1. Life During the Great Depression
Chapter 9 Lesson 2

2. The Struggle The jobless often went hungry
Bread lines and soup kitchens were set up
People lost their homes
Creation of shantytowns called “Hoovervilles”

3. Immigrant Struggle
2 ways Immigrants returned to their native countries:
1. It was voluntary- they needed jobs
2. It was forced- through repatriation and deportation

4. The Dust Bowl
Terrible drought struck the Great Plains leaving fields bare
Soil dried and turned to dust
Winds blew the dust burying crops and livestock
The dust blackened the sky for 100s of miles.
The dust bowl stretched from the Dakotas to Texas

5. The Okies
During most of the 1930s there was an average of 50 dust storms a year
Many farmers could not pay their mortgage and would lose their farms
Families moved west to California to escape
These migrants from Oklahoma became known as Okies.

6. Culture of the 1930s
Hard times of the 1930s led many Americans to want to escape their worries
Movies captured the imagination
Radio offered information and entertainment
Literature, art, and photography portrayed life around them

7. Movies
In the 1930s more than 60 million Americans went to the movies each week.
Comedies to provide relief from daily worries
Child Stars delighted viewers
Walt Disney produces the first feature-length animated film in 1937
Serious films that celebrated ordinary people and small-town American values
Academy Award winning civil war Epic

8. Radio Tens of millions of people listened to the radio daily
Daytime dramas that presented personal struggles (The Guiding Light)
Sponsored by laundry soap
Adventures of superheroes like the Green Hornet
Radio also introduced listeners to a variety of music such as songs from movies and Broadway, country, and swing music

9. Painters Regionalist School Style Emphasized American values
Thomas Hart Benton
Grant Wood
Emphasized American values
American Gothic
Pays tribute to no-nonsense Midwesterners while gently making fun of their severity

10. Literature Portrayed life around them
New writing techniques such as consciousness told readers how the characters were thinking and felt before speaking
The Sound of Fury by William Faulkner

11. Photography Images were becoming more influential
In 1936 Life Magazine was introduced
Pictures showed how the average American was effected by the Great Depression