Assignment

Now it's time for you to learn more about depression era problems and people. Assess some first-hand experience via the sites below. Consider the programs, what they were intended to do, and how they affected ordinary people. Then write a brief summary of your own observations about the people and the programs, highlighting at least three of them.

• If you'd like to get in the proper thirties mood, begin with some music at Manufacturing Memory: American Popular Music in the 1930s

• Otherwise start with one farmer's balance sheet and listen to his daughter-in-law. She'll discuss everything from poisoning grasshoppers to FDR to the "dirty thirties." Farming in the 1930s: One Farmer's 1930s Balance Sheet

• Learn about what followed the crash and how it impacted people in towns and cities in the Great Plains. Farming in the 1930s: What Followed the Crash

• See a photo of the first Securities and Exchange Commission and listen to someone who did not have the benefit of FDIC backing. Farming in the 1930s: New Financial Laws

• Read a letter asking for pension help for an aging parent and learn more about social security. Farming in the 1930s: SSA, the Social Security Administration

• Listen to someone who remembers the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and find out how workers were paid.Farming in the 1930s: WPA

• Now take some time to look at some of the art created through the WPA. Scroll down and click on your state to see what was created there. If it is not possible to view a work, choose another state. New Deal Art During the Great Depression

• Finally, take a closer look at the Federal Emergency Relief Act and what it was intended to provide. Be sure to click on the pictures to look at the work that people did. Federal Emergency Relief Act

Now capture your experiences with the people and the programs in your own words.

1. After you have taken your virtual field trip and examined first-hand accounts about the Depression-era problems and people, write a brief summary of your own experiences and observations about the people and the programs you encountered, highlighting at least three of them. Include in your summary:

(a) What were the purposes or goals of these programs?
(b) What impact did these programs have on the people you met on the virtual field trip?