Life During the Depression The Great Depression The

Life During the Depression The Great Depression & The New Deal Chapter 26, Section 3

Essential Question: • What does it mean to be “spoiled? ”

Mary Mc. Leod Bethune • Founded Bethune. Cookman College • Appointed by FDR as Director of Negro Affairs @ the NYA in 1936 • Ran Training Programs for 600, 000+ African American Youths • Supervised Her College from Afar

Causes of the Dust Bowl of the 1930’s • Droughts in the Great Plains for Several Years • Overgrazing of Livestock • Over-Plowing of Fields • Destroyed the Natural Grass and Soil (BAD DIRT!!!)

Dust Bowl • Drought in the Midwest: – Winds Picked Up Dirt From the Dry Fields – “Noon Turned into Night” • Dust Damaged Farms Across a 150, 000 Square Mile Region (THE DUST BOWL) • Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico

“I’m Outa’ Here!!!” • Ruined Farmers Moved Out West • “Okies” Heard California and Pacific Coast States Needed Workers (Jobs!!!) • 2. 5 Million People Migrated West “Honey… Make sure you bring the Goat!”

Route 66

“Get Outa’ Here You No Good Okies!” • 2. 5 Million People Moved Out West! • OVERPOPULATION! • “Okies”- Name for the Migrating Farmers to the West (Most Came From Oklahoma) • Hard to Find Jobs/Food/Housing

“Okies”

“It’s a Good Thing We Brought the Goat!”

Children During the Depression • Kids Had to Contribute to the Family Income & Grow Up Fast! • After School: – Boys Had to Find Work! – Girls Often Stayed Home and Took Care of Children (So Mom Could Work) • Some Kids Dropped Out of School to Work!

Teenagers During the Depression • Worked to Help the Family! • Many Teens Who Couldn’t Find Jobs Ran Away from Home (Didn’t Want to be a Burden/Felt Guilty!) • 1932 - ¼ Million Teens Roamed the Country – Sneaked Onto Freight Trains – Begged for Food – Lived in Camps Along RR Tracks

Women During the Depression • Working Women Were Pressured to Give Up Jobs to Jobless Men • Women Forced to Take Jobs Men Didn’t Want (Servants) • New Deal Projects Would Only Hire Women Only if Husband Had a Job!

Hands of a Farm Women 1936

James Agee & Walker Evans • Wrote Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941) • Wrote About the Harsh Lives of Tenant Farmers During the Depression

John Steinbeck • Wrote The Grapes of Wrath (1939) – Told of Okies Who Had Been Driven Off Their Land by Drought and No $$$! – Told of Okies Going to California in Hope of Finding Jobs! – Baby Starves to Death From Malnourished Mom • CLASSIC BOOK ABOUT GREAT DEPRESSION!

Richard Wright • Author Hired by the New Deal WPA – Wrote Native Son (1940) • Wrote About Limitations That Society Placed on African Americans • Expressed African American’s Anger Toward’s Society’s Racism

Dorothea Lange • Photographer Hired by the WPA to Document the Times • Pictures Show the Hard Lives of Poor People During the Great Depression • Most Famous Picture is “Despair” (Woman Holding Her Three Children)

Eleanor Roosevelt • The 1 st Lady = FDR’s Wife = Wanted to Help the Poor • “FDR’s Eyes and Ears” of the Country (FDR Had POLIO) • Toured the Country Visiting Coal Mines, Work Camps And Hospitals • Find Out How FDR’s New Deal Programs Were Working

1933 Eleanor Roosevelt 1939 1957 • The 1 st First Lady to Hold Weekly Press Conferences • Started Writing a Syndicated Newspaper Column, "My Day" • Introduced Women in Charge of New Deal Programs to the Press

Hmmmm…. . • Why do you think Eleanor Roosevelt publicized the women who were placed in charge of running numerous New Deal programs? (Hypothesize)

The Next Cover of Time Magazine?

Francis Perkins • FDR’s Selection for Secretary of Labor (1933) • Given MOST IMPORTANT Job During the Depression • What Does That Tell YOU About FDR? • First EVER Female Cabinet Officer • Supported Laws Such As: – Granting Minimum Wage – Limit on Child Employment – Unemployment Compensation

Signing of the Social Security Act

FDR’s Black Cabinet • FDR’s “Black Cabinet” – African American Advisors Selected by FDR to be in the Cabinet – Robert C. Weaver: Economist (Harvard) FDR Made Him Advisor on Racial Issues – William Hastie: Brilliant Lawyer Who FDR Made the Head of the Department of Interior – What Does That Tell YOU About FDR? ? ?

Minorities During the Depression • Although FDR Had African Americans in His Cabinet, He Did NOT Support an Anti. Lynching Law! • FDR Hated Racism! • “If I Support the Anti -Lynching Bill, the Southerners will Block Every Bill I Ask Congress to Pass to Keep America From Collapsing. ”

Minorities During the Depression • Mexican Americans Living in Rural Farming Areas Competed for Jobs with Migrating Farmers (“Okies” from the Dust Bowl) • Immigration from Mexico Declined During the Great Depression • Many Mexican Americans Returned Back to Mexico • Mexican American Citizens Feared Applying for New Deal Programs! Afraid of Being DEPORTED by the US Government!

Minorities During the Depression • Indian Reorganization Act: – Restored Some Reservation Lands to Native Americans • Indian Arts & Crafts Board: – Promote Native American Culture

Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) • 1938 - CIO Broke Away from the American Federation of Labor (AFL) • CIO - Industry Wide Union that Included both Skilled and Unskilled Workers • AFL Only Allowed in Skilled Workers! • CIO = More Open to Women and Minorities!

Sit-Down Strikes • Very Effective Bargaining Tactic! • Instead of Walking Out in Protest, Striking Workers Remained Inside the Plant Not Working! • Factory Workers Could NOT Hire Strike Breakers! (Scabs!) • Peaceful Strategy!

Unions • Wagner Act (1935, FDR’s 2 nd New Deal) – Protected Workers Rights to Form Unions and Set Up a Board to Hear Labor Disputes • Gave Unions the Ability to Negotiate Better Working Conditions • Made Unions Stronger! • Union Membership Increased: 2. 7 million in 1933 7 million in 1937

Name That Person! Eleanor Roosevelt Francis Perkins John Steinbeck Richard Wright Mary Mc. Leod Bethune

Essential Question: • What does it mean to be “spoiled? ”