warm up/bell ringer: how did you feel when you came in this morning and realized that we were...
TRANSCRIPT
Warm Up/Bell Ringer:
How did you feel when you came in this morning and realized that we were watching a movie?
How did watching a movie change your feelings about the day?
How do you think this experience can help you understand the experience of Americans during the Great Depression?
• During the worst years of the Depression (1933-1934) 25% of people were unemployed.
• Another 25%: pay cuts or part time work • It was not until 1941, when WWII was
underway, that unemployment officially fell back below 10%.
An early form of Social Security began Aug 14, 1935, to implement social insurance for the elderly who did not have enough money to support themselves.
The most famous demonstration during the Great Depression was held by the “Bonus Army.”
Desperate for $$$, WWI veterans requested financial bonuses that were scheduled to be given in 1945 to be paid instead in 1932.
The U.S. Army was called in to disperse them.
• Many people tried apple selling to avoid the shame of panhandling.
• In New York City alone, there were as many as 6,000 apple sellers
2/13/13 Bell Ringer/Warm Up:
Today’s bellringer will NOT be in your spiral. Please take out a piece of paper and write your name, date and period.
Objective: Students will explore the experience of Americans during the Great Depression.
Some Americans chose to invest large amounts of money in the Stock Market during the 1930s. These individuals lost substantial amounts of money, and many accumulated large debts. Some Americans lost everything during the Great Depression, even though they never invested any money in the stock market. Write a paragraph explaining how this could happen.
At the start of the decade 12 million American households owned a radio, and by 1939 this total had exploded to more than 28 million
Families would gather around the radio to listen to radio dramas and news programs!
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Scholars estimate that nearly 50% of children during the Great Depression did
not have adequate food, shelter, or medical care.
By the 1930s, thousands of schools were operating on reduced hours or were
closed down entirely.
Some three million children had left school, and at least 200,000 took to riding
the rails
Some people
(including Children)
who became
homeless would ride on railroad
cars because
they didn’t have
money to travel.
Discrimination during the Great Depression against women was
common: they were seen as taking away jobs from men.
African-Americans were the hardest hit
during the Great Depression, and they were often the first to get
laid off
John D
illin
ger
Mach
ine G
un
Kelly
Baby F
ace
Nels
on
Pretty Boy Floyd
As businesses and farms closed during the Great Depression, an alarming number of Americans began turning to crime
After the initial crash, there was a wave of suicides in the New York’s financial district.
It is said that the clerks of one hotel even started asking new guests if they needed a room for sleeping or jumping.
One American sheep farmer found that he would not make money off of his sheep during the depression.
Rather than watch his 3,000 sheep starve to death, he cut their throats and threw them in a canyon
The board game Monopoly, which first became available in 1935, became immensely popular perhaps because players could become rich—at least in their imagination.
The Great Depression changed the family in several ways:
Many couples delayed marriageDivorce rates droppedBirth rates dropped Some men also abandoned
their familiesA 1940 poll revealed that 1.5
million married women were abandoned by their husbands
Warm Up/Bell Ringer2/14/13
Happy Valentines Day In your opinion…what was the
most difficult part of life for an Americans during the Great Depression? Why?