Dust and Depression: A Look at 1930's America Through Young Eyes

Lesson Focus:

Through reading and viewing primary source materials, students will learn to evaluate
and to draw conclusions about a period in history. Students will make connections to their own lives by
reading letters written by other children during the Depression.

Subject:

Middle School Language Arts

Standards to be assessed:

• Reading/Writing 1: Students read and understand a variety of materials.
• Reading/Writing 4: Students apply thinking skills to their reading, writing, speaking, listening
  and viewing.

Standards to be addressed:

• Information Literacy 2: Students will evaluate information critically and competently.
  
• History 1: Students understand the chronological organization of history and know how to
  organize events and people into major eras to identify and explain historical relationships.
  
• History 2: Students know how to use the processes and resources of historical inquiry.

Assessment:

Students will complete a written document analysis worksheet.

Time:

One hour

Materials:

• Computer lab with internet access
  
• SmartBoard (optional)
  
• One copy for each student of the Written Document Analysis Worksheet from the U.S. National
  Archives and Records Administration
• Link to the website 'Dear Mrs. Roosevelt' http://www.newdeal.feri.org/eleanor/index.htm
  
• Locate several photographs of teenagers/children from the depression from the Library of
  Congress American Memory Collection
  Black and White Photographs from the FSA-OWI 1935-1945 <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fahome.html> and have them available to project
  on the SmartBoard (or print copies)
  • Possible Examples include:
    Young girl, migratory worker, beside the tent in which she lives. Kern County,
    California: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@field
    (NUMBER+@band(fsa+8b32667))
    Young girl working in packing house. Camden, New Jersey: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@field
    (NUMBER+@band(fsa+8b17181))
• Copy of 'Dear Mrs. Roosevelt: Letters from Children of the Great Depression' by Prof. Robert Cohen (optional)

Possible Procedures:

Introduction and Overview

1. Present students with primary source photographs of teens in the Dust Bowl states during the 1930's on the SmartBoard (If this technology is not available, copies of the photographs can be distributed).
2. Ask students for their observations and opinions regarding the photographs. Comments can be written on the SmartBoard beside the photographs. Possible questions to ask to get the discussion started are:

• When was this taken?
  
• Who/what is the main focus of the photograph?
  
• Why did the photograph choose this subject?
  
• Who/what was this photograph taken for?
  

3. Once students have established the time as the 1930's, assess what prior knowledge they have about the time period. These responses can also be written on the SmartBoard. Don't worry if the students don't have the answers to these questions; the activity will help them fill in the blanks. Ask:

• What were some of the important events?
  
• Who were some of the important people? Who was the President of the U.S?
  
• What was going on in the world?
  
• What were teenager's lives like at the time?
  
• What are some things beside photographs that can show information about the people and events of a time in history?

Activity

4. Handout copies of the Written Document Analysis Worksheet. Have students read through the questions they will be expected to answer in order to analyze the primary sources.
   
5. Show students how to access 'Dear Mrs. Roosevelt' (click on 'letters') on the Internet. Students must read through at least four letters before they fill out the worksheet. Students can pick one of the four letters to analyze and complete the worksheet before the end of class.