Mr. E's Forum: 2006-2007 -> Advanced Placement United States History -> The Great Depression Project
Post Info TOPIC: The Great Depression Project
kathryn

Date:
RE: The Great Depression Project
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PART I

 

3) Topic – The Great Depression’s effects on the social classes and the eventual separation between generations of the Great Depression from generations after the Great Depression.

 

4) Research / Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Depression#United_States

 

http://www.answers.com/topic/great-depression

 

5) Descriptive Essay –

 

            The Great Depression truly began when the stock market crashed in 1929.  But despite these obvious signs of a depression, many people didn’t consider it a problem the first year, thinking it was a business cycle, in which the economy dropped for a few months and later rose back up in prosperity.  Unfortunately, this depression was far worse than the panics of 1819, 1837, 1857, 1873, and 1893… lasting for many years through most of the 30s. 

            The Depression was caused by a number of factors, including war depts, economic falls around the world, and the stock market crash in 1929.  This depression eventually affected the entire world.  However, there were a lot of problems that occurred within the US too.  Many people suffered from employment and unemployment that lasted for weeks and months.  There was more unemployment than there was employment, leaving millions standing in soup lines and roaming the streets as hoboes.   There seemed to be an increase in psychological problems, in which people would lose hope or go insane for a piece of bread.  However, these people had the poorest attitudes.  The “American Dream” allowed many people to keep a decent attitude during the Depression, in which anyone can raise their stars if they work really hard.

            The bottom, working, and middle classes were most directly affected by the Depression because they could not afford for banks to close and lose their jobs.  These people were either sent onto the streets or begging for jobs if they were unemployed.  The Wealthy were affected by the depression, however, they still had money to live off of because of their immense wealth.  They may have lost a million dollars when the banks closed, but they may have had a million dollars at home in their safe (either way they were still rich).

            However, because the wealthy only consisted of 1/5 of the population, the rest of the people in the US greatly suffered.  Amongst the hardships that the working and middle classes had to endure, problems including gender and race began to grow.  Women were not offered jobs anymore and often times women were fired and replaced by men.  Men became known as the “bread winners” because they were able to find more employment than women, and in return by bread to eat. Nonetheless, unemployment rates among women were lower than for men during the 1930s, primarily because the “labor market was highly segmented by gender and the service sector jobs in which women predominated were less affected by the depression.” – answers.com

            Race proved a major issue in America ever since it was founded.  However, many African Americans and some immigrants were not offered work during the economic downfall at this time.  Discrimination was definitely a huge factor, in which black workers were laid off to make room for white men.  Another factor was predominance of black workers in industries.  However, African Americans were not the only targets of discrimination.  Mexicans who crossed the boarder into the United States were often treated unfairly.

            When the depression finally began to end around 1937, America was preparing for war.  People who lived through the depression would finally see employment – as soldiers.  However, the generation living through the Great Depression would be much different from the younger generation springing into war for freedom and work.  The older generation would be a much careful and timid group of people often worried when or if the great depression would come back.  They later became huge consumers because it was believed by many American citizens that not enough consumerism caused the economy to fall so greatly. 

 

__________________
Jillian

Date:
Permalink   

even though i am absent today (wednesday) i am still working on this project at home.=]

Part 3, Dear Mrs. Roosevelt –

 

Dear Mrs. Roosevelt:

I am appealing to you because I know you might be able to help me. I graduate this year and I haven't enough money to buy a dress. I give all I earn for food for the family.

I have been worried and this is the only solution I could come to. I need a light dress and as I am quite little I would need about size 14 or 15 in dresses. I would think it was the grace of God if I received just a plain little graduation dress.

I'll have to get along without white shoes although I've always craved a pair of pumps size 51/2 or 5's that I never will get until I get a job which I will work very hard to get.

If I had a lot of money I would take up a nurses course and work for charity. Just to get the pleasure of healing people.

Graduate May 28, "35"

P.S. It's only because I hate to go on the stage with the other girls in my shabby dress. My father works when he is able.

Your Pleaing Friend
Miss E.B.
Bangor, Michigan

**RESPONSE**

Dear Miss E.B,

            I am sorry to inform you that I have received many similar requests as you have written to me. This is a very tough time for all of us here in the United States. Please remember that the clothes you wear does not define you as a person, but the reason you are on that stage is because of the most valuable of all things, your education. Your education is the key to anything you wish to accomplish in life.

 

Miss E.B.’s parents,

            I am sorry I cannot comply to your daughter’s wishes although I am sure she is a very lovely young girl. Please encourage her to continue on with her education, because it is the only way out of the mess we are all in today.

 

            Sincerely,

         Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady.

  

Dear Mrs. Roosevelt,

I am writing this letter in hopes that you will answer in my favor.

My father H. C. has been in bed from a stroke for almost a year. We have no money and my brother works but makes $3.00 a week and there are eight in our family.

My step-mother is very good to me and I try to help her. She takes in washings and I have to walk for six or eight blocks and then carry the washings home. I have to go of a morning before school and it has been very cold here. If you could send me a bicycle to ride when I go after washings for her I shall appreciate it. I am in eighth grade at school and work very hard to make passing grades. The Principal of the school bought two of my sisters and me a pair of slippers so we would not have to stay at home. If you would do this for me I shall be able to help my step-mother more. If you send me one I would like a girls bicycle. I am about 4 feet 3 inches tall so if you send me one you can judge as to what size.

Loving and appreciating-
A. L. C.

**RESPONSE**

Dear Miss A.L.C.,

            I am very sorry to hear about your fathers illness. I am unable to comply with your wishes. If it makes it any better, walking six or eight blocks daily is great exercise and keeps you physically fit, which inturn may keep you very healthy.

Dear Miss A.L.C’s parents,

            You have a wonderful daughter who loves and wants nothing but to help you. Please keep her on the right track in life and remember that your most powerful resource is your daughter and her future. If she becomes successful, so do you.

            Sincerely,

            Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady.

 

DEAR MRS. PRESIDENT

I AM A LITTLE GIRL 5 YEARS OLD I HAVE A LITTLE BROTHER HE CALLS ME SISTIE I CALL HIM BUZZIE. AFTER YOUR LITTLE GRAND CHILDREN. I WISH I HAD A SHIRLEY TEMPLE DOLL. DADY CANT NOT BUY ONE

I LOVE YOU

P. A. C.

 

**RESPONSE**

Dear Little Miss P.A.C.,

            I am sorry I cannot send you a Shirley Temple Doll. Remember, you can always have fun playing with your brother with your imagination. Your imagination can take you places that you have never dreamt of.

Little Miss P.A.C.’s parents,

            You have a lovely daughter who is full of personality. Keep up with the good parenting work, and maybe one day she will be able to receive her Shirley Temple Doll.

            Sincerely,

            Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady.

__________________
Tom

Date:
Permalink   

Jillian wrote:

even though i am absent today (wednesday) i am still working on this project at home.=]

Part 3, Dear Mrs. Roosevelt –

 

Dear Mrs. Roosevelt:

I am appealing to you because I know you might be able to help me. I graduate this year and I haven't enough money to buy a dress. I give all I earn for food for the family.

I have been worried and this is the only solution I could come to. I need a light dress and as I am quite little I would need about size 14 or 15 in dresses. I would think it was the grace of God if I received just a plain little graduation dress.

I'll have to get along without white shoes although I've always craved a pair of pumps size 51/2 or 5's that I never will get until I get a job which I will work very hard to get.

