Great Depression Articles

8/17/2019 Great Depression Articles

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True Stories of the Great Depression

Directions: The below stories are REAL diary entries written by people during the GreatDepression. Please read them carefully and answer the questions that follow.

Part I: The Dust Bowl

As you now from our class discussion! the Great Depression was not the only problem people had to deal with in the "#$%&s. People li'ing in of the Great Plains(where weli'e(endured the worst drought in the history of the )nited *tates. +rops failed andli'estoc died. ,uge dust storms turned day into night! co'ering the area in clouds of dirt!soot! and dust.

The below diary entries were written by a woman named Ann -arie Low! a person wholi'ed in southeastern orth Daota. *he was born in "#"/! and she diaries from "#/0 to"#$0. The diary describes the daily struggle with the dust storms that in'aded orthDaota! and it demonstrates the hard wor that was the lot of women on the farm.

April 25, 1934 Wednesday

Last weeend was the worst dust storm we e'er had. 1e&'e been ha'ing quite a bit of blowing dirt e'ery day since the drought started! not only here! but all o'er the GreatPlains. -any days this spring the air is 2ust full of dirt coming3for hundreds of miles. 4tsifts into e'erything. After we wash the dishes and put them away! so much dust sifts into

the cupboards we must wash them again before the ne5t meal. +lothes in the closets areco'ered with dust.Last weeend no one was taing an automobile out for fear of ruiningthe motor. 4 dro'e my friend&s car to 6ran&s place to return something. To find my way 4had to dri'e right besides the fence posts so 4 could see where 4 was going.ewspaperssay the deaths of many babies and old people are attributed to breathing in so much dirt.

May 7, 1934 Monday

The dirt is still blowing. Last weeend 7ud 8my friend&s brother9 and 4 helped with thecattle and had fun gathering weeds. 1eeds gi'e us greens for salad long before anything

in the garden is ready3*till no 2ob. 4&m trying to persuade Dad that 4 should apply for ateaching 2ob at Rural *chool :$ out here where we go to school. 4 don&t see a chance of getting a 2ob in high school when so many e5perienced teachers are out of wor. ,eargues that the pay is only ;<%.%% a month out here! while e'en in a grade school in time 4might get ;0=.%% someplace else. E5tra e5penses in town would probably eat up thate5tra ;"=.%%! though. -iss Eston! the practice teaching super'isor! told me her salary has been cut to ;0=.%% after all the years she has been teaching in >amestown. *he wants toget married. *chool boards will not hire married women teachers in these hard times



because they ha'e husbands to support them. ,er fianc? is the sole support of hiswidowed mother and can&t support a wife! too. *o she is 2ust stuc in her 2ob! hoping shewon&t get another salary cut because she can scarcely lo'e on what she maes and dressthe way she is e5pected to.

May 21, 1934, Monday

Ethel has been ha'ing stomach trouble. Dad has been taing her to doctors throughsuspecting her trouble is the fact that she often goes on a diet that may affect her health.The local doctor said he might be chronic appendicitis! so -ama too Ethel by train to@alley +ity last wee to ha'e a surgeon there remo'e her appendi5. n *aturday Dad!7ud! and 4 planted an acre of potatoes. There was so much dirt in the air 4 couldn&t see7ud only a few feet in front of me. E'en the air in the house was 2ust a haBe. 4n thee'ening the wind died down! and +ap came to tae me to the mo'ie. 1e 2oed about howhard it is to get cleaned up enough to go anywhere.The newspapers report that on -ay "%there was such a strong wind that e5perts in +hicago estimated "/!%%%!%%% tons of Plains

soil was dumped on the city. 7y the ne5t day the sun was obscured in 1ashington D.+.!and ships $%% miles out at sea reported dust settling on their decs.*unday the dustwasn&t so bad. Dad and 4 dro'e cattle to the big pasture. Then 4 churned butter and baedham! bread! and cooies for the men! as no telling when mama will be bac.

