+
Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: The Great Depression and the 1990s

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This site includes a unit about the Great Depression. Students will create a creative writing based on Dorothea Lange's 1936 "Migrant Mother" photograph. They will also write a position paper on the United States' current welfare issue....
+
Activity
Constitutional Rights Foundation

Constitutional Rights Foundation: Dust Bowl Exodus: How Drought and the Depression Took Their Toll

For Students 9th - 10th
Activity-based resource on the social and economic conditions of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. Students select from a list of comprehensive reference material to research the times and then choose a 1930s artist on which to report....
+
Website
Library of Congress

Loc: Lesson Plans: The Great Depression

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students will gain a strong understanding of the Great Depression with these lesson plans for a variety of academic levels. Topics include literature, government and migration.
+
Website
Other

The Great Depression

For Students 9th - 10th
Excellent resource for finding PowerPoint presentations on the Great Depression, New Deal, and FDR to use in your classroom. Also, provides games for students and teacher lesson plans.
+
Interactive
PBS

Pbs: The Dust Bowl

For Students 9th - 10th
You are about to embark on an experience that will show you what life was like on the southern Great Plains during the Dust Bowl. On your journey, you will learn about the changing market and weather conditions and be asked to make...
+
Activity
PBS

Pbs: American Experience: Riding the Rails: Timeline of the Great Depression

For Students 9th - 10th
This timeline of the Depression begins in October of 1929 and highlights significant statistics or events, sometimes month by month, through November of 1940 when Roosevelt is re-elected for his third term. From bank collapses to dust...
+
Primary
University of Illinois

University of Illinois: Modern American Poetry: A Photo Essay on the Great Depression

For Students 9th - 10th
Series of annotated photographs that document the realities of Depression-era America.
+
Primary
Library of Congress

Loc: Learning Page: Primary Source Set Dust Bowl Migration

For Students 9th - 10th
Set of primary documents, photos, audio and sheet music having to do with the movement of homeless families during the Great Depression. Teaching guide included.
+
Website
Library of Congress

Loc: Teachers: Out of the Dust: Visions of Dust Bowl History

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Primary sources, in addition to Karen Hesse's award-winning historical fiction "Out of the Dust", guide students as they explore the the Dust Bowl and its effect on school life, community, family, and agriculture.
+
Activity
University of Illinois

University of Illinois: About the Dust Bowl

For Students 9th - 10th
Thorough discussion of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s with accompanying map, photos, and timeline that describe it in detail.
+
Activity
Ibis Communications

Eyewitness to History: America in the 1930s: Great Depression

For Students 9th - 10th
This history of the Great Depression looks at its effect on American citizens, including the changes to women's societal roles. Includes photographs.
+
Handout
HyperHistory Online

Hyperhistory.com: Timelines of the Great Depression

For Students 9th - 10th
Peruse this timeline of the Great Depression and gather information about this era in United States History. Short, interesting paragraphs summarize U.S. and world events with an emphasis on economic issues.
+
Primary
PBS

The First Measured Century: Measurements and Myths of the Great Depression

For Students 9th - 10th
This fascinating transcript from a PBS special about numbers in the 20th century focuses on people and how they were affected by the Great Depression in terms of employment, agriculture, and even marriage rates. Be sure to click on the...
+
Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: The Grapes of Wrath: Voices From the Great Depression

For Teachers 9th - 10th
By examining primary sources, including songs, newspapers, interviews, and photographs of migrant farm workers in California during the Great Depression, students create a scrapbook from the point of view of a migrant worker, providing...
+
Interactive
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Up From the Dust

For Students 6th - 8th
Players take on the roles of twins Frank and Ginny Dunn, whose family wheat farm is devastated by the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. As they experience the hardships of the 1930s, players learn about Americans' strategies for survival...
+
Unit Plan
John F. Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center: Migrant Workers Through the Lens of Dorothea Lange

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Using song lyrics and Dorothea Lange's photographs, students will explore the hardships migrant workers faced during the Great Depression.
+
Article
Siteseen

Siteseen: American Historama: The Dust Bowl

For Students 9th - 10th
Discover the causes, effects, the Black Blizzards, and the response to the Dust Bowl.
+
eBook
OpenStax

Open Stax: The Great Depression 1929 1932: The Stock Market Crash of 1929

For Students 11th - 12th
Discusses what caused the 1929 stock market crash and why the American economy went so rapidly and dramatically downhill. Also explains how a stock market crash can have such a far-reaching impact.
+
Website
Library of Congress

Loc: Teachers: Out of the Dust: Visions of Dust Bowl History

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
The Dust Bowl experience is brought to life through historical photos and Karen Hesse's award-winning "Our of the Dust", a historical fiction depicting a child's life during this time in American history.
+
Unit Plan
Scholastic

Scholastic: Book Files: Out of the Dust

For Students 9th - 10th
"Out of the Dust", a Newbery Award Winning, poetic book by Karen Hesse. The heroine, Billie Joe, faces issues of forgiveness and healing during the Dust Bowl. The story is set in Oklahoma, during the Great Depression. Make a smart choice...
+
Website
Curated OER

Cbc.ca: Hard Times Canadians Suffer

For Students 6th - 8th
During the Great Depression, Canada was one of the very hardest hit countries.An overview is given of the fall of the stock market, unemployment, economic crisis, Dust Bowl years.
+
Primary
Library of Congress

Loc: Voices of the Dust Bowl: Scrapbook

For Students 9th - 10th
Explore this online scrapbook filled with articles and ephemera relating to the 1930s migrant farm issue in California.
+
Lesson Plan
Other

Texas Council on Economic Education:texas Economics Eras & Individuals [Pdf]

For Teachers 4th - 8th
A 10-lesson, 83-page unit targeting Grades 4 and 7. Lessons cover various eras in the history of Texas, including boom and bust towns; the eras dominated by cattle, fences along the frontier, cotton, and oil; the Dust Bowl and the Great...
+
Website
Wessels Living History Farm

Living History Farm: Farming in the 1930s: Fsa Photographers

For Students 9th - 10th
What a fabulous resource documenting the lives of farmers across the country during the Great Depression. Talented photographers, working for the Farm Security Administration, were sent out to take pictures, which were then published in...