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The Great Depression

Cotton Eyed Joe. Where did you come from Where did you go Where did you come from, Cotton Eyed Joe?I come from the city I come for to show Come from a place Called Cotton Eyed Joe.Cotton Eyed Joe had a new suit of clothes Nobody knows where he got them clothes.Went to the weddin' Went to the show Stuffed my gut Full of sweet cake dough.Cotton Eyed Joe had a new suit of clothes Nobody knows where he got them clothes..

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The Great Depression

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    1. The Great Depression

    2. Cotton Eyed Joe

    3. Teacher Notes

    4. Causes of the Great Depression Speculation in the 1920s caused many people to by stocks with loaned money and they used these stocks as collateral for buying more stocks. Broker's loans went from under $5 million in mid 1928 to $850 million in September of 1929. The stock market boom was very unsteady, because it was based on borrowed money and false optimism. When investors lost confidence, the stock market collapsed, taking them along with it. Short sighted government economic policies were one of the factors that led to the Great Depression. Politicians believed that business was the key business of America. Thus, the government took no action against unwise investing. Congress passed high tariffs that protected American industries but hurt farmers and international trade. The economy was not stable. National wealth was not spread evenly. Instead, most money was in the hands of a few families who saved or invested rather than spent their money on American goods. Thus, supply was greater than demand. Some people profited, but others did not. Prices went up and Americans could not afford anything. Farmers and workers did not profit. Unevenness of prosperity made recovery difficult. Stock Market crash of 1929 (http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/depression/)

    5. The New Deal in Alabama Alabamians overwhelmingly supported President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal. Alabama's congressional delegation has sometimes been called the South's most progressive and effective. New Deal programs helped both to stabilize temporary conditions (WPA, CCC, CWA) and also provided the basis for long-term economic growth (TVA). Some of these programs brought negative as well as positive results. Alabama's Democratic party and the state's elected officials tended to become more liberal. http://www.alabamamoments.state.al.us/sec48qs.html

    6. Gov. Benjamin M. Miller elected in 1930. Gov. Bibb Graves elected as pro-New Dealer to his second term as governor in 1934 and created many state agencies to manage New Deal funds and programs. Lister Hill, U.S. senator and major supporter of New Deal in Congress. John H. Bankhead Jr., U.S. senator, co-sponsor of Bankhead-Jones Act, which was designed to help tenant farmers acquire their own land, and other New Deal programs. Hugo L. Black, pro-New Deal U.S. senator, appointed to the Supreme Court in 1937. http://www.alabamamoments.state.al.us/sec48qs.html

    7. Creation of Tennessee Valley Authority in 1933. Gov. Bibb Graves creates Alabama Department of Labor and Department of Human Welfare in 1935. Passage of Social Security Act by Congress, 1935. Organization of Alabama Chamber of Commerce in 1937. Organization of liberal Southern Conference for Human Welfare in Birmingham, 1938. http://www.alabamamoments.state.al.us/sec48qs.html

    9. Porch of a sharecropper's cabin, Hale County, Alabama, Summer 1936. Photographer: Walker Evans.

    10. Carbon Hill, Alabama “Faced with economic disaster, Carbon Hill civic leaders aggressively pursued sources of funding and relief work provided by the New Deal's Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Public Works Administration (PWA)” (newdeal.feri.org). The link above connects the user to a photographic slide show by William C. Pryor. The website documents the effects of government aid for the poverty-stricken rural town of Carbon Hill, Alabama (seen at left).

    11. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) The Tennessee Valley Act was signed in 1933 “to improve the navigability and to provide for the flood control of the Tennessee River; to provide for reforestation and the proper use of marginal lands in the Tennessee Valley; to provide for the agricultural and industrial development of said valley; to provide for the national defense by the creation of a corporation for the operation of Government properties at and near Muscle Shoals in the State of Alabama, and for other purposes” (http://www.tva.gov/abouttva/history.htm).

    13. Works Progress Administration During the Great Depression of the 1930s, when as many as one out of four Americans could not find jobs, the federal government stepped in to become the employer of last resort. The Works Progress Administration (WPA), an ambitious New Deal program, put 8,500,000 jobless to work, mostly on projects that required manual labor. With Uncle Sam meeting the payroll, countless bridges, highways and parks were constructed or repaired.

    14. http://www.archives.state.al.us/teacher/dep/dep6/dep.html From pay hikes…

    15. http://www.archives.state.al.us/teacher/dep/dep6/dep.html …to rat killings…

    16. …the “State [of Alabama] progresses 50 years in 41 months of WPA work.”

    17. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

    18. http://www.archives.state.al.us/teacher/dep/dep6/dep.html

    19. Civil Works Administration (CWA) This public work program gave the unemployed jobs building or repairing roads, parks, airports, etc.

    20. Alabama Lesson Links Lesson 1“...we are in need.” This lesson uses primary documents to teach how social programs addressed the needs of poor residents of the state of Alabama. Lesson 2 “…a delegation of citizens.” Addresses the new tax package pushed through the Alabama legislature in 1933 by Governor Benjamin Meek Miller. Students are challenged to serve on “committees” to address the problems of the state. Lesson “…a helping hand.” Compare and contrast living standards of the Great Depression era with those of today and define the roles of civic organizations to those in need. Lesson “Strike!” Debate the roles of the workers and unions during the turbulent thirties. Source: Alabama Department of Archives and History

    21. Movies set during the 30s ANNIE (1982): In this musical, little Orphan Annie becomes the ward of a millionaire. GOSFORD PARK (2001): The year is 1932 and the setting is an opulent English country estate. This film is rated R for some language and brief sexuality. THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940): An adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel set in Oklahoma dust bowl during the 1930s. THE JOURNEY OF NATTY GANN (1985): This Walt Disney film tells the story of a young girl growing up during the Depression named Natty Gann. OF MICE AND MEN (1992): An adaptation of the classic John Steinbeck novel set during the Great Depression. THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965): A classic Rodgers & Hammerstein musical set during the late 1930s. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962): A film based on Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name.

    24. The New Deal Network was founded in 1996 by the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute (FERI), in conjunction with with the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, Marist College, and IBM. This website has many research and teaching resources which are helpful when discussing the difficulties of the Great Depression which eventually resulted in a massive federal works program.

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