May 30, 1934, Wednesday

Ethel got along fine! so mama left her at the hospital and came to >amestown by train6riday. Dad too us both home.The mess was incredibleC Dirt had blown into the houseall wee and lay inches deep on e'erything. E'ery towel and curtain was 2ust blac.There wasn&t a clean dish or cooing utensil. There was no food. h! there were eggs and

mil and one loaf left of the bread 4 baed the weeend before. 4 looed in the cooler bo5down the well 8our refrigerator9 and found a little ham and eggs for the men&s supper because that was all we could fi5 in a hurry. 4t turned out they had been li'ing on hamand eggs for two days.-ama was 'ery tired. 4 insisted she go to bed and that 4&d do allthe dishes.4t too until "% o&cloc to wash all the dirty dishes. That&s not wiping them( 2ust washing them. The cupboards had to be washed to ha'e a clean place to put them.

*aturday was a busy day. 7efore starting breafast 4 had to sweep and wash all the dirtoff the itchen and dining room floors! wash the sto'e! pancae griddle! and dining roomtable and chairs. There was cooing! baing! and churning to be done for those hungrymen. Dad is < feet inches tall! with a big frame. 7ud is < feet $ inches and almost as big

boned as Dad. 1e say feeding him is lie filling a silo.-ama couldn&t mae bread until 4carried water to wash the bread mi5er. 4 couldn&t churn until the churn was washed andscalded. 1e 2ust couldn&t do anything until something was washed first. E'ery room hadto ha'e dirt almost sho'eled out of it before we could wash floors and furniture.1e hadno time to wash clothes! but it was necessary. 4 had to wash out the boiler! washtubs! andthe washing machine before we could use them. Then e'ery towel! curtain! piece of bedding! and garment had to be taen outdoors to ha'e as much dust as possible shaenout before washing.



Part II: Being Without Money in the Great Depression

The below letter was written by a woman named Ann Ri'ington. Lie the diary entriesyour read abo'e! it&s entirely true! and it gi'es a great idea of problems people had to dealwith during the Great Depression. Read carefully! and try to imagine what it would be

lie to be in this woman&s shoes.

The Letter

Two years ago 4 was li'ing in comfort. -y husband had a good 2ob in a wellnownorchestra! and 4 was teaching a large and promising class of students who wanted to learnhow to play the piano. 1hen my husband&s orchestra was fired! howe'er! we started in arapid downhill path. -y husband was unable to find another 2ob! and my class graduallydwindled away. 1e were forced to li'e on the little money we&d sa'ed! but soon thatmoney was all used up.

4n the early summer of "#$$ 4 was eight months pregnant and we had 2ust spent our lasttwel'e dollars on one month&s rent for an apartment. 1e couldn&t belie'e that such acheap apartment really e5isted! but we soon found out why it was so little money. 4tlaced the most elementary comforts! and it was infested with mice and bedbugs. Fuiteoften the ceilings leaed! too.

1hat were we supposed to do for food now that our money was all spent on rent 1etried to borrow more but no one would gi'e us any. -y husband also ept looing forwor! but there was no wor! and he ept blaming himself because he was unable to findit. At last! we filled out an application to the Emergency ,ome Relief 7ureau(ago'ernment agency that loans money to people who can&t find 2obs.

1e filled out the application with great care! and after we turned it in! we were told thatan in'estigator would come to our house the ne5t day to tal to us. 81e were told that wewould only get the money after we taled to this man(that he would decide if we got theloan or not.9 *o the ne5t day we waited and waited! but the in'estigator ne'er showedup. *oon! two days went by. Then! on the fourth day! which was a *aturday! my husbandwent to the office building where we turned in our application to find out what was taingso long! but the office was closed until -onday! so we had to wait.

n *unday morning a bill collector came to our apartment. ,e told use we needed to payour grocery bill because it was getting too big. 1e had no money to pay him! though! sowe weren&t allowed to get any more groceries. 4nstead! we had to cut down to eating onlyone meal a day and toast.1hen -onday finally came(the day that the in'estigator&soffice opened again(the in'estigator still hadn&t shown up to tal to us! so on Tuesdaymy husband went to the office building again. This time he came home with aninteresting story.

