Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: The Great Depression and the 1990s

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students frequently echo sentiments such as, "The government is too big," or "The government should make welfare mothers pay for their own needs." It seems that many citizens, high schoolers included, have begun to believe in reduced...
Website
Wessels Living History Farm

Living History Farm: Farming in the 1930s: Fsa Photographers

For Students 9th - 10th
What a fabulous resource documenting the lives of farmers across the country during the Great Depression. Talented photographers, working for the Farm Security Administration, were sent out to take pictures, which were then published in...
Interactive
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Up From the Dust

For Students 6th - 8th
Players take on the roles of twins Frank and Ginny Dunn, whose family wheat farm is devastated by the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. As they experience the hardships of the 1930s, players learn about Americans' strategies for survival...
Website
Wessels Living History Farm

Living History Farm: Farming in the 1930s: Crash!

For Students 9th - 10th
A multi-page site that focuses on the effects of the Great Depression primarily in rural America in the early days before the election of Franklin Roosevelt. Find videos interviews with those who lived through the trying times.
eBook
Lin and Don Donn

Sharing Memories: Stories of the Great Depression

For Students 3rd - 5th
Follow the stories of one farm family as the individuals lived during the years of the Great Depression. Find out that not all people were negatively affected by the times.
Primary
Library of Congress

Loc: Voices of the Dust Bowl: Scrapbook

For Students 9th - 10th
Explore this online scrapbook filled with articles and ephemera relating to the 1930s migrant farm issue in California.
Website
Library of Congress

Loc: Lesson Plans: The Great Depression

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students will gain a strong understanding of the Great Depression with these lesson plans for a variety of academic levels. Topics include literature, government and migration.
Graphic
Other

Old State House Museum: Arkansas Depression Era Photos

For Students 9th - 10th
Take a pictorial journey back in time to experience the Great Depression as it occurred for many Arkansas people. Photos of the time create a visual history of the 1930's.
Primary
University of Illinois

University of Illinois: Modern American Poetry: A Photo Essay on the Great Depression

For Students 9th - 10th
Series of annotated photographs that document the realities of Depression-era America.
Activity
Other

State of Michigan: Reminiscences of the Great Depression

For Students 9th - 10th
A site with a nice personal touch. Memories from four individuals about their time spent during the Great Depression years in the 1930s.
Activity
Ibis Communications

Eyewitness to History: America in the 1930s: The Bonus Army

For Students 9th - 10th
Vivid and succinct account of the efforts and struggles of WWI veterans who marched on Washtington D.C. to demand their veterans' benefits. Article describes their forced dispersement by the army, which strained the confidence of the...
Activity
University of Illinois

University of Illinois: About the Dust Bowl

For Students 9th - 10th
Thorough discussion of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s with accompanying map, photos, and timeline that describe it in detail.
Website
Other

Kingwood Library: American Cultural History: 1930 1939

For Students 9th - 10th
Excellent website offering information about life in the 1930s. Learn about art, literature, books, literature, fashion, people, music, education, and radio of the era of the Depression and the New Deal.
Article
Texas State Historical Association

Texas State Historical Association: The Great Depression

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the economy and politics in Texas during the time of the Great Depression.
Activity
Constitutional Rights Foundation

Constitutional Rights Foundation: Dust Bowl Exodus: How Drought and the Depression Took Their Toll

For Students 9th - 10th
Activity-based resource on the social and economic conditions of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. Students select from a list of comprehensive reference material to research the times and then choose a 1930s artist on which to report....
Article
Siteseen

Siteseen: American Historama: American Isolationism in the 1930's

For Students 9th - 10th
Interesting facts on the reasons and effects of American Isolationism policy in the 1930s.
Website
New Deal Network

New Deal Network: The Great Depression: 1930s and the Roosevelt Administration

For Students 9th - 10th
The New Deal Network is devoted to students and teachers researching the Great Depression and the New Deal. Features include an extensive database of photographs, political cartoons, texts and a New Deal Network Classroom that has lesson...
Primary
University of Illinois

University of Illinois: Modern American Poetry: A Photo Dossier on Sharecropping

For Students 9th - 10th
Photographs from the 1930s of both black and white sharecroppers, with some accompanying explanation.
Professional Doc
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: America's History in the Making:by the People, for the People

For Students 9th - 10th
A great lesson plan that explores the attempts to revive the American economy after the Great Depression through the New Deal programs of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Included are a video, text and questions, and primary source materials. A...
Professional Doc
Library of Congress

Loc: Labor Unions During the Great Depression and New Deal

For Students 9th - 10th
This learning page features an overview of labor relations during the 1930s with links to many primary source documents from the era.
Lesson Plan
Alabama Learning Exchange

Alex: Hardships During the Great Depression

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers will be divided into groups of 2 or more. Each group will be given a choice of jobs that were available during the 1930s. Students will learn to manage their cost of living and household expenses.
Handout
US Department of State

Info Usa: Foreign Trade and Global Economic Policies

For Students 9th - 10th
U.S. foreign trade and global economic policies have changed direction dramatically during the more than two centuries that the United States has been a country. In the early days of the nation's history, government and business mostly...
Activity
Wessels Living History Farm

Living History Farm: Bank Failures

For Students 9th - 10th
The bank runs and bank failures of the 1930s are described here, as well as personal interviews with people who experienced the Great Depression.
Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: Immigration and Migration:today/during the Great Depression

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students address these questions through activities using oral history methods and investigating life in the 1930s. They compare the immigration/migration experiences of their families to those of people living through the Great...