The Great Depression

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Subject Area

Social Studies

Grade(s)

11

Overview

This article from Khan Academy gives an overview of the Great Depression which was the worst economic downturn in US history. It began in 1929 and did not abate until the end of the 1930s. The stock market crash of October 1929 signaled the beginning of the Great Depression. By 1933, unemployment was at 25 percent and more than 5,000 banks had gone out of business. Although President Herbert Hoover attempted to spark growth in the economy through measures like the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, these measures did little to solve the crisis. Franklin Roosevelt was elected president in November 1932. Inaugurated as president in March 1933, Roosevelt’s New Deal offered a new approach to the Great Depression. This article can be used during a lesson on the Great Depression and includes assessment questions at the end for students to answer.  Students can read the article in a whole group or individually. It can also be assigned through Google Classroom.
Social Studies (2010) Grade(s): 11 - United States History II

SS10.US2.6

Describe social and economic conditions from the 1920s through the Great Depression regarding factors leading to a deepening crisis, including the collapse of the farming economy and the stock market crash of 192[A.1.a., A.1.b., A.1.d., A.1.f., A.1.i., A.1.j., A.1.k.]

UP:SS10.US2.6

Vocabulary

  • assess
  • identify
  • analyze
  • Great Depression
  • stock market crash
  • overproduction
  • speculation
  • Smoot-Haley Tariff Act
  • John Steinbeck
  • William Faulkner
  • Zora Neale Hurston
  • Bonus Army
  • Hoovervilles
  • Dust Bowl
  • Dorothea Lange
  • Jim Crow
  • Japanese Internment
  • Southern Tenant Farmers' Union

Knowledge

Students know:
  • The social, political, and economic conditions from the 1920s through the Great Depression.
  • Social and political factors and policies that were influenced by and that contributed to the deepening crisis during the Great Depression.
  • Economic factors and policies that contributed to the beginning of the Great Depression and the deepening crisis as the Great Depression continued in the United States and globally, including the effects of overproduction, stock market speculation, restrictive monetary policies, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act.
  • The ways authors' works during the Great Depression were influenced by and influenced the social, political, and economic realities of the time.
  • The impact of the Great Depression on class, region, race, and gender relations during the time period of the 1920s to the 1940s.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Analyze the social, political, and economic conditions of a specific historical period.
  • Determine and evaluate the factors that contributed to a specific historical period.
  • Evaluate works of art and literature from a specific time period in order to determine their impact.
  • Determine central ideas of primary and secondary sources.
  • Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • There were various political, social and economic conditions that contributed to the Great Depression.

CR Resource Type

Informational Material

Resource Provider

Other

License Type

CUSTOM

Resource Provider other

Khan Academy

Accessibility

Text Resources: Content is organized under headings and subheadings
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