HThey told me the in'estigator was here 6riday and we weren&t home!I he said. H4 gotangry and told them somebody was lying.I



6inally 1ednesday came! and in the afternoon the in'estigator finally arri'ed at ourapartment. ,e questioned us closely for more than half an hour(maing sure we weredoing e'erything we could do get 2obs and mae money(asing us about our personalli'es and relati'es. 1e answered his questions happily! though! and as it turned out! we

were gi'en a chec for ;J.=% to co'ertwo weeks

of food.

Later that e'ening we went to the grocery store to pay our bill and buy some muchneeded food. 4 really wanted to ha'e some fresh fruit because it had been such a longtime since 4&d had any! so 4 went up to the grocery store manager to as how much theycost.

H,ow much are the grapesI 4 said.

Ho grapes!I he replied. Ho grapes for you.I

H7ut why not PeteI 4 ased.

HGrapes are a lu5ury. Kou get beans! potatoes! and onions. Poor people can&t eat grapes!Ihe said

4 was bewildered! but Pete meant what he said. ,e showed me a letter he recei'ed fromthe relief bureau(the people who loaned us the ;J.=%. The letter listed things we wereand were not allowed to use our money to buy. 6or e5ample! we could only ha'e driedfruit we could not ha'e any meat e5cept salt por! unsliced bacon! pig&s li'er! and otherentrails we were allowed rice! beans! potatoes! bread! and onions! but not any other'egetables and we were only allowed to buy a small amount of mil and eggs.

Part III: The Kids

The below letter was written by a child to the 6irst Lady. 86or those of you who don&tnow! the 6irst Lady is the wife of the President of the )nited *tates.9

The Letter

Dear -rs. Roose'eltM

4 am writing you a little letter this morning. Are you glad it is spring now 4 am(mainly because so many poor people can now grow more food to eat. Do you now what 4 amwriting this letter for -y mother said you are lie a godmother to the world! and 4thought maybe you had some old clothes 4 could ha'e. Kou now! -other is a goodsewer! and all the little girls are getting Easter dresses. 4 thought that you had some! and 4was hoping 4 could ha'e one! too. Kou now! Papa could wear -r. Roose'elt&s shirts andclothes.



SHW WH!T "# K$W

DirectionsM Please answer the below questions using complete sentences. 4f you need to!go bac to the stories to help you out.

". 1hat are 64@E hardships people had to deal with that you read about in the abo'estories 84f you don&t now what hardship means! then loo it up in thedictionary. 9

/. According to the letter by Ann Ri'ington! why were they 8she and her husband9not allowed to buy grapes from the grocery store

$. 1hy do you thin the go'ernment only allowed people to buy certain items fromthe store

. Do you thin this is fair 1hy or why not

=. According to the diary entries written by Ann -arie Low! why were the Dust

7owl storms so dangerous Gi'e a few e5amples to support your answer.

T)R T T,E ENT PAGE! PLEA*E.



<. 1hat were *4N common chores a person might ha'e to do on a farm during the"#$%&s Loo at Ann -arie Low&s diary entries for help if you need it.

0. 7esides causing people to ha'e less money! what inds of effects do you thin theGreat Depression and the Dust 7owl had on families 1hy do you thin so

J. 1hat are 64@E new things you learned from today&s reading that you didn&t now before class started

#. 1hy do you thin the little girl who wrote to the 6irst Lady belie'ed EleanorRoose'elt would gi'e her a new dress

"%. Do you thin -rs. Roose'elt ga'e this girl a new dress 1hy or why not

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