Vent!
1. What feelings did you just experience?
2. What do you think people must have felt
when they learned that their life savings
had been lost due to bank failures after
the Crash of 1929?
Great Depression Journal
During the Great Depression unit, you will be keeping a
journal each class period. In your notebook, you will
write a journal entry according to the writing prompt
given each day. It will be a new topic each class and you
will create a character with a family, story and personality
to make it more original and creative. Journals will be
read daily with partners or with the class.
Use facts to make your entries accurate (from the
textbook, PowerPoint and video information we discuss
in class) and be creative!
Each entry: 1 page in length
At the end of the Depression unit, you will type up your
written journal entries from the notebook and turn in as a
final project.
Journal
Entry #1
Date: June 16, 1930
• Directions: Imagine that the bank where your
parents have a savings account suddenly
closes. Their money is gone. Then your
parents lose their jobs and cannot pay the
rent on your house. One day you come home
from school to find your furniture and all of
your belongings on the sidewalk- you have
been evicted.
Journal
Entry #2
Date: March 8, 1932
Directions: Describe how you and your
family have been dealing with the dust
storms, why you think there are dust storms
and whether your family will move away.
1 page
(Don’t worry if you have to change characters from the
previous entry. This journal may not necessarily follow
one type of person or family as we are learning about
various Americans during the 1930s)
Journal
Write # 3
Date: June 20,1936
(Same character/ family from journal #2)
* Your family is moving west to California
Topic ideas:
• Explain why you’re moving and leaving the
farm
• Thoughts, feelings, concerns for the future
and what California might be like
Journal #4
Date: July 15, 1936
• Ideas to get you started…
– How was the journey on Route 66 to
CA?
– Since you’ve arrived in CA, what have
been your experiences?
– Is CA anything like you thought it would
be?
– Describing the migrant camps
Journal
Write # 5
• March 9, 1932
• As the U.S. sinks further into the
Depression, Roosevelt wins the
presidential election in 1932 against
Hoover. He begins a massive legislative
effort to fight the nation’s economic
problems.
-> Write about your hopes, needs and
desires for help and changes from the
new president.
Journal
Write # 6
Date: (You can pick the month and
day),1938
• Pick one of the New Deal programs from
your chart- explain why and how it will
benefit you/ your family, with all of its
positive effects.
• Then explain how that program could have
negative effects, how other people could
critique the program or President for
creating it.
WRITE THIS DOWN!
Typing the Depression Journals1. Create a cover page with title (Great
Depression Journal), your name, period
2. Type each entry (7 total), 1 entry per page (you
may print back-back pages to save paper)
3. Use 12 size font and a readable font style,
double spaced
4. You may choose to use different font styles
per entry if you like
5. Staple or bind together the pages
• DUE This FRIDAY FEB. 28TH
Depression
Journal #7
• Year: 1935
• Choose a group from the textbook to
be in this journal entry– P. 504 women
– P. 505 African Americans
– P. 506 Mexican Americans
– P. 507 Native Americans
• Describe the ways in which your family
or yourself are helped or hurt by New
Deal legislation.
Journal
Write # 8
• Take a stand and defend or critique
FDR’s New Deal programs.
• Use your ‘supporters and critics of New
Deal’ chart to help you.
Journal
Write #3:
• (Use the same character from journal write
#2)
• Your journal write should:
– Question the safety of the banks
– Question the government-> what is the
government going to do about this depression?
– What is the government going to do for all the
unemployed and homeless people?
Extra Credit Journal Write
• July 1932• You are a WWI veteran that went to
Washington D.C. hoping to get the $500
bonus for serving in WWI, known as the
Patman Bill. You are part of the 10,00020,000 people marching and waiting in
D.C. Describe the atmosphere of the
Bonus Army and what happens when the
Patman Bill is voted against?
Journal Entry #5
• You have arrived in California and your
family has been searching for work.
• Describe the difficulties finding work,
housing and the migrant camps.
Depression Journal Write #1:
Oct. 30, 1929
• Directions: Write a journal entry as a
stockbroker in New York explaining
your experiences. How are you affected
by the crash? What is your reaction?
Will you be able to survive?
(1 page)