The Great Depression: causes and how people lived through it

Grade 11 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Living through it and explaining it, 1929 to 1941 (cards A to E). Card A, the Dust Bowl (Summary in our words, not a quotation, from the National Drought Mitigation Center): In the 1920s low crop prices and high machinery costs, often met by buying on credit, pushed farmers to plow more poor land. The one-way disc plow raised the risk of blowing soil. Four drought periods struck the Plains, in 1930 to 1931, 1934, 1936 and 1939 to 1940, and near-normal rain returned by 1941. A reporter, Robert Geiger, named the region the Dust Bowl in 1935. Many farmers lost their land through foreclosure, and millions migrated from the drought areas. A 1937 federal survey found 21 percent of rural Great Plains families on emergency relief.

2. 1.

   Milo's classmate says drought alone caused the Dust Bowl and the migrations. What does card A let Milo reply?

   • The classmate is right, because the Dust Bowl was named in 1935, in the middle of the drought years
   • The classmate is right, because drought struck four times and so explains the foreclosures
   • Card A also names low prices, machinery debts and the plow, so drought was one cause among several
   • The classmate is wrong, because drought did not matter and farming practice was the cause
3. 2.

   A 1937 survey found 21 percent of rural Great Plains families on emergency relief. What does that show, and not show, Noah asks?

   • About one in five rural Plains families was on relief in 1937; the survey covers no farmers elsewhere
   • About one in five farmers on the Plains lost their land, since relief and foreclosure go together
   • About one in five American farm families was on relief, since the survey is a federal one that covers the nation
   • About one in five rural families on the Plains left the area, since relief paid for the journey

4. Use this

   Living through it and explaining it, 1929 to 1941 (cards A to E). Card B, Hoovervilles (Summary in our words, not a quotation, from the University of Washington's Great Depression Project): Hooverville was a common term for shacktowns, and the name was a deliberately politicized label that blamed President Herbert Hoover. Seattle's stood from 1931 to 1941 on nine acres and housed up to 1,200 people, with its own unofficial mayor.

5. 3.

   Card B says the name Hooverville was a deliberately politicized label blaming President Hoover. How should Ren use the term as evidence?

   • As evidence of public anger at the President, not as a neutral description of the shacktowns
   • As a neutral description, since it was a common term for shacktowns in many cities
   • Not as evidence, because a label meant to blame someone cannot tell anything about shacktowns
   • As proof that Hoover caused the shacktowns, since the people living there gave them the name

6. Use this

   Living through it and explaining it, 1929 to 1941 (cards A to E). Card C, Mexican repatriation (Summary in our words, not a quotation, from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and NPR): The USCIS history office estimates that 400,000 to 1 million Mexicans and Mexican Americans left for Mexico during the Depression, most through programs that were officially voluntary but often coercive. Some Americans accused Mexicans of holding jobs needed by citizens. The INS formally removed about 82,000 Mexicans in 1929 to 1935. An NPR interview reports more than a million people of Mexican descent sent to Mexico, and the historian Francisco Balderrama estimates that 60 percent were American citizens.

7. 4.

   Card C gives 400,000 to 1 million, about 82,000 and more than a million for Mexican repatriation. Why do the figures differ, Tala asks?

   • The 82,000 is wrong, since USCIS gives 400,000 to 1 million for the same removals
   • They count the same people in different years, so adding them gives the total
   • The INS figure alone counts, since formal removals are the departures that were recorded in official files
   • They count different things: 82,000 are formal INS removals, and the larger figures include local programs
8. 5.

   Balderrama estimates 60 percent of those sent to Mexico were American citizens. Applied to USCIS's 400,000 to 1 million, what does that give, and how sure is it, Zee asks?

   • About 24,000 to 60,000 citizens, since 60 percent of the range is found by dividing by 10 and then adding
   • About 82,000 to 400,000 citizens, using the INS removals as the base
   • About 240,000 to 600,000 citizens, a firm count since two sources agree
   • About 240,000 to 600,000 citizens, resting on one historian's share applied to a wide estimate
9. 6.

   Some Americans said Mexicans held jobs needed by citizens. Which evidence would best test whether the departures opened jobs for citizens, Bo asks?