If I had a lot of money I would take up a nurses course and work for charity. Just to get the pleasure of healing people.

Graduate May 28, "35"

P.S. It's only because I hate to go on the stage with the other girls in my shabby dress. My father works when he is able.

Your Pleaing Friend
Miss E.B.
Bangor, Michigan

**RESPONSE**

Dear Miss E.B,

            I am sorry to inform you that I have received many similar requests as you have written to me. This is a very tough time for all of us here in the United States. Please remember that the clothes you wear does not define you as a person, but the reason you are on that stage is because of the most valuable of all things, your education. Your education is the key to anything you wish to accomplish in life.

 

Miss E.B.’s parents,

            I am sorry I cannot comply to your daughter’s wishes although I am sure she is a very lovely young girl. Please encourage her to continue on with her education, because it is the only way out of the mess we are all in today.

 

            Sincerely,

         Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady.

  

Dear Mrs. Roosevelt,

I am writing this letter in hopes that you will answer in my favor.

My father H. C. has been in bed from a stroke for almost a year. We have no money and my brother works but makes $3.00 a week and there are eight in our family.

My step-mother is very good to me and I try to help her. She takes in washings and I have to walk for six or eight blocks and then carry the washings home. I have to go of a morning before school and it has been very cold here. If you could send me a bicycle to ride when I go after washings for her I shall appreciate it. I am in eighth grade at school and work very hard to make passing grades. The Principal of the school bought two of my sisters and me a pair of slippers so we would not have to stay at home. If you would do this for me I shall be able to help my step-mother more. If you send me one I would like a girls bicycle. I am about 4 feet 3 inches tall so if you send me one you can judge as to what size.

Loving and appreciating-
A. L. C.

**RESPONSE**

Dear Miss A.L.C.,

            I am very sorry to hear about your fathers illness. I am unable to comply with your wishes. If it makes it any better, walking six or eight blocks daily is great exercise and keeps you physically fit, which inturn may keep you very healthy.

Dear Miss A.L.C’s parents,

            You have a wonderful daughter who loves and wants nothing but to help you. Please keep her on the right track in life and remember that your most powerful resource is your daughter and her future. If she becomes successful, so do you.

            Sincerely,

            Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady.

 

DEAR MRS. PRESIDENT

I AM A LITTLE GIRL 5 YEARS OLD I HAVE A LITTLE BROTHER HE CALLS ME SISTIE I CALL HIM BUZZIE. AFTER YOUR LITTLE GRAND CHILDREN. I WISH I HAD A SHIRLEY TEMPLE DOLL. DADY CANT NOT BUY ONE

I LOVE YOU

P. A. C.

 

**RESPONSE**

Dear Little Miss P.A.C.,

            I am sorry I cannot send you a Shirley Temple Doll. Remember, you can always have fun playing with your brother with your imagination. Your imagination can take you places that you have never dreamt of.

Little Miss P.A.C.’s parents,

            You have a lovely daughter who is full of personality. Keep up with the good parenting work, and maybe one day she will be able to receive her Shirley Temple Doll.

            Sincerely,

            Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady.

GO TO SCHOOL YOU BUM!!!



__________________
Jillian

Date:
Permalink   

Part 1 – 10 Facts

 

*The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked on a wide variety of conservation related projects such as deforestation, erosion, and drought.

*The Great Depression separated the current generation from the next. Anyone born after the 1940s lived in a different world.

*During the Great Depression 5% of the population still held the most money in the U.S. while the other 95% was left to a hard life and even poverty.*Black unemployment tripled the amount of whites unemployed during the depression.*By 1933, the number of unemployed had reached 13 million people (25 percent of the working people), not including farmers.*The Economy Act, which passed Congress easily, called for a 15 percent reduction in government salaries as well as a reorganization of federal agencies to save money.*The first New Deal of 1933-1934 concentrated on relief and recovery while the legislation passed in 1935 and 1936 was involved with social reform.*Between 1932 and 1939, there was an average of 50 dust storms per year.*During the depression years, marriage, birth, and divorce rates all dropped during the depression years.*Americans began to blame President Hoover for the Depression and began to refer to shanties as “Hoovervilles.” He could neither admit his mistakes nor communicate personal empathy for the poor and unemployed.

__________________
Brandi

Date:
Permalink   

Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt
Washington, D.C.

My dear Mrs. Roosevelt,

You may think I am a very insignificant person to be writing to a person of your standing and ability but by reading your article and hearing your talks I know you are real and have an interest in people even my dear little needy boys and girls of the mountain schools.

I am Rural Supervisor of schools in my county. I have forty schools to supervise. Due to insufficient clothing and food many are unable to attend schools.

I wish it were possible for you to see some of the conditions. It is not uncommon for a child to have but one dress or one shirt. They have to stay at home the day the mother laundries them.

I am just wishing that in some of your groups that it would be possible to interest them in our needs. The Save the Children Fund, with headquarters in New York, has helped me some. Many children of my schools would be unable to attend school had it not been for this organization.

I hope you will not consider me rude for writing. I have my heart in the work. I realize a hungry or a cold child cannot learn too much.

Yours very truly,
C. B. S.

RESPONSE:

Dear C.B.S.,

Although my deepest regards are with you, I am sorry to say that I am not able to help at this time. My heart goes out to the young children. It makes me happy to hear that it is high on your list to try to make sure they have the proper education they need, and that's very important. I know you say you wish that I would be able to see some of the conditions, but I have traveled all over the world, and I assure you that I have seen some tragic things during my traveling. Please understand that I am not able to help finacially at this time, but you have my deepest regards. Keep fighting.

Sincerely,
Eleanor Roosevelt

Centerdale R.I
April 17, 1938 Dear Mrs. Roosvelt I am writing to you to ask a big favor, the biggest favor anybody can ask. I would like to know if you would pay my way to Hollywood. You may think me crazy but I not. I mean every word I say. I know you may write back and say, lots of people ask you to pay their way to Hollywood or for some other reason, but this is different honest it is you've just got to believe in me your the only one that can help. Or you may say what can I do child. Well you could tell them that you sent me and you know I can act, I'm sure they would believe you, because you tell no fibes. Just think wouldn't you be proud if I became a great movie Star and you would say to your friends, She's the little girl who wrote to me and asked if she could go to Hollywood. And I've helped to make her a great Star. I would like to tell you all this in person and then you could see me, but I have no money for carfare and I don't want you to bother to give it to me. My Little mother is a sickly lady, she is lovely so small and sweet I love my little mother dearly and I want to help her all I can so this is why I am writing to you, It will also give me a future and bring proudness to my relatives. My Little mother has something wrong with her heart which these small Doctors dont know although they do try their best. So I thought if I went to Hollywood and earned enough money I would be able to give my Little mother the best Doctors and proper care. I am not writing this letter to Mr. Roosvelt because men don't understand things like us laides do, so I am writing to you because I know you understand. I have read and heard so many nice [missing text] I know I can act because I make little plays which I get out of story books and act them out. Please tell Mr. Roosvelt that I'm terribly sorry he lost that Bill. I think Mr. Roosvelt is doing wonders. Please be sure and tell him this, it will make him feel much better. I told some of my friends about my Idea but they only laugh at me, and I get discouraged but when I look at my Little mother I run upstairs in my room and cry. I have Mr. Roosvelt's picture in my room and his name in big read and blue letters. And when I looked at his picture it gave me an Idea and my Idea was writing to you. Please Mrs. Roosvelt answer my letter, and please oh please say yes that you'll try your hardest. God will never forget you in the next world. And what you do for your father and mother will never be forgotton. My father is also a sickly man, he had two nervous breakdowns but never got over the second one. But I am a healthy child. I am fourteen years old. blue eyes, about sixty in. tall, weigh 105 1/2 pds, hair is long and curly sort of natural the color is light brown my complexion is very white. I have big eyes. Please trust in me with all your heart and I will trust in you with all my heart. Please just for my Little mother. (That's what I call her because she is so small.) If you the Secretary should open this letter Before Mrs. Roosvelt please give it to her. Thank you. A Little Girl who is still Unknown and Just Became Your Friend
J. I. A.

