History 143 Assignment Guide, March 10-12, 2009

Reading: America: A Concise History, 694-711; Discovering the American Past, 188-204

Special instructions: See below for the contemporary connection

Background information: After reading this assignment, you should know the following:

1. How American families reacted to and dealt with the Depression.

2. How popular culture, especially movies, helped people deal with the Depression.

3. How “Hard Times” got harder for African Americans, “Okies,” and Mexican Americans.

Discussion: In class, you should be able to provide detailed answers to these questions after reading the assigned pages in Discovering the American Past:

1. How and why did the FSA’s photographers pose their pictures?

2. What sort of responses did the photographer want from Americans of the 1930s?

3. Examining these photos today, what is your response?

4. How can the photographs be interpreted to argue against helping the people shown?

5. Are the photographs reliable primary sources? Why or why not?

Contemporary connection: In class, you should be able to answer the following question:

Is the United States in a second Great Depression? Find, read, and bring to class a recent news article or editorial that helps answer this question.