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Documentary
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound.
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Childhood Lost: An Overview of the Great Depression
Language
A language of the resource
English
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
Description
An account of the resource
The Great Depression cut childhoods short as poverty and unemployment soared. Young people struggled to stay healthy. Millions moved--sometimes with their families, sometimes on their own--in search of jobs. Many found relief in New Deal programs after 1933. Student activism also rose during the period. Throughout the period, as this film documents, American notions of childhood were challenged and changed in response to the crises of the 1930s.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, 2009.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2009
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Great Depression and World War II (1929-1945)
Great Depression
New Deal
Young America
-
https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/files/original/ccc-presentation_b9bbc2b7f7.pdf
596ec18011e69d995a510bb1f454751b
Teaching Activity
Objectives
<ul>
<li>
<p>Students will be able to describe the goals of the Civilian Conservation Corps and explain how it fit into the broader goals of the New Deal. </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Students analyze primary sources to determine to what extent joining the CCC was a turning point in the lives of young men. </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Students will create posters that illustrate photographs from the CCC era with quotes from primary documents describing life in the CCC. </p>
</li>
</ul>
Materials
1768, 1011, 735, 729, 942, 943, 861, 1082, 1083, 809, 1085, 1084, 1080, 1081, 1086, 1087
Historical Context
<p>During the Great Depression an estimated 250,000 youths left home to search for work, to ease the burden on their families, to escape an abusive home life, or to find adventure. Opportunities for work were rare and many young Americans hitch-hiked or illegally rode freight trains, traveling from town to town. President Franklin Roosevelt sought to provide young men with another path by establishing the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1933. Part of Roosevelt’s New Deal relief programs, the CCC gave temporary employment to three million young men, who lived in military-style camps and worked on conservation and construction projects in national parks. Hard work was rewarded with three square meals, job training, and a $30 monthly paycheck—which is equivalent to about $432 today—$25 of which was sent directly to CCC enrollees' families. Beyond material comforts, many CCC workers found a renewed sense of purpose and hope in the camps.</p>
Lesson Plan Text
<p><strong>Step 1: </strong>Introduce the activity with the following focus questions: </p>
<div>
<ul>
<li>
<p>How did the CCC help build public support for FDR's New Deal?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>To what extent was the CCC a personal turning point for enrollees? </p>
</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Step 2:</strong> Show the brief presentation that includes the FDR quote and poster and discuss.</p>
<p><strong>Step 3:</strong> Show the film<em> FDR's Tree Army: The Civilian Conservation Corps</em>. As students watch the film, ask them to think about both the national impact and the individual impact of the program, as well as who was NOT impacted by the CCC. (The teacher may want to assign different students or different groups different focus questions to think about as they watch the film.) After the film, lead students in a brief discussion of the national and individual impact of CCC projects; also discuss who, if anyone, was not impacted by the CCC.</p>
<p><strong>Step 4: </strong>Divide students into five groups. Give each group a packet of the images and a different written primary source. Students should read the document and create a poster presentation on the theme of the CCC as a turning point. (The last slide of the presentation includes directions for students to view.) The posters should include:</p>
<div>
<ul>
<li>
<p>One or more images</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Captions for each image created from key quotes from the document.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>An original title that summarizes the group's overall interpretation of the CCC</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Step 5:</strong> Hang posters around the room and have students carousel to examine each poster. Discuss what quotes or images from the other groups was most surprising. </p>
</div>
</div>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Language
A language of the resource
English
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
Title
A name given to the resource
FDR's Tree Army: Personal Turning Points in the CCC
Description
An account of the resource
In this activity students learn about the goals of the Civilian Conservation Corps and the opportunities it provided for young men. Students create poster presentations about different aspects of the CCC by combining photographs and quotes from primary sources. Students will need poster-making supplies (including poster board or paper, markers, scissors, and glue/markers).
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, 2009.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2009
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Great Depression and World War II (1929-1945)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Work
Active Viewing
Civilian Conservation Corps
Great Depression
Group Work
Lessons in Looking
New Deal
Young America
-
Article/Essay
Text
Any textual data included in the document.