Dear J.I.A.,

 

I am sorry to say that I cannot help in your quest to make it to Hollywood.  You seem like a very ambitious girl, and I’m sure that you can use your talent to get there if you really want to.  Don’t let your friends get you down.  Having big dreams is not something that should be looked down upon, so don’t be discouraged.  I am sorry to hear about your parents.  Do as much as you can to support them and help them out.  But I’m sure that it would be very good for you at this time to help your mom out at home instead of going off to Hollywood.  The whole country is going through very hard times right now. Many little children don’t even have food or clothes, so you should be happy with what you have, and what I mean most by that is your family.  Family is everything and I’m sure you care very much about your mother and father by the way you talk about them.  So don’t be discouraged about your dreams. Take life slow right now.  You are only a young girl.  So I again am very sorry that I cannot help you, but never give up your dreams.

 

Sincerely,

Eleanor Roosevelt

NOT FINISHED...
I just had to post this because I'm in my D-Block class and its almost time to leave!!



__________________
Jillian

Date:
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Part 1 - Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

            President Franklin D. Roosevelt to set up the CCC as a work relief program your young, unemployed men with families in March 1933. This program was part of the New Deal to fight poverty and the Great Depression. These men were set up to do heavy construction work to improve living conditions for all walks of life and also the environment. There were many different administrative roles that the CCC took on. Some divisions of the CCC dealt with the improvement of Indian Reservations. Other divisions were set up to improve the conditions in the west that caused the violent dust storms.

             The CCC provided help, pride, and work for millions of young men. Besides planting 5 billion trees that helped preserve the soil of the U.S. from erosion, many of the buildings and parks they built are still standing. Monuments to the CCC include a marker in memory of those who died while in service.

__________________
Tom

Date:
Permalink   

Part 2

Oscar Heline was one of the few successful farmers and stock-raisers of Amherst Township in Iowa.  He was born on January 21, 1890, and died 78 years later on the farm where he had lived his who life.  When he was finished with school, he aided with the operation of the homestead and took control after his father’s death on November 18, 1910.  The farm consisted of one hundred and sixty acres lying in Amherst Township, a valuable piece of property.  Taking care of the crops and the land wasn’t his only duty, as he raised swine on an extensive scale, primarily breeding Jersey hogs.


During the Great Depression, Oscar and his neighbors al kind of banded together to help one another survive.  When the creditors came to take the farm equipment, no one would buy anything because the money wouldn’t help the farmers, it went back to the creditors.  When there were penny auctions, neighbors bought the goods cheap and gave them back to their owner.


At one time the farmers burned the grain and corn they raised because it was cheaper than burning coal.  There was a time when it cost 3 cents to get rid of a bushel of corn in South Dakota.  On the roads to market, farmers would dump the cream and butter and eggs from the sellers to help raise market prices.  They even burned bridges to prevent the train from picking up the grain and corn.


Oscar Heline spent a lot of time working with the government to draft up some kind of farm legislation to put money in farmer’s hands.  The price of corn was set to 45 cents but that had raised another problem, there were too many hogs to feed and 45 cents.  Many farmers bought pigs and killed them to raise the price of them because they couldn’t afford the feed.


Farming families grew stronger and closer together as the times got harder.  They learned how to be more resourceful like you to make clothes from flour sacks and mattresses from the left over cotton.  They canned and cured their own meats and got by by depending on each other


Oscars says the best thing for the depression was the Second World War, even though he lost his son.  The war may have boosted the agricultural economy but it wasn’t worth the price of his son.  He says that farmers are very independent people, but there is no way they could have survived the depression without help from the government.  Herbert Hoover would have been more successful he stated if he had gotten the government involved instead of individual organizations.

__________________
Brandi

Date:
Permalink   

On one of my letters, it's a superintendant of a school of something like that, so do i just write to the parents of the children he's talkin about??

__________________
Brandi

Date:
Permalink   

LETTER:

Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt
Washington, D.C.

My dear Mrs. Roosevelt,

You may think I am a very insignificant person to be writing to a person of your standing and ability but by reading your article and hearing your talks I know you are real and have an interest in people even my dear little needy boys and girls of the mountain schools.

I am Rural Supervisor of schools in my county. I have forty schools to supervise. Due to insufficient clothing and food many are unable to attend schools.

I wish it were possible for you to see some of the conditions. It is not uncommon for a child to have but one dress or one shirt. They have to stay at home the day the mother laundries them.

I am just wishing that in some of your groups that it would be possible to interest them in our needs. The Save the Children Fund, with headquarters in New York, has helped me some. Many children of my schools would be unable to attend school had it not been for this organization.

I hope you will not consider me rude for writing. I have my heart in the work. I realize a hungry or a cold child cannot learn too much.

Yours very truly,
C. B. S.

RESPONSE:


Dear C.B.S.,

Although my deepest regards are with you, I am sorry to say that I am not able to help at this time. My heart goes out to the young children. It makes me happy to hear that it is high on your list to try to make sure they have the proper education they need, and that's very important. I know you say you wish that I would be able to see some of the conditions, but I have traveled all over the world, and I assure you that I have seen some tragic things during my traveling. Please understand that I am not able to help financially at this time, but you have my deepest regards. Keep fighting.

Sincerely,
Eleanor Roosevelt


Dear Students,

I am sorry that I am not able to assist you in donating money to buy clothes and other necessities. Your story is very touching and I have thought about it a lot. But you are not alone in this big country. Many children are in the same situation, so it is necessary not to lose hope. I’m sure you all have strong spirits and you will overcome anything.


