Remembering the Great Depression

Students’ Page

Welcome to “Remembering the Depression,” a Web site designed to help you learn more about the Great Depression of the 1930’s as you study literature set during this period.

What was the Great Depression? The Depression was an economic crisis during the 1930’s that affected the entire culture of the United States and of many other countries around the world. Your world today is very different from the world of the Great Depression--and also very different from the society your parents and teachers, and maybe even your grandparents, have known.

But many people who grew up during the Depression still remember what is was like to live during this time of hardship. This Web site allows you to learn about the influences of the Depression on the generation who lived through it, apply knowledge about the Depression to novels set during the 1930’s, and reflect on the influences of your own life and times.

What will you do?

You will use Worldwide Web resources to gather information about the Depression.

You will read personal memoirs of an author who grew up during the Depression.

You will complete a variety of activities related to the memoirs and also to the novels Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and To Kill a Mockingbird, which are both set during the Depression era.

What will you learn?

The activities will help you understand more about the era and connect this new information to your reading of literature set during the time period.

Click one of the links below to select an activity.

Preliminary Activity: K-W-L Chart

Personal Memoirs

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

To Kill a Mockingbird

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