The Great Depression
I. The Depression Worsens (pages 475–477)
A. By 1933 thousands of
banks had closed and
millions of American
workers were
unemployed.
Unemployed workers
often stood at bread
lines to receive free
food or at soup
kitchens where private
charities gave a free
meal to the poor.
I. The Depression Worsens (pages 475–477)
B. Americans unable to pay their mortgage or
rent lost their homes. Those unable or
unwilling to move had a court-ordered eviction
notice delivered by a court officer or bailiff
who forced nonpaying tenants out onto the
street.
C. Many of the homeless built shacks in
shantytowns, which they referred to as
“Hoovervilles” because they blamed the
president for their financial trouble. Hobos, or
homeless Americans who wandered around
hitching rides on railroad cars, searched for
work and a better life.
I. The Depression Worsens (pages 475–477)
• D. As crop prices dropped in the
1920s, many American farmers left their
fields uncultivated. A terrible drought in
the Great Plains, beginning in 1932,
caused the region to become a “Dust
Bowl.”
• E. Many Midwestern farmers and Great
Plains farmers lost their farms. Many
families moved west to California hoping
to find a better life, but most still faced
poverty and homelessness.
II. Escaping the Depression (pages 477–478)
• A.
Americans escaped the hardships of the
Depression by going to the movies and
listening to radio broadcasts. Stories tended to
be about overcoming hardships and achieving
success.
• B.
Walt Disney produced the first featurelength animated film, Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs, in 1937. Other films, like The Wizard of
Oz, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and Gone
with the Wind, contained stories of triumph over
adversity and visions of a better life.
II. Escaping the Depression (pages 477–478)
• C. Families gathered around the radio
daily to hear news or listen to comedy
shows like George Burns or a dramatic
series like the Lone Ranger.
Melodramas, called soap operas,
became very popular with housewives.
Soap operas received their name
because makers of laundry soaps often
sponsored them.
II. Escaping the Depression (pages 477–478)
Why were movies and radio
programs important during the
Depression?
Movies and radio programs allowed
Americans to escape their own lives
and use their imagination.
1930s Entertainment
During the Depression, people needed entertainment
more than ever. Movies topped the list of ways to escape
everyday hardship, but music and dance were popular as
well. For really cheap entertainment, one could stay at
home and play cards or board games.
Dance Craze Dance
marathons got their
start in the manic
1920s, but they gained
wide popularity in the
1930s. Couples might
dance hundreds of
hours, until they were
exhausted. The last
couple standing could
win substantial
prize money.
Movie Escapism Movies cost less than 25¢
in many places, so children could afford to go,
too. These children display door prizes
handed out during a matinee in California.
1930s Entertainment
Monopoly Monopoly was a major 1930s fad.
Players of this board game moved pieces around,
buying and developing “property” in a race to
amass a fortune in fake money.
Music The legendary Jimmie Lunceford
Orchestra was one of many big band
orchestras of the 1930s. Whether touring
the country in one-night gigs or playing on
the radio, they drew a huge following.
III. The Depression in Art (page 479)
• A.
Homeless and unemployed Americans
were the subjects of art and literature during
the 1930s. Artists and writers tried to capture
the real life drama of the Depression. Thomas
Hart Benton and Grant Wood emphasized
traditional American values in their art.
• B.
John Steinbeck’s 1939 novel The
Grapes of Wrath told the story of an
Oklahoma family fleeing the Dust Bowl to
find a new life in California. Steinbeck, like
many writers of this time, wrote of poverty,
misfortune, and social injustice.
American Gothic
Grant Wood
III. The Depression in Art (page 479)
• C. Novelist William Faulkner’s literary
technique, stream of consciousness,
revealed characters’ thoughts and
feelings before they spoke—thoughts
they dared not reveal. In his novels, he
exposed hidden attitudes of Southern
whites and African Americans in a
fictional Mississippi county.
Checking for Understanding
•Explain what caused the Dust Bowl
conditions on the Great Plains.
•uncultivated fields, depletion of
grasslands protecting soil, and
drought
Reviewing Big Ideas
•Describing In what ways did people
seek to forget about the Depression?
•Americans looked to radio and
motion pictures as an escape.
Ploughed Under: The Plight of the Farmer
Video Guide
Impressions
and Information
Texas, 1934
Images
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Great Plains, 1932
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Route 66, 1934
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