My Deepest Empathy,
Eleanor Roosevelt


LETTER:

Centerdale R.I
April 17, 1938


Dear Mrs. Roosvelt


I am writing to you to ask a big favor, the biggest favor anybody can ask. I would like to know if you would pay my way to Hollywood. You may think me crazy but I not. I mean every word I say. I know you may write back and say, lots of people ask you to pay their way to Hollywood or for some other reason, but this is different honest it is you've just got to believe in me your the only one that can help. Or you may say what can I do child. Well you could tell them that you sent me and you know I can act, I'm sure they would believe you, because you tell no fibes. Just think wouldn't you be proud if I became a great movie Star and you would say to your friends, She's the little girl who wrote to me and asked if she could go to Hollywood. And I've helped to make her a great Star. I would like to tell you all this in person and then you could see me, but I have no money for carfare and I don't want you to bother to give it to me. My Little mother is a sickly lady, she is lovely so small and sweet I love my little mother dearly and I want to help her all I can so this is why I am writing to you, It will also give me a future and bring proudness to my relatives. My Little mother has something wrong with her heart which these small Doctors dont know although they do try their best. So I thought if I went to Hollywood and earned enough money I would be able to give my Little mother the best Doctors and proper care. I am not writing this letter to Mr. Roosvelt because men don't understand things like us laides do, so I am writing to you because I know you understand. I have read and heard so many nice [missing text] I know I can act because I make little plays which I get out of story books and act them out. Please tell Mr. Roosvelt that I'm terribly sorry he lost that Bill. I think Mr. Roosvelt is doing wonders. Please be sure and tell him this, it will make him feel much better. I told some of my friends about my Idea but they only laugh at me, and I get discouraged but when I look at my Little mother I run upstairs in my room and cry. I have Mr. Roosvelt's picture in my room and his name in big read and blue letters. And when I looked at his picture it gave me an Idea and my Idea was writing to you. Please Mrs. Roosvelt answer my letter, and please oh please say yes that you'll try your hardest. God will never forget you in the next world. And what you do for your father and mother will never be forgotton. My father is also a sickly man, he had two nervous breakdowns but never got over the second one. But I am a healthy child. I am fourteen years old. blue eyes, about sixty in. tall, weigh 105 1/2 pds, hair is long and curly sort of natural the color is light brown my complexion is very white. I have big eyes. Please trust in me with all your heart and I will trust in you with all my heart. Please just for my Little mother. (That's what I call her because she is so small.) If you the Secretary should open this letter Before Mrs. Roosvelt please give it to her. Thank you. A Little Girl who is still Unknown and Just Became Your Friend
J. I. A.





RESPONSE:


Dear J.I.A.,


I am sorry to say that I cannot help in your quest to make it to Hollywood. You seem like a very ambitious girl, and I’m sure that you can use your talent to get there if you really want to. Don’t let your friends get you down. Having big dreams is not something that should be looked down upon, so don’t be discouraged. I am sorry to hear about your parents. Do as much as you can to support them and help them out. But I’m sure that it would be very good for you at this time to help your mom out at home instead of going off to Hollywood. The whole country is going through very hard times right now. Many little children don’t even have food or clothes, so you should be happy with what you have, and what I mean most by that is your family. Family is everything and I’m sure you care very much about your mother and father by the way you talk about them. So don’t be discouraged about your dreams. Take life slow right now. You are only a young girl. So I again am very sorry that I cannot help you, but never give up your dreams.


Sincerely,
Eleanor Roosevelt


Dear Parents,


Your daughter seems to be very strong spirited and bold. She can succeed at anything she puts her mind to. I am sorry that I can not be apart of making that dream come true, but she has the rest of her life ahead of her. Enjoy the moments you have with her. Before you know it she will be a young women who is ready to start her own life. You are the center of her life right now and that should be a joy. You are very lucky to have such a joyful daughter.


Yours truly,
Eleanor Roosevelt


LETTER:

Kismet, Kansas
Nov. 3, 1937

Dear Mrs. Rosevelt:


I am 13 years old and will be 14 the 27 of this month. I am a victim of a shut in. I have been sick ever since the 12 of July. And have a very lonely place to stay. My parence's are very poor people. I cant even go to school yet with the other kids. And doubt if I can this year. I have nothing I can do but set around and I get so lonely I don't know what to do. And if you want to cheer me up and make me one of the happies boys in the world just send me some money to get a cheap raido. Ihave got proof by the neighbors that I am sick and have nothing to do. My parence names is Mr. + Mrs. A. J. M. My name is F. M. I live at Kismet. Many, many thanks if you would cheer me up that way I wouldn't spend it for nothing but a radio. It would pass my lonely time a way so much faster. I only ask for a cheep one.


F. M.
Kismet, Kansas


P.S. If I had any thing to do I wouldent ask you of it. It will be highly appreached.

I am in the dust bowl. We didn't raise any crop this year. And we have to live off of the releif and theres no injoyment out of that. But were thankful for it. My mother is sick and under the doctor's care most of the time and my Grandma that lives with me is very poorly. And that keeps my heart broken all the time. And nothing to amuse myself with.


RESPONSE:


Dear F.M.,


I am very sorry to hear about your illness. You seem like a very nice child. I am sorry that I am not able to attend to your wishes. But there are other things you could do to pass the time. You could use your imagination and make up adventurous stories. Your mind is the greatest tool of all. Maybe you could even do like you are doing now and write letters to people. I’m sure you would have lots of fun writing them and getting back responses. But never give up hope. You could be going to school in no time if you truly believe it. I’m sure your parents are very proud of brave and courageous you are. Never give up, and who knows, one day you may get that radio.


Sincerely,
Eleanor Roosevelt



Dear Mr and Mrs A.J.M.,


I’m sorry to hear about the illness of your child. Love is the key in a family, and I’m sure you show much of that. Living in the dust bowl must be extremely hard. I have traveled around the world and witnessed many horrible and tragic things. Holding a family together in these hard times that our country is going through is very difficult, and I give you much credit for the strong effort to provide your family with what they need. I’m sorry that I cannot supply money for a radio, but never lose faith. You have my deepest empathy.


With love and support,
Eleanor Roosevelt



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Brandi

Date:
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Kelsey Smith wrote:

Research on the Dust Bowl.

The dust bowl was a series of dust storms that took place in central United States and Canada from 1931 to 1939. These dust storms were due to years of inappropriate farming techniques. When removing the grass during plowing the soil dried out during the drought and the soil turned to dust and it blew eastwards. The drought took its record years between 1934 to 1936 and were marked for the nation. Once air bound the dust usually was carried in large black clouds, causing day to look like night. The soil was carried as far as Chicago and much of the dust was swept into the Atlantic Ocean. Over 500,000 Americans who lived in or the surrounding areas of the Great Plains migrated west in hope for work. After the dust bowl farmers were left with new farming techniques and methods, with soil conservation.


 http://www.usd.edu/anth/epa/dust.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_Bowl

http://www.ptsi.net/user/museum/dustbowl.html

 
Kelsey,
That's Interesting stuff.  Kinda scary actually.  But did the dust have any effect on the Atlantic Ocean when it went in their? Or what about when the farmers and other Americans migrated west to find work.. Were they able to find any, or were they just let down once again? Did their new farming techniques and soil conservation work?



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Brandi

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Jillian wrote:

even though i am absent today (wednesday) i am still working on this project at home.=]

Part 3, Dear Mrs. Roosevelt –

 

Dear Mrs. Roosevelt:

I am appealing to you because I know you might be able to help me. I graduate this year and I haven't enough money to buy a dress. I give all I earn for food for the family.

I have been worried and this is the only solution I could come to. I need a light dress and as I am quite little I would need about size 14 or 15 in dresses. I would think it was the grace of God if I received just a plain little graduation dress.

I'll have to get along without white shoes although I've always craved a pair of pumps size 51/2 or 5's that I never will get until I get a job which I will work very hard to get.

If I had a lot of money I would take up a nurses course and work for charity. Just to get the pleasure of healing people.

Graduate May 28, "35"

P.S. It's only because I hate to go on the stage with the other girls in my shabby dress. My father works when he is able.

Your Pleaing Friend
Miss E.B.
Bangor, Michigan

**RESPONSE**

Dear Miss E.B,

            I am sorry to inform you that I have received many similar requests as you have written to me. This is a very tough time for all of us here in the United States. Please remember that the clothes you wear does not define you as a person, but the reason you are on that stage is because of the most valuable of all things, your education. Your education is the key to anything you wish to accomplish in life.