<p>The United States’ dynamic capitalist economy has been a rollercoaster of booms and busts, sparing no generation from its astonishing dips and climbs. New markets, products, and efficiencies have enabled many Americans to live comfortably and sometimes acquire great wealth, yet the nation has also suffered severe economic downturns throughout its history. Depressions were regular occurrences in the industrializing nineteenth century, striking at least once every decade except for the 1860s (which was visited by civil war). Generally understood as prolonged business slumps causing widespread unemployment, depressions are no less devastating for being so common. And most devastating of all in terms of its length and depth was the Great Depression of the 1930s. It began just before the stock market crash of 1929 and ended with the outbreak of World War II in 1941. In between, fifteen million Americans, a quarter of the work force, lost their jobs. Millions more lost their homes, farms, businesses, and life savings. </p>
<p>Historians still disagree about the causes of the depression, or rather about which combination of causes was most critical. Contributing factors generally include the overproduction of crops and manufactured goods, or their under-consumption due to low wages and the limited purchasing power of ordinary families. At the same time easy credit and overconfidence born of the prosperous 1920s prompted investors large and small to play the stock market like a carnival game and carry more personal debt than was prudent. Additionally, high tariffs and mismanagement of foreign debts stemming from the First World War stifled international trade. And an environmental crisis – partly natural and partly man-made – ravaged the Great Plains, stirring up droughts and dust storms that drove thousands of tenant farmers off their land. The resulting hardships can be glimpsed in iconic photographs of the period showing gaunt-faced migrant families driving west in over-packed jalopies; gangs of boys hopping freight trains in search of work; endless breadlines wrapped around city blocks, somber picketers demanding food, jobs, or housing; and angry strikers clashing with police. </p>
<p>An inability to reassure a battered public, let alone turn the economy around, led to the defeat of an immensely popular president, Herbert Hoover, and an end to the Republican Party’s twelve-year reign in the White House. In his first hundred days in office in 1933, Hoover’s successor, New York Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, launched a host of programs to aid farmers, workers, homeowners, and the unemployed. He repealed Prohibition, reformed the monetary system, and restored people’s confidence in banks. Aided by a formidable first lady – Eleanor Roosevelt, economic advisers nicknamed “the brain trust,” and a powerful new medium – radio, which enabled him to speak directly to the public, Roosevelt offered a route to recovery. Conservatives still argue that his liberal “New Deal” policies and support for labor unions actually delayed recovery, but without a doubt his actions helped keep millions of Americans and their hopes alive.
</p>
<p>There are two schools of thought about the impact of the Great Depression on children. One school holds that the hard times left young people physically damaged and psychologically scarred. The other insists that the decade of dire want and desperate wandering served to strengthen their character and forge what became America’s “greatest generation” of the World War II era. In fact, children’s experience of the depression varied widely, depending on their age, race, sex, region, and individual family circumstances. Nevertheless, certain patterns have emerged. Demographically, birthrates fell during the decade to a low of 18 births per 1,000 population, and children’s health declined due to the poorer nutrition and health care available. </p>
<p>Economically, many children worked both inside and outside the home; girls babysat or cleaned house, boys hustled papers or shined shoes, and both ran errands and picked crops. Yet the scarcity of jobs led record numbers of children to remain in school longer. Socially, high school became a typical teenage experience for the first time. A record 65 percent of teens attended high school in 1936; they spent the better part of their days together, forming their own cliques and looking to each other for advice and approval. Thus arose the idea of a separate, teenage generation. </p>
<p>Politically, the state began to play a larger role in children’s lives. The federal government established day-care centers, supplied school lunches, built playgrounds, swimming pools, and ball fields. The 1935 Social Security Act provided aid for rural, disabled, and dependent children, while the Civilian Conservation Corps and National Youth Administration created jobs and educational opportunities for teens. Culturally, young people became a distinct market for comic books featuring Superman and other superheroes, movies starring child stars like Shirley Temple and Mickey Rooney, and Disney cartoons introducing Mickey Mouse and the Three Little Pigs, whose theme song, “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf” became an anthem of the era.</p>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Article/Essay
Title
A name given to the resource
"Growing Up in Down Times: Children of the Great Depression"
Language
A language of the resource
English
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
Description
An account of the resource
This essay provides historical perspective on the social, political, and economic circumstances of the Great Depression. It suggests some ways the hard times of the 1930s affected young people and left their mark on them as adults.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Vincent DiGirolamo
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Vincent DiGirolamo, "Growing Up in Down Times: Children of the Great Depression," American Social History Project, February 2007, http://www.ashp.cuny.edu/YA/detail.php?rec_id=140.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Copyright American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
<div><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" alt="Creative Commons License" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</a>.</div>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2007
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Great Depression and World War II (1929-1945)
Great Depression
Young America