The Great Depression was a decade-long period of severe economic distress in the United States, beginning with Black Tuesday stock market crash in October of 1929. Fifteen million Americans were unemployed at the height of the depression, and nearly half of the country’s banks had failed. During this same period, the Dust Bowl in the Southwestern Great Plains of the United States would drive thousands of poor, rural migrants out of their homes in search of food, shelter, and work. In 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt launched a New Deal plan to restore public confidence, reform the banking industry, create jobs, and rebuild the country’s infrastructure.

The activities within this media gallery ask students to perform an analysis of primary source images of the time period, screen a video segment, and answer discussion questions.

Learning Objective:

Students will analyze how photographers/photography captured the everyday struggles of Americans during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. 

About the Author:

Eden McCauslin is a Social Studies and English teacher in Chicago Public Schools. Eden previously taught in the District of Columbia Public Schools.