Life During the Great Depression Guided Reading Activity

Women had a hard time keeping jobs during the Great Depression due to sexism and new competition. Men were competing for traditional jobs in teaching and education. Since men were considered the breadwinners in society, women were expected to give their jobs to unemployed men. Domestic jobs, like the ones advertised to the left, were increasingly scarce as family budgets tightened.

African-American Men Faced Unemployment Low cotton prices forced African-American men to leave sharecropping jobs for industrial jobs in the cities. Southern communities usually hired poor whites – who suffered similarly – for positions before black workers. Northern Industrial jobs were given to white immigrants before African American men. Racism prevailed in both the North and the South.

Civil Rights Civil Rights are the rights guaranteed in the Constitution, especially voting rights and the equal treatment under the law. During the Great Depression, the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution guaranteed African-Americans civil rights in theory; however, segregation and “Jim Crow” still reigned in the South, and racism prevailed all over the United States.

Roosevelt would not support anti-lynching laws. Although Eleanor Roosevelt supported anti-lynching laws and FDR was in favor of them in principal, the President never demanded any major Civil Rights legislation while in office. FDR always believed that forcing anti-lynching laws through the Congress would jeopardize his ability to work with Southern Democratic legislators. Thus, racist and murderous lynch mobs continued to murder men, and then have their portraits made next to the bodies – fearlessly - since judge, jury, and lawmen were all so racist that no white man would ever be arrested, much less convicted of a crime, against an African-American.

Mexicans and Mexican-Americans were deported. During prosperous times, California and Southwestern farmers were happy to employ Mexican immigrants to the United States – they were considered cheap labor. When the Depression and the Dust Bowl brought thousands upon thousands of white workers out west, though, Mexican laborers were no longer wanted. Now, they were deported. Reportedly, even Mexican-Americans – United States citizens of Mexican ancestry – were deported to Mexico by train.

The Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl was caused by a variety of factors – but largely because of widespread crop failures due to drought. Modern farming methods which had removed sod from thousands of acres of land contributed to the problem as well. Without the grasslands to keep it in place, the dry soil of the Great Plains was unstable. When windstorms unaccompanied by rain began to torment the Great Plains, the powder-like soil took flight, and dust blackened the sun.

A Dust Storm in Texas, 1935

An Oklahoma Dust Storm

The Dust Bowl: Worst Areas

The Dust Bowl: Ruined Farms

The Dust Bowl: Ruined Farms Families who lost everything during the ecological disaster known as “The Dust Bowl” were forced to hit the road. They could not breathe the air, much less farm in a prosperous manner, in the Midwest. Many decided to head west, along Route-66 to California.

“Okies” Emigrate The cars they drove west in were often weighed down with everything they had left in the world. Entire families crowded into the car, driving West to find work picking fruits and vegetables in California. Most would struggle for many years before they found stability and economic well-being again.

“Okies” headed west on Route 66.

The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck In John Steinbeck’s classic novel is about the survival of the working class American family – come what may. In the book, the Joads abandon their failed Oklahoma farm and head west. Tom Joad, an anti-hero who has violated parole to stay will his family, finds himself involved with the cause of social justice among the migrant workers in California. By the end of the novel, Tom is forced to leave his folks, yet the family – battered but not broken – remains.

Many States were Impacted by the Dust Bowl’s Storms North Dakota South Dakota Wyoming Nebraska Colorado Kansas Oklahoma Texas New Mexico

Dorothea Lange Dorothea Lange was hired by the Farm Security Administration to chronicle the experiences of American farmers during the Great Depression. She embraced her mission, fully, traveling the nation alongside “Okies” and migrant workers, photographing their living environments and working conditions, and producing some of the most stirring and evocative portraits in all American History. Indeed, they are some of the best in the history of photography itself.

Dorothea Lange’s Photos

Dorothea Lange’s Photos

Dorothea Lange’s Photos

Dorothea Lange’s Photos This is probably Dorothea Lange’s most famous photograph – it is one of a series of portraits of a mother an her children in a migrant camp in California. Although most people focus on the look of concern on the mother’s face in the image, there are three children in the frame as well.

Dorothea Lange’s Photos

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