"Brother, Can You Spare a Dime"
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The New Deal programs and agencies, created under the leadership of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, had a powerful impact on the relationship of government to the people of the United States. Yet a study of New Deal programs often leaves the student with a disconnected list of 'alphabet soup' programs and no real grasp of the impact of the New Deal.

This lesson takes a student through a process of examining primary sources, both photographs and life histories, to develop a sense of the profound impact the Great Depression had on real people’s lives. Then after studying New Deal Programs, students apply what they’ve learned to improve the situations of those people, whose life history interviews they have read. They synthesize the information gathered into an essay which has both an expository and a creative component.

Overview | Materials | Procedure | Evaluation

Overview

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Before beginning this lesson, take time to plan with your librarian to see what print and non-print resources are available to support student research on the New Deal.  The Resources Page may be useful in locating or purchasing materials.  Students may need some guidance in locating information on the New Deal independent research component.

These worksheets and guides are needed for the lesson (listed in order used):

1. Primary Source Analysis Worksheet - encourages students to evaluate the quality and possible biases of primary sources.

2. Photographs from the Depression - links to selected photographs from America from the Great Depression to World War II, 1935-1945.

3. Photo Study Guide - a worksheet with critical viewing questions and a focus on understanding the circumstances of the Great Depression.

4. Life Histories - links to selected life histories from American Life Histories:Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940.

5. Reading Life Histories - a worksheet with questions to lead to a critical reading and an analysis of circumstances during the Great Depression.

6. New Deal Essay Guide - an explanation of the format to be used to construct the concluding essay of this study.

NOTE: If your technology allows, have students copy each worksheet into a word processing document and answer the questions on the copy in the word processor. When analyzing the photographs, students can copy the picture and the questions onto the same document so that the picture can be viewed as the answers are created or reviewed.

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Optional Activity:

Prepare students for understanding the impact of primary documents by explaining how students become historians when they examine primary sources such as photographs and life histories. No interpreter stands between them and the original record. The Primary Source Analysis Worksheet is a helpful tool in looking at primary sources.

NOTE: This activity may require additional time beyond the 8-10 days scheduled.

Activity One:

Students can be prepared for critically viewing photographs with the material in Reading Photographs: Documenting a Decade. Using that link as a guide, analyze with students the first photo from the set of photos in Photographs from the Great Depression.

1. Students examine Photographs from the Great Depression, selected from America from the Great Depression to World War II, 1935-1945.

2. Using the Photo Analysis Guide, students select two photographs and describe the life circumstances portrayed in the photos to review the social conditions occurring during the Great Depression.

Activity Two:

1. Students skim several Life Histories selected from American Life Histories:Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940.

2. Using the Reading Life Histories Guide, they select one and analyze it as a way to begin to understand the needs of real people which New Deal programs were designed to meet.

NOTE: Before launching students into the life histories, be aware that:

1. Oral histories reflect the experience and attitudes of the narrator and as such, may show biases and prejudices which might seem inappropriate to the reader.

2. The interviewer may choose to reflect the speech patterns and pronunciations of the narrator by using misspellings and non-standard English.

3. The text of the interviews may have brackets indicating questions and uncertainties of the transcriber.

4. Each page of text has a "page image" link at the top to an image of the original manuscript page. The page image is in .tif format and requires viewing software (plug-in) to see it in the Web browser. The American Memory Viewer Information page has explanations and links to viewing software.

Activity Three:

Students research New Deal programs to assess which programs or agencies might have improved the life of the person whose interview was read in Activity Two. Online, print, and multi-media resources are on the Resources Page.

Activity Four:

Students use the New Deal Essay Guide to help them write an explanation of the New Deal programs they selected and create a follow-up interview with the person whose life history they read. This writing will make clear how the New Deal programs affected the life of the person interviewed.

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Evaluation and Extension

This lesson merges the content area of the Great Depression with important information literacy skills. Students interpret and construct meaning from the photographs and life histories and apply the information in a new context. They evaluate the quality of primary sources and learn independently as they research the New Deal programs. Finally, students create a quality product synthesizing information and meaning from several sources.

Student products include:

1. A personal interpretation of photographs.
2. An evaluation/analysis of an oral history.
3. An essay explaining two or more New Deal programs and including a creative interview which demonstrates the ability to apply information gathered through research to a new situation.
4. An optional primary source analysis worksheet to provide a process by which to study the effect and impact of primary sources.

Rubrics for these products should be designed in a teacher-student collaboration.

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