 

Miss E.B.’s parents,

            I am sorry I cannot comply to your daughter’s wishes although I am sure she is a very lovely young girl. Please encourage her to continue on with her education, because it is the only way out of the mess we are all in today.

 

            Sincerely,

         Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady.

  

Dear Mrs. Roosevelt,

I am writing this letter in hopes that you will answer in my favor.

My father H. C. has been in bed from a stroke for almost a year. We have no money and my brother works but makes $3.00 a week and there are eight in our family.

My step-mother is very good to me and I try to help her. She takes in washings and I have to walk for six or eight blocks and then carry the washings home. I have to go of a morning before school and it has been very cold here. If you could send me a bicycle to ride when I go after washings for her I shall appreciate it. I am in eighth grade at school and work very hard to make passing grades. The Principal of the school bought two of my sisters and me a pair of slippers so we would not have to stay at home. If you would do this for me I shall be able to help my step-mother more. If you send me one I would like a girls bicycle. I am about 4 feet 3 inches tall so if you send me one you can judge as to what size.

Loving and appreciating-
A. L. C.

**RESPONSE**

Dear Miss A.L.C.,

            I am very sorry to hear about your fathers illness. I am unable to comply with your wishes. If it makes it any better, walking six or eight blocks daily is great exercise and keeps you physically fit, which inturn may keep you very healthy.

Dear Miss A.L.C’s parents,

            You have a wonderful daughter who loves and wants nothing but to help you. Please keep her on the right track in life and remember that your most powerful resource is your daughter and her future. If she becomes successful, so do you.

            Sincerely,

            Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady.

 

DEAR MRS. PRESIDENT

I AM A LITTLE GIRL 5 YEARS OLD I HAVE A LITTLE BROTHER HE CALLS ME SISTIE I CALL HIM BUZZIE. AFTER YOUR LITTLE GRAND CHILDREN. I WISH I HAD A SHIRLEY TEMPLE DOLL. DADY CANT NOT BUY ONE

I LOVE YOU

P. A. C.

 

**RESPONSE**

Dear Little Miss P.A.C.,

            I am sorry I cannot send you a Shirley Temple Doll. Remember, you can always have fun playing with your brother with your imagination. Your imagination can take you places that you have never dreamt of.

Little Miss P.A.C.’s parents,

            You have a lovely daughter who is full of personality. Keep up with the good parenting work, and maybe one day she will be able to receive her Shirley Temple Doll.

            Sincerely,

            Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady.

wow Jill, you are SUCH a good student for working on it at home even when u were absent!=] Mr e should give you extra credit just for that! But anyways, now for the questions. In all your letters you wrote, Eleanor Roosevelt was so nice and kind.  Do you think there were any instances where she got annoyed and didn't write bad things, like suck it up? hehehehe probably not, but I just figured I'd ask.  Or where there any cases when she actually did donate some of her things to these kids? Was it possible that she started to and maybe word got out and she couldnt handle all the requests? (haha sorry for all the questions, I just like making up my own scenarios) =]



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C.Santos

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CRYSTAL wrote:

PART I

 
  1. The stock market crash revealed serious structural weaknesses in the financial and banking systems. The Federal Reserve Boared, fearing inflation, tightened credit—exactly the opposite of the actionit should have taken to fight a slowdown in purchasing.
 
  1. The stock market’s continued decline in 1930-1931 was in reponse to the European economic collapse that undermined international finance and trade.
 
  1. In 1930, an additional 1,300 banks failed. Many factories cut back on production, and some closed. U.S. Steel announced a 10 % wage cut in 1931. As the auto industry laid off workers, the unemployment rate rose to more than 40% in Detroit.
 
  1. The Wall Street Crash caused a spectacular business boom of the 1920s to collapse in October 1929. The stock prices had become both a symbol and a source of wealth during the 1920s. Millions of people did invest in the boom market of 1928 and millions lost their money in October 1929, when it collapsed.
 
  1. The effects of the Great Depression were great on economy. The U.S. Gross National Product—the value of all the goods and services produced by the nation in one year—dropped from $104 billion to $56 billiion in four years, while the nation’s income declined by over 50 percent. Some 20 percent of all banks closed, wiping out 10 million savings accounts. By 1933, the number of unemployed had reached 13 million people, or 25 percent of the workforce, not including farmers.
 
  1. Politically, Republican domination was at an end. The power of the federal government would increase significantly, as the people accepted dramatic changes in policies.
 
  1. Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) is a federally funded and government-owned corporation and was created by Congress early in 1932 as a measure for propping up faltering railroads, banks, life insurance companies, and other financial institutions. The RFC would help to stabilize these key businesses. The benefits would then “trickle down” to smaller businesses and bring recovery. The Democrats said that it would only help the rich.
 
  1. Farmers banded together to stop banks from foreclosing on their farms and evicting them from their homes. Farmers in the Midwest formed the Farm Holiday Association, which attempted to reverse the drop in prices by stopping the entire crop of grain harvested in 1932 from reaching the market. After some violence, the effort collapsed.
 
  1. The Election of 1932. 1932 was the depression’s worst year. The Republicans renominated Hoover, who warned that a Democratic victory would only result in worse economic problems.The Democrats nominated New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt for president and John Nance Garner of Texas for VP.
 10. The new president was Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his "new deal".
How u can tell someone was having a rougher day than i was ^^^. It takes a really hard say to number 1-10 with the number 1 nine times then end at 10 lol.



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kathryn

Date:
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Kelsey Smith Wrote:

Research on the Dust Bowl.

The dust bowl was a series of dust storms that took place in central United States and Canada from 1931 to 1939. These dust storms were due to years of inappropriate farming techniques. When removing the grass during plowing the soil dried out during the drought and the soil turned to dust and it blew eastwards. The drought took its record years between 1934 to 1936 and were marked for the nation. Once air bound the dust usually was carried in large black clouds, causing day to look like night. The soil was carried as far as Chicago and much of the dust was swept into the Atlantic Ocean. Over 500,000 Americans who lived in or the surrounding areas of the Great Plains migrated west in hope for work. After the dust bowl farmers were left with new farming techniques and methods, with soil conservation.
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I never really realized that the dus bowl was such a huge insident.  Before class, i have never even heard of it.  I think its amazing how dirt can be carried into chicago and even into the atlantic ocean.  But what happened to the people living in the Dust Bowl area?  In other words, how greatly did it affect their lives?



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melanie <3

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i forgot to cite source  :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_Conservation_Corps

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CRYSTAL

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C.Santos wrote:
How u can tell someone was having a rougher day than i was ^^^. It takes a really hard say to number 1-10 with the number 1 nine times then end at 10 lol.


don't make fun of me cause i can't count.
just kidding, not my fault that ms word doesn't know the rest of the numbers in between 1 and 10. AND I WAS NOT HAVING A ROUGH DAY! thankyou,comeagain...curt!



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Jarred

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Krystal wrote:

    During the Great Depression, there were many new advances in science and technology.  In the medical field, blood transfusions were done in a new and safer manner.  Cook County Hospital in Chicago opened the first blood bank to store the blood from donors.  With these new tactics, there was a much greater chance for patients to survive major surgeries.  Albert Einstein in 1933 became a professor at Princeton University.  He wrote a letter to President Roosevelt saying that he thought that uranium could be a new source of energy, therefore creating atomic bombs.  In 1930, the planet Pluto was discovered.  Food started to be better refridgerated, and synthetic materials contributed to making plexiglass, nylon, and cellophane.  Xerography was founded by Chester F. Carlson, which is the process of making copies.  The radio became most popular during this time.  About 80% of the population owned one by 1939.  This decade proved to have a major effect on society that still contributes to today's every day life.