   • Employment records in the affected areas before and after the departures, showing who filled the jobs
   • Newspaper letters from 1931 that complained about Mexican workers, to show what citizens believed about jobs then
   • The INS count of 82,000 formal removals, since it shows how many jobs were left
   • The national unemployment rate for each year, since it shows whether the departures mattered

10. Use this

    Living through it and explaining it, 1929 to 1941 (cards A to E). Card D, hardship and the end (Summary in our words, not a quotation, from the Federal Reserve History): Marriage rates fell during the Depression. The downturn hit bottom in March 1933, when the banking system collapsed, and the Fed's history says the Depression lasted until World War II in 1941.

11. 7.

    Card D says marriage rates fell during the Depression. What can Esme infer, and how sure can Esme be?

    • Falling marriage rates caused the Depression to last longer, since fewer households meant fewer buyers
    • People stopped marrying because banks had collapsed, since the card dates the bottom to March 1933
    • Nothing, because a drop in marriages in one decade cannot be tied to hardship
    • Hard times probably delayed marriages, but the card gives a pattern, not a reason

12. Use this

    Living through it and explaining it, 1929 to 1941 (cards A to E). Card A, the Dust Bowl (Summary in our words, not a quotation, from the National Drought Mitigation Center): In the 1920s low crop prices and high machinery costs, often met by buying on credit, pushed farmers to plow more poor land. The one-way disc plow raised the risk of blowing soil. Four drought periods struck the Plains, in 1930 to 1931, 1934, 1936 and 1939 to 1940, and near-normal rain returned by 1941. A reporter, Robert Geiger, named the region the Dust Bowl in 1935. Many farmers lost their land through foreclosure, and millions migrated from the drought areas. A 1937 federal survey found 21 percent of rural Great Plains families on emergency relief. Card B, Hoovervilles (Summary in our words, not a quotation, from the University of Washington's Great Depression Project): Hooverville was a common term for shacktowns, and the name was a deliberately politicized label that blamed President Herbert Hoover. Seattle's stood from 1931 to 1941 on nine acres and housed up to 1,200 people, with its own unofficial mayor.

13. 8.

    Cards A and B describe farm families on the Plains and shack-dwellers in Seattle. What do they let Jun say about hardship, Jun asks?

    • Plains farmers suffered more than city dwellers, since millions migrated while Seattle's camp held 1,200
    • Hardship was the same everywhere, since both cards describe loss of homes
    • Hardship took different forms in different places, but the cards cannot say which group suffered more
    • City dwellers suffered more, since a shacktown with its own mayor shows a settled community

14. Use this

    Living through it and explaining it, 1929 to 1941 (cards A to E). Card E, two readings of the cause (Summary in our words, not a quotation, from the Federal Reserve History): The Fed's history says experts disagreed for decades about the right policy response and that consensus emerged gradually. One reading stresses the 1929 stock market crash and the regional bank panics. Another stresses the Fed's choices, including the rate increases of 1928 and 1929 and a money supply that fell by nearly 30 percent from the fall of 1930 through the winter of 1933.

15. 9.

    One reading blames the crash and bank panics; another blames the Fed's choices. Which new evidence would best separate them, Kira asks?

    • A later speech by a Fed chairman, since the institution knew its own motives and data well
    • Stock prices after October 1929, since they show the crash came first
    • The unemployment rate in 1933, since it shows which reading of the cause is right
    • Dated measures of money and credit around October 1929, to see which moved first

16. Use this

    Living through it and explaining it, 1929 to 1941 (cards A to E). Card D, hardship and the end (Summary in our words, not a quotation, from the Federal Reserve History): Marriage rates fell during the Depression. The downturn hit bottom in March 1933, when the banking system collapsed, and the Fed's history says the Depression lasted until World War II in 1941. Card E, two readings of the cause (Summary in our words, not a quotation, from the Federal Reserve History): The Fed's history says experts disagreed for decades about the right policy response and that consensus emerged gradually. One reading stresses the 1929 stock market crash and the regional bank panics. Another stresses the Fed's choices, including the rate increases of 1928 and 1929 and a money supply that fell by nearly 30 percent from the fall of 1930 through the winter of 1933.

17. 10.

    Luz's classmate says the Depression hit bottom in March 1933 when banks collapsed, which proves bank collapse was its cause. What is the best reply?

    • The classmate is right, because the bottom came when the banking system collapsed
    • The classmate is right, because card E says experts agreed bank collapse was the cause
    • Bank collapse deepened the Depression, but the cards date its start earlier, so the bottom shows no cause
    • The classmate is wrong, because banks had no part in the Depression and the crash alone mattered