Social Studies – Unit Activity Planner: Austin Past and Present
Austin Independent School District
Grade: 11
Unit Length (Number of class periods): 4-7
Course: U.S. History
Topic: Harnessing the Power of the Colorado River
Required Technology: The activities for Classes 1, 2, and 4 will work best in a setting in which each student has access to a computer with
internet access and with the Austin Past and Present DVD.
Concepts: Interaction with the physical environment
Role of government
Unit Understandings:
 The economic upheaval of the Depression brought new
opportunities to address long-standing environmental
and social problems.
 The New Deal challenged traditional concepts of the
role of government, and provoked opposition from those
who believed government had exceeded its proper role.
Overarching question: How can government act both to protect from
dangers from the physical environment and to enhance citizens’ economic
security?
Unit Questions(s):
(1) Why was a series of dams built along the Colorado River in the 1930’s
and 1940’s?
(2) How do these dams operate today to protect Austin and neighboring
communities from floods?
(3) Why was the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) created in the
1930’s, and how was it related to national New Deal initiatives?
(4) How did rural electrification change life in central Texas?
(5) Why was the Tennessee Valley Authority opposed by industry?
(6) How did the New Deal change the relationship between government and
industry?
TEKS/TAKS Questions:
 How did rural electrification help improve standards of life in the South, especially in the Hill Country of Texas? How do agencies created
in the New Deal era, such as the LCRA, continue to affect the lives of central Texans? [TEKS 13(D,E)]

What new roles did the federal government undertake in an effort to address the problems of the Great Depression? [TEKS 13(C), 15(A)]

What roles do nonprofit organizations like the LCRA perform today to protect the natural environment in central Texas? [TEKS 11(B)]
Austin Independent School District
Social Studies Curriculum Department
June, 2006
Social Studies – Unit Activity Planner: Austin Past and Present
Austin Independent School District
Materials:
 Austin Past and Present Time Tour “City of the Violet Crown” 1893-1929 Video
 Austin Past and Present Time Tour “Depression and War” 1929-1949 Video
 Readings, political cartoons, and primary documents from the New Deal network (http://newdeal.feri.org)
 Austin American-Statesman articles about flooding of the Colorado River and about the LCRA’s flood-control process
 LCRA website: www.lcra.org
Preview:
In the 1893-1929 segment of the Austin Past and Present time tour, students learn how the inability to harness the Colorado River derailed
Austin’s plans to grow into a manufacturing center in 1900, and how the city continued to live in a state of vulnerability to flooding for another
generation. In the following segment (1929-1949), students learn that it was not until the New Deal, and the massive amounts of federal aid it
brought to central Texas, that a comprehensive solution was possible. The construction of the Highland Lakes dams not only alleviated flood
risks but also profoundly changed Austin by enhancing its physical beauty and creating recreational areas that have since helped define its
identity and drive its commerce. Meanwhile, similar government initiatives were transforming rural areas of central Texas by bringing
electricity to homes for the first time.
The unit asks the students to put these specific examples in the broader context of the transformation of government’s role during the New Deal,
and to analyze the political conflicts that surrounded this transformation.
Student activities that support the TEKS/TAKS :


Graphic organizer for how Austin’s history was shaped by the Colorado River and by national conditions [TEKS 24(B)]
Analysis of political cartoons and primary documents from political contests over the TVA [TEKS 24 (A, B, C)]
Assessment(s):
Reflection Essay
Austin Independent School District
Social Studies Curriculum Department
June, 2006