Krystal, this was very informative. I really liked this because it talked about things that not many people know about the Depression period and stuff that frequently gets overlooked in the few of other problems of the times. Good job!!



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Kelsey Smith

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Brandi wrote:

Kelsey Smith wrote:

Research on the Dust Bowl.

The dust bowl was a series of dust storms that took place in central United States and Canada from 1931 to 1939. These dust storms were due to years of inappropriate farming techniques. When removing the grass during plowing the soil dried out during the drought and the soil turned to dust and it blew eastwards. The drought took its record years between 1934 to 1936 and were marked for the nation. Once air bound the dust usually was carried in large black clouds, causing day to look like night. The soil was carried as far as Chicago and much of the dust was swept into the Atlantic Ocean. Over 500,000 Americans who lived in or the surrounding areas of the Great Plains migrated west in hope for work. After the dust bowl farmers were left with new farming techniques and methods, with soil conservation.


 http://www.usd.edu/anth/epa/dust.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_Bowl

http://www.ptsi.net/user/museum/dustbowl.html

 
Kelsey,
That's Interesting stuff.  Kinda scary actually.  But did the dust have any effect on the Atlantic Ocean when it went in their? Or what about when the farmers and other Americans migrated west to find work.. Were they able to find any, or were they just let down once again? Did their new farming techniques and soil conservation work?


The new farming techniques and soil conservation worked which allows us to farm on the land now. When they moved away from their homes to get away from the dust bowl not all found jobs, due to over population of areas that became "hot spots" for migrant workers. Im actually not sure about how it affected the Atlantic Ocean, probley causing cloudy water, and maybe effected the ocean life that swam in or around where the soil fell.


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Tanya

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Part 1 - Essay

Women and the New Deal

When the stock market crashed in 1929, unemployment in the U.S. increased from 4%-25% until 1933 when Roosevelt was nominated for president. He promised "a new deal for the American people." The New Deal was the name of programs between1933-1937 that had in mind the goals of relief, recovery, and reform. Direct relief was the immediate effort to help the one-third of the population that were effected the most by the Great Depression. Some of these programs include the social security and unemployment insurance programs, Resettlement Administrations, and the Farm Security Administration. Economic recovery was the effort to restore the economy to normal health. Financial reform was also part of the New Deal programs. These included the National Recovery Administration, regulation of Wall Street, and the Agricultural Adjustment Act farm programs.


Many Americans fought for their rights in the workplace. Women were treated as inferior to men when it came to this aspect of American society. The Brotherhood of Railway and Steamship Clerks ruled that no married women whose husband could support her was eligible for a job. Out of the women that actually had jobs, only 3 percent belonged to unions, and women also earned only about 60 percent of the wages men were paid for equivalent work. Many women began to fight for social justice.

Frances Perkins was one of these women. Appointed U.S. Secretary of Labor by President Roosevelt, she became the first woman to be part of the U.S. cabinet. Promoting the adoption of the Social Security Act, advocating higher wages, urging legislation to alleviate industrial strife, and helping to standardize state industrial legislation were among the things she did as Secretary of Labor. Molly Dewson also fought for women’s social justice. She graduated from Wellesley College in 1897 as a social worker. After graduating, she also began working as a secretary of the Domestic Reform Committee of the Women’s Educational and Industrial Union (a social and reform club in Boston.) She reorganized the club’s employment office for domestic workers, formed social clubs for them, and taught at a school for housekeeping. In 1900, she set up (and became the first superintendent of) the parole department of the Massachusetts State Industrial School for Girls. Dewson became involved in the minimum wage movement in 1911, and was named executive secretary of the Minimum Wage Investigation Committee. This produced a report that led to Massachusetts, and the nation’s, first minimum wage law. She also worked as Florence Kelley’s principal assistant in the National Consumers’ League campaign for stat minimum wage laws for women and children. She served as president of the League from 1925-1931. Here she worked closely with Eleanor Roosevelt, leading the effort of the Women’s Joint Legislative Conference. Dewson also played a central role in getting the 1930 New York law limiting women to forty-eight-hour work weeks passed. Molly Dewson was appointed head of the Democratic National Committee’s Women’s Division (DNC). As the head, she found government jobs for female party workers, and placed women high up in the Social Security and National Recovery Administrations. She also created the Reporter Plan, which educated female party workers on New Deal programs so they could explain them to voters.

Katharine Lenroot, director of the Children’s Bureau, and Mary Anderson, head of the Women’s Bureau, were also active in fighting for women’s justice. They both selected other women to serve in their agencies. Some of these women joined the government bureaus to continue to fight for social justice, as they had already worked together as social workers. Eleanor Roosevelt did much to help Americans during the Depression. Eleanor supported Appalachian farmers to reclaim their land, made sure African Americans were receiving relief from New Deal programs, and argued against all forms of discrimination. In 1935, Eleanor helped found the National Youth Administration. It gave thousands of high school and college students part-time work. She especially tried helping the poor women. In November of 1933, she sponsored a White House Conference on the Emergency Needs of Women. She also advocated including more women in the CCC the WPA, and other programs, however, in it’s turnout, the New Deal didn’t do much for poor women.

The early New Deals programs did nothing for about 140,000 homeless women or the 2-4 million unemployed women. Married women were often fired because it was thought that they should be taking care of their families instead of taking jobs away from men. Single, divorced, and widowed women were usually ignored. Despite these women that it didn’t help, the women that were active in fighting for their justice were successful in other ways for getting their justice (like the forty-eight-hour work day, etc.).

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_new_deal#Relief.2C_recovery.2C_and_reform

http://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/teachinger/glossary/dewson-mary.cfm

http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/people/A0838456.html

http://www.edwardsly.com/rooseve.htm 

Mr. E., I didn't use this website, but I came across it and thought you might want to browse through it, I only got to look through a little of it, but it said it has a lot of pictures and stuff from the Great Depression era:



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kathryn

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I have more sources for my descriptive essay that i forgot to add....

http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/depression/problems.html

http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/depression/definitions.html

http://www.gusmorino.com/pag3/greatdepression/



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Kelsey Smith

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kathryn wrote:

Kelsey Smith Wrote:

Research on the Dust Bowl.

The dust bowl was a series of dust storms that took place in central United States and Canada from 1931 to 1939. These dust storms were due to years of inappropriate farming techniques. When removing the grass during plowing the soil dried out during the drought and the soil turned to dust and it blew eastwards. The drought took its record years between 1934 to 1936 and were marked for the nation. Once air bound the dust usually was carried in large black clouds, causing day to look like night. The soil was carried as far as Chicago and much of the dust was swept into the Atlantic Ocean. Over 500,000 Americans who lived in or the surrounding areas of the Great Plains migrated west in hope for work. After the dust bowl farmers were left with new farming techniques and methods, with soil conservation.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I never really realized that the dus bowl was such a huge insident.  Before class, i have never even heard of it.  I think its amazing how dirt can be carried into chicago and even into the atlantic ocean.  But what happened to the people living in the Dust Bowl area?  In other words, how greatly did it affect their lives?


