Life During the Depression

The Great Depression &The New Deal

Chapter 26, Section 3

Essential Question:

• What does it mean to be “spoiled?”

Mary McLeod Bethune• Founded Bethune-

Cookman College

• Appointed by FDR as Director of Negro Affairs @ the NYA in 1936

• Ran Training Programs for 600,000+ African American Youths

• Supervised Her College from Afar

Causes of the Dust Bowl of the 1930’s

• Droughts in the Great Plains for Several Years

• Overgrazing of Livestock

• Over-Plowing of Fields

• Destroyed the Natural Grass & Soil (BAD DIRT!)

Dust Bowl• Drought in the

Midwest:– Winds Picked Up Dirt

From the Dry Fields– “Noon Turned into

Night”

• Dust Damaged Farms Across a 150,000 Square Mile Region (THE DUST BOWL)

• Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico

“I’m Outa’ Here!”• Ruined Farmers

Moved Out West

• “Okies” Heard California & Pacific Coast States Needed Workers (Jobs!)

• 2.5 Million People Migrated West

“Honey… Make sure you bring the Goat!”

Route 66

“Get Outa’ Here You No Good Okies!”

• 2.5 Million People Moved Out West!

• OVERPOPULATION!

• “Okies”- Name for the Migrating Farmers to the West (Most Came From Oklahoma)

• Hard to Find Jobs/Food/Housing

“Okies”

“It’s a Good Thing We Brought the Goat!”

Children During the Depression

• Kids Had to Contribute to the Family Income & Grow Up Fast!

• After School:– Boys Had to Find

Work!– Girls Often Stayed

Home & Took Care of Children (So Mom Could Work)

• Some Kids Dropped Out of School to Work!

Teenagers During the Depression

• Worked to Help the Family!

• Many Teens Who Couldn’t Find Jobs Ran Away from Home (Didn’t Want to be a Burden/Felt Guilty!)

• 1932 - ¼ Million Teens Roamed the Country– Sneaked Onto Freight

Trains– Begged for Food– Lived in Camps Along

RR Tracks

Women During the Depression

• Working Women Were Pressured to Give Up Jobs to Jobless Men

• Women Forced to Take Jobs Men Didn’t Want (Servants)

• New Deal Projects Would Only Hire Women Only if Husband Had a Job!

Hands of a Farm Women 1936

James Agee & Walker Evans

• Wrote Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941)

• Wrote About the Harsh Lives of Tenant Farmers During the Depression

John Steinbeck• Wrote The Grapes of Wrath

(1939)– Told of Okies Who Had

Been Driven Off Their Land by Drought & NO $$$!

– Told of Okies Going to California in Hope of Finding Jobs!

– Baby Starves to Death From Malnourished Mom

• CLASSIC BOOK ABOUT GREAT DEPRESSION!

Richard Wright• Author Hired by the

New Deal WPA – Wrote Native Son

(1940)

• Wrote About Limitations That Society Placed on African Americans

• Expressed African American’s Anger Toward’s Society’s Racism

Dorothea Lange• Photographer Hired

by the WPA to Document the Times

• Pictures Show the Hard Lives of Poor People During the Great Depression

• Most Famous Picture is “Despair” (Woman Holding Her Three Children)

Eleanor Roosevelt• The 1st Lady = FDR’s Wife

= Wanted to Help the Poor

• “FDR’s Eyes & Ears” of the Country (FDR Had POLIO)

• Toured the Country Visiting Coal Mines, Work Camps & Hospitals

• Find Out How FDR’s New Deal Programs Were Working

Eleanor Roosevelt 1933 1939 1957

• The 1st First Lady to Hold Weekly Press Conferences

• Started Writing a Syndicated Newspaper Column, "My Day"

• Introduced Women in Charge of New Deal Programs to the Press

Hmmmm…..

• Why do you think Eleanor Roosevelt publicized the women who were placed in charge of running numerous New Deal programs? (Hypothesize)

The Next Cover of Time Magazine?

Francis Perkins• FDR’s Selection for

Secretary of Labor (1933)

• Given MOST IMPORTANT Job During the Depression

• What Does That Tell YOU About FDR?

• 1st EVER Female Cabinet Officer

• Supported Laws Such As:– Granting Minimum

Wage– Limit on Child

Employment– Unemployment

Compensation

Signing of the Social Security Act

FDR’s Black Cabinet• FDR’s “Black Cabinet”

– African American Advisors Selected by FDR to be in the Cabinet

– Robert C. Weaver: Economist (Harvard) FDR Made Him Advisor on Racial Issues

– William Hastie: Brilliant Lawyer Who FDR Made the Head of the Department of Interior

– What Does That Tell YOU About FDR?

Minorities During the Depression

• Although FDR Had African Americans in His Cabinet, He Did NOT Support an Anti-Lynching Law!

• FDR Hated Racism!

• “If I Support the Anti-Lynching Bill, the Southerners will Block Every Bill I Ask Congress to Pass to Keep America From Collapsing.”

Minorities During the Depression

• Mexican Americans Living in Rural Farming Areas Competed for Jobs with Migrating Farmers (“Okies” from the Dust Bowl)

• Immigration from Mexico Declined During the Great Depression

• Many Mexican Americans Returned Back to Mexico

• Mexican American Citizens Feared Applying for New Deal Programs! Afraid of Being DEPORTED by the US Government!

Minorities During the Depression

• Indian Reorganization Act:– Restored Some

Reservation Lands to Native Americans

• Indian Arts & Crafts Board:– Promote Native

American Culture

Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)

• 1938 - CIO Broke Away from the American Federation of Labor (AFL)

• CIO - Industry Wide Union that Included BOTH Skilled & Unskilled Workers

• AFL Only Allowed in Skilled Workers!

• CIO = More Open to Women & Minorities!

Sit-Down Strikes• Very Effective

Bargaining Tactic!

• Instead of Walking Out in Protest, Striking Workers Remained Inside the Plant Not Working!

• Factory Workers Could NOT Hire Strike Breakers! (Scabs!)

• Peaceful Strategy!

Unions• Wagner Act (1935,

FDR’s 2nd New Deal)– Protected Workers Rights

to Form Unions & Set Up a Board to Hear Labor Disputes

• Gave Unions the Ability to Negotiate Better Working Conditions

• Made Unions Stronger!

• Union Membership Increased:

2.7 million in 19337 million in 1937

Name That Person!

Eleanor Roosevelt

Francis Perkins John Steinbeck

Richard Wright

Mary McLeod Bethune

Essential Question:

• What does it mean to be “spoiled?”