Chapter 26, Section 4: The Nation in Hard Times

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Chapter 26, Section 4The Nation in Hard Times

• Main Idea Many Americans found relief from the
  hard times of the Great Depression in the work of
  creative artists.

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A. The Dust Bowl

• The Dust Bowl - name given to part of the Great
  Plains due to a severe drought resulting dust
  storms (black blizzards).
• Buried Under Dust
• Dust storms buried areas, blowing everywhere
  getting in everything.
• The cause was years of over-grazing by cattle
  over-plowing by farmers, followed by drought
  high winds.
• Migrant Workers
• Okies - name given to farmers from Oklahoma
  that had to pack up move West to become migrant
  workers -drifters moving from one area to another
  in search of work.
• Many settled in OR, WA, CA picking fruit
  (apples, oranges, grapes).
• Many were not wanted there by the locals, who
  feared they would take their jobs, were often
  sent away by angry mobs.
• John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath depicted the
  struggles that the Okies faced as they tried to
  find work in CA.

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B. Women Face the Depression

• Women were usually the last to be hired. A woman
  would not get a job before a man.
• The federal government would not hire a woman if
  her husband already had a job.
• Women in the Workplace
• During the Depression, the number of married
  women who worked increased by over 50.
• Educated secretaries, teachers, social workers
• No education maids, seamstresses, factory
  workers
• An Active First Lady
• Eleanor Roosevelt broke the mold for first
  ladies. She was the eyes ears of FDR.
• Toured the nation, talking to the unemployed
  visiting homes of the poor downtrodden
• Told President what she had seen and heard
• Wrote her own newspaper column, called My Day,
  and had her own radio show
• For speaking out about womens rights pushing
  for social justice, Eleanor was very
  controversial in her day. While many people
  admired her for her views, many others despised
  her for expressing them (polarizing).
• Most first ladies before her did not speak out.

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C. African Americans

• African Americans were often the first to lose
  their jobs.
• Black unemployment was 50, double the national
  average.
• They were often denied public works jobs with the
  government.
• Some charities refused to serve African Americans
  in need.
• Because FDR did more to help them than any
  President since Lincoln, many African Americans
  became Democrats.
• He did not, however, support an anti-lynching law
  because he feared losing support for the New Deal
  from southern Democrats in Congress.
• Roosevelt invited black leaders to the White
  house to advise him on race issues. They were
  known as the Black Cabinet.
• Robert Weaver, Mary McLeod Bethune (1st black
  agency leader NYA)

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D. Other Americans Face the Depression

• Mexican Americans
• Over 400k were deported to Mexico during the
  1930s (some born in US).
• Asian Americans
• The Repatriation Act (1935) provided free
  transportation to Filipinos who agreed to return
  to the Philippines not come back to the U.S.
• Native Americans
• Indian New Deal gave Native Americans more
  control over their own affairs.
• John Collier headed the Bureau of Indian Affairs
  ended the government policy of breaking up
  Indian lands.
• The Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) even expanded
  Indian reservation lands in 1934.
• The Indian Emergency Conservation Work Group
  provide jobs for Native Americans controlling
  soil-erosion, irrigation, land development.

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E. The Arts of the Depression

• Painting Photography
• Thomas Hart Benton painted murals of
  frontier/western life.
• Grant Wood painted American Gothic.
• Dorothea Lange photographed the suffering of Dust
  Bowl families.
• Margaret Bourke-White photographed poor tenant
  farmers in the South.
• Radio During the Depression
• Radio (talking furniture) provided an escape
  for people during the Depression
• George Burns Gracie Allen comedy team
• Soap operas were serial dramas that usually aired
  during the daytime (sponsored by soap companies
  to target housewives)
• The War of the Worlds - Halloween, 1938
• Actor Orson Welles presented a newscast based
  on the book. He did it in a style that made it
  sound like we were actually being attacked by
  alien invaders from Mars.
• This caused mass hysteria because some people
  tuned in late didnt realize it was fake.

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• Movies During the Depression
• The Silver Screen also provided a chance for
  people to escape their problems for a while. Many
  movies from this time tried to be optimistic
  told stories with happy endings.
• Shirley Temple was a child star who was most
  famous for singing On the Good Ship Lollipop
• Disneys Snow White the Seven Dwarves was the
  1st full-length animated film, released in 1937.
• Judy Garland starred in The Wizard of Oz in 1939
  .
• Gone With the Wind was the most expensive
  popular movie of the 1930s. It romanticized the
  Civil War Era life in the Old South.
• This movie reminded Americans that they had
  survived hard times before (Civil War), and they
  would survive this too.