It affected their lives in a huge way, not only did it destroy their land more making soil to be uneven it also caused soil to settle on their houses, and other farming machines. The dust bowl was so intense that people moved to get away from it, some houses were buried in dust, and with so much dust in the air it make it difficult to breath. Photographs of the dust bowl showed the intense amounts of dust that got carried threw the air.



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Jillian

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Tom wrote:

Part 2

Oscar Heline was one of the few successful farmers and stock-raisers of Amherst Township in Iowa.  He was born on January 21, 1890, and died 78 years later on the farm where he had lived his who life.  When he was finished with school, he aided with the operation of the homestead and took control after his father’s death on November 18, 1910.  The farm consisted of one hundred and sixty acres lying in Amherst Township, a valuable piece of property.  Taking care of the crops and the land wasn’t his only duty, as he raised swine on an extensive scale, primarily breeding Jersey hogs.


During the Great Depression, Oscar and his neighbors al kind of banded together to help one another survive.  When the creditors came to take the farm equipment, no one would buy anything because the money wouldn’t help the farmers, it went back to the creditors.  When there were penny auctions, neighbors bought the goods cheap and gave them back to their owner.


At one time the farmers burned the grain and corn they raised because it was cheaper than burning coal.  There was a time when it cost 3 cents to get rid of a bushel of corn in South Dakota.  On the roads to market, farmers would dump the cream and butter and eggs from the sellers to help raise market prices.  They even burned bridges to prevent the train from picking up the grain and corn.


Oscar Heline spent a lot of time working with the government to draft up some kind of farm legislation to put money in farmer’s hands.  The price of corn was set to 45 cents but that had raised another problem, there were too many hogs to feed and 45 cents.  Many farmers bought pigs and killed them to raise the price of them because they couldn’t afford the feed.


Farming families grew stronger and closer together as the times got harder.  They learned how to be more resourceful like you to make clothes from flour sacks and mattresses from the left over cotton.  They canned and cured their own meats and got by by depending on each other


Oscars says the best thing for the depression was the Second World War, even though he lost his son.  The war may have boosted the agricultural economy but it wasn’t worth the price of his son.  He says that farmers are very independent people, but there is no way they could have survived the depression without help from the government.  Herbert Hoover would have been more successful he stated if he had gotten the government involved instead of individual organizations.
Tom great job on writing the story on your character, i never knew that you had it in you. when you put your mind on something i guess u can actually be pretty intelligent. i can't reall ask any questions about your writing because i dont know much about oscar heline. =]



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Tanya

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Jillian wrote:

Part 1 - Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

            President Franklin D. Roosevelt to set up the CCC as a work relief program your young, unemployed men with families in March 1933. This program was part of the New Deal to fight poverty and the Great Depression. These men were set up to do heavy construction work to improve living conditions for all walks of life and also the environment. There were many different administrative roles that the CCC took on. Some divisions of the CCC dealt with the improvement of Indian Reservations. Other divisions were set up to improve the conditions in the west that caused the violent dust storms.

             The CCC provided help, pride, and work for millions of young men. Besides planting 5 billion trees that helped preserve the soil of the U.S. from erosion, many of the buildings and parks they built are still standing. Monuments to the CCC include a marker in memory of those who died while in service.

Jillian, how successful do you think the CCC was in their work efforts?  Did the CCC do any other things that were notable?



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L. Gonzalez

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My topic is the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 Basically the main idea of this Act was to develop and help protect Indian land and their resources.  Under this act, Indians were also given the opportunity to establish a credit system and were given rights to home rule. Another big thing that would come from this was that Indians would now be able to get educated.   This act was a reversal of the Dawes Act. The Dawes Act basically stated that Native American land would be closely watched and divided into small portions for individual Native Americans.  The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 was meant to do the exact opposite of what the Dawes Act put out there. It was all up to the Native Americans to choose if they wanted to adopt this act or not.  The government was trying to give back Native Americans the right to manage their own land.  Many Native Americans still didn’t want it to pass.  Some Americans thought that it was an act of Communism. In one of the sites that I used to research this topic it stated that the way that the Native Americans opposed this Act showed that they were willing to do what it took in order to free them from being mistreated by the Americans.  This act also was able to help Native Americans get better medical treatment and greater education, as I mentioned before.  Amos Owen, the tribal chairman during the time that this act was adopted, spoke in an interview with Herbert Hoover and said,”‘ It didn’t pan out as we thought it would.’” (www.Historymatters.gmu.edu/d/34/)  He was explaining that when the act was first introduced to the different tribes of Native Americans, many adopted it almost without thinking because it sounded just so good.  He explains that almost the only thing that the Native Americans actually got out of this act were the farming loans. On the other hand, another tribal leader, Alfred Dubray, thought that it brought about many positive changes. During an interview this was what he said concerning the Indian New Deal, as it was most known as to the Native Americans, “’ It had a lot of advantages that many of the people didn’t see, such as making loan funds available, huge amounts of that. Farm programs were developed through this. Cattle-raising programs were initiated. Educational loans were beginning to be made available for Indian youngsters who had never had any opportunities before, hardly, to attend any higher institutions. Unless they just did it by sheer initiative, and if somebody is sponsoring it. So there was a new field there in education, and, of course, mainly the tribal governing body section of it—busy there, and they established their governing body and voted on their representatives and the council members.’”(www.Historymatters.gmu.edu/d/34)  This showed that many of the Native Americans that were involved had many different views on the act, some that were positive and some that were negative.

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Brandi

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Part 2 Events:

Ed Paulsen
 -The people like me who lived in the west did not even realize there was a stock market crash in 1929.  We didn’t have enough money to hold stocks anyway, but we started to feel the effects of the crash through people around us and by how hard it was to find jobs now.  We didn’t get paid much before, but now it was really hard to support ourselves and find work. -Seeing people in soup lines was scary because I had never seen such a fight to get food.  Getting in that line was like a fight for your life. I didn’t even know how to join a soup line. -Jobs: I tried to get a job in San Francisco on the docks, but now a college degree was required to have a job like that.  I never thought that my own knowledge and the things I had learned without a proper education would let me down.  Some people would try to sell apples for barely anything, but I guess that’s what people had to start doing.  Times were changing and we had to do whatever we could to get even the smallest amount of money. -Campaigning and Elections: I met Upton Sinclair in 1934 during his campaign and I got a job singing with the quartet that was campaigning with him. -The American Legion was horrible at this time.  I couldn’t stand them.  They would drive people out of Hoovervilles with bats, which a lot of times would be their only place to stay.   -The Transient Camp was amazing.  We were able to eat a wonderful meal and take a bath.  We had toothbrushes and towels.  It felt so good. I had never seen a place like it before.

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Butchie

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Ten Facts 
  1. Hebert Hoover and FDR would spend 12 years seeking the elusive path to recovery.
  2. On September 3, 1929 the Dow Jones average reached an all-time high of 381.
  3. The top 5% of the richest Americans receive over 33% of the income.’
  4. Buying on margin made down payments as low as 10%.
  5. The US Gross National Product dropped from $104 million to $56 million in 4 years while the nation’s income dropped over 50%.
  6. In 1933, unemployment was at an all-time high at 25% of the workforce.  It was between 1929 and 1941.
  7. The Hawley-Smoot Tariff passed by the Republican Congress set tax increases ranging from 31% to 49% on foreign imports.
  8. Hoover then proposed a moratorium on the payment of international debts.
  9. The Federal Farm Board was created in 1929 help farmers stabilize prices by temporarily holding surplus grain and cotton.  
  10. A thousand unemployed WWI vets marched to Washington, DC to get payment for their efforts in the war.

