A Crossroads Resource

Unit X: The Age of Franklin D. Roosevelt

Question/Problem 1: In what ways were people's lives affected by the Depression?


Remembering the Depression

Anyone who lived through the Great Depression has special memories about this important time in American history. Personal glimpses into the lives of people we know can give us more information than our textbook.

This class will work as historians to collect primary-resource information to reconstruct what life was like in the 1930s. Each student will:

1. Contact a person who lived during the 1930s. This can be a grandparent or other relative, a neighbor, or a friend.

2. Ask that person to recall one thing that they can remember about life in the 1930s. For some people, this might be an event in their lives, and for others a collection of impressions. If possible, relate this to the Depression. Then ask the person the following questions:

a) Did you have enough money to live comfortably through the Depression?

b) What types of food did you eat?

c) Where did you live during the Depression?

d) How did the Depression change your everyday living style?

e) How did the family earn money?

f) Was your family hurt by the stock market crash?

g) What were the clothes like in the 1930s?

3. Hand in a written description of what you have learned. This should include the name of the person interviewed, the date(s) covered by his/her recollections, the person's age at that time, and their memories of the period.

4. This assignment is due __________________________

Only participation in this project will be graded, not the recollections submitted.


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