the Depression. Hardly a traditional conservative, he still was limited by his view of the proper role of government. The government, as he saw it, should guide the private economy only by encouraging efficiency and cooperation between the government and industry. But the government need not and should not encroach on the functions of the private economy. The prevailing view was that the economy would equilibrate itself after the shock…The tone of government policy as well as the substance of fiscal policy was set by Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon whose policy was to “liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate.”’ [Peter Temin, Lessons from the Great Depression, pgs. 26-27]
What was the Hoover Administration’s approach to alleviating the Depression?
Audio and Video Commentary on the Great Depression
Introduction:
Listening to radio programs and movie going became increasingly popular throughout much of the country during the Great Depression. Americans began to turn to the radio for news as well as for entertainment. Many people who lived through the Depression vividly remember listening to FDR’s fireside chats and the radio programs such as Amos ‘n Andy and Little Orphan Annie were massively popular. Likewise, throughout the US it is estimated that one third of the population went to a movie on any given day. Radio programs and movies exposed Americans collectively to new and different experiences and helped create a national community with a specific set of shared experiences. Today an easy way to connect with people from different parts of the country is over popular television shows or movies. In the 1930s, this was just beginning to develop through the widespread appeal of radio programs and movies.
Objective:
Utilize multimedia sources to analyze the attitudes and culture of the Great Depression.
Standards: (according to National History Standards 5-12)
- 2.D. Differentiate between historical facts and historical interpretations.
- 2.E. Read historical narratives imaginatively.
- 3.F. Compare competing historical narratives.
- 4.C. Interrogate historical data.
Task:
The characters in this blog often use multimedia sources to explain points they are trying to make or to share popular culture. Analyze 2 to 3 audio or video clips found in the blog posts to answer one of the following questions:
- The Roosevelt Administration would use a lot of propaganda (forms of communication aimed at influencing the attitude of people towards a particular cause or position) to promote the programs the government enacted. Do you think they were successful? Why or why not? Be sure to cite specific examples from the audio or video clips and you can supplement your audio and video analysis with images of propaganda as well.
- There are many songs found in the posts including “Man of Constant Sorrow,” “Keep on the Sunny Side”, “On the Sunny Side of the Street”, and “We’re in the Money.” Examine the lyrics of these songs. How do they reflect the events and attitudes of the public during the First Hundred Days?