My topic is the Federal Farm Board. 

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s.bailey

Date:
part 2
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Evelyn Finn

Events

 

~ Formation of unions for women in the textile industry in St. Louis. Before the unions, I was kind of a lone rebel in organizing the girls. It made things a little easier on me, even though I had to keep the union in check.

 

~ Lack of bank failures in St. Louis. I was fortunate enough not to lose my little savings I had.

 

~ Jazz and nightclubs of St. Louis. How do you think I managed to have a daughter out of wedlock? The dancing and drinking, it was always out of hand.

 

~ Unemployment rates. Seeing as I was so skilled, I didn’t have to worry about much, but I saw many girls lose their jobs.

 

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Brittney

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RE: The Great Depression Project
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Part 2

My name is Robin Langston. I am a 43-year-old black man who grew up in Hot Springs, Arkansas during the Great Depression. I grew up in a black community, but it wasn’t like Chicago there were Caucasians in our community. I could guess that there was probably ten white families within fifty feet of us. We were more fortunate compared to others during the depression we always had food, very little money but enough to get us by and there was so much spiritual guidance between us that kept us going. My father owned a restaurant, which we got equal business from blacks as well as the whites. White people came for my father’s “special ingredient” fried chicken.

Since I was five years old I helped in my father’s restaurant, my father didn’t start me working but I insisted. My mother worked the cash register and my sister was the waitress. It could be considered a family owned and operated business. My family had a lot of white friends due to having the restaurant. For some reason when it came to food white people forgot their superior attitudes at home.

You could tell that it was the depression by the fact that both blacks and whites were out of jobs. The whites not working made it official. I remember when things got really hard and the sheriff had people come to town and want to bring them to get some chicken and he really didn’t have the money, so my father told him to bring some collateral and he pawned a radio to my father for $10. My father also carried black people on the tab during the depression. Since we had a basement in our home, people who would come there, my father let them live in the basement as long as they would help in working around the garden and other such things, basically work for their stay. I learned a lot of things from the men that lived in our basement such as house to gamble and shoot dice.
At this time schools were still segregated and I doubt that one of the teachers had a bachelor’s degree. Even though most of them hadn’t finished school themselves they were tremendous people. One of the lady’s had been working for over fifty years and I don’t even recall her having any higher then a tenth grade education. I remember in about eighth or ninth grade, since there was no library in the black school we had to rely on donated materials such a Time Magazine because there was articles on economics.
During the depression a bureau was established in my town for poor whites and poor blacks that were in search for work. This bureau had them do work in the mountain area such as cutting vines or shrubbery. They would also teach them how to farm on no good land. They provided the workers with food. But the food was less then desirable the beans had ball weevils in them. They were eating beans and separating the bugs from the beans. Then the WPA and other projects introduced the black people to handicrafts and trades. It gave them a chance to have and office work job working with a typewriter.

Even though poverty was still poverty it was still integrated. In a sense it was like I’m white your black and they felt no need in helping each other in order to make things better.

__________________
Kelsey Smith

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[LETTER ONE]

Dear Mrs. Roosevelt
I am writing to you for some of your old soiled dresses if you have any. As I am a poor girl who has to stay out of school. On account of dresses & slips and a coat. I am in the seventh grade but I have to stay out of school because I have no books or clothes to ware. I am in need of dresses & slips and a coat very bad. If you have any soiled clothes that you don't want to ware I would be very glad to get them. But please do not let the news paper reporters get hold of this in any way and I will keep it from geting out here so there will be no one else to get hold of it. But do not let my name get out in the paper. I am thirteen years old.
Yours Truly,
Miss L. H.
Gravette, Ark.
R #3
c/o A. H.

[RESPONSE]

Dear Miss. H
I am writing you back about your request for dresses. I have sympathy for you during this hard time. I do not have any dresses or slips to give to you because I do not know your size. I want to see you go to school and if you cant because you have nothing to wear than I will help you, I will provide you with a coat, and I will send someone to your house to take you out to get 3 dresses and 3 slips. However I wish I could help you more, you need to find a way to get your own books, just like yourself there are many others who are in need of help. No worries your name will stay out of the paper. I’m sorry I cant do more for you in this time of need.

Sincerely yours
[No signature]

[LETTER TWO]

Dear Mrs. Roosevelt,
I am a little girl 12 years old. I would like to have a bicycle so much.
My Daddy has been out of work for such a long time and now he is only working 2 + 3 days a week and cannot afford to buy one for me.
So I am working hard to earn one, by selling 9, 3 year subscriptions for the "Ladies Home Journal or The Saturday Evening Post.
I know you are a wonderful lady. I always read all I can about you. I love to read about great people so much. I wonder if you would subscribe for these magazine, and help me earn a bicycle, I surely will appreciate your kindness.
I will be waiting to hear from you.
I am E. E.

[RESPONSE]

Dear Miss E. E.

Your want for a bicycle is a common want for children your age. Your father not being able to do so is understandable. I will subscribe to The Ladies Home Journal, send all of the required papers for me to fill out and I will send them in for you to be one step closer to owning a bicycle.

Sincerely yours
[No signature]

[LETTER THREE]

DEAR MRS. PRESIDENT
I AM A LITTLE GIRL 5 YEARS OLD I HAVE A LITTLE BROTHER HE CALLS ME SISTIE I CALL HIM BUZZIE. AFTER YOUR LITTLE GRAND CHILDREN. I WISH I HAD A SHIRLEY TEMPLE DOLL. DADY CANT NOT BUY ONE
I LOVE YOU
P. A. C.

[RESPONSE]

Dear Sistie,

Your want for a Shirley temple doll is exactly want my grand daughter wanted. I bought one for her and I will do the same for you.

Sincerely yours
[No signature]

__________________
kathryn

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PART II

Biography: Buddy Blankenship

I was young when the depression hit and lived right through the worst of it.  1932 was probably the worst year we ever saw at the time.  My father was a miner and a hard worker.  I loved my father very much and one year i told him i no longer wished to school.  My father immediately told me to work in the mines with him.  I was young and didn't mind the hard work.  The mines were extremely hot and dirty.  I preferred working the mines during the summertime, because winter was so cold and we were often snowed in.  I used to have to hammer out my fathers feed from his horses stirrups because they'd be wet with sweat after working so long in the mines.  I remember walking out of the mines in the winter exploding with steam as the sweat evaporated in the freezing air.  Children were often ammused by this.
As we continued to work in the mines, the economy worsened.  Our pay decreased and conditions got worse.  We walked for about a dollar an hour.  Finally, the time came when all the mine's workers were layed off.  I resorted to farming.  Farming was probably the hardest thing we ever resorted to.  There was no money, no stores, no nothing... except for the things we grew on our land.  I was very young still, but I can remember the hardships.  However, those were probably the best years of eating.  We grew so much food and raised so much cattle.  The only thing we ever needed to by was wheat and meal.  Sometimes I'd feel bad for having so much to eat, when there was so many starving people at the time because of the depression.
Finally, the worse was just about ending.  A mine opened back up, but it was a smaller mine.  There was not much coal around for a while.  People were begging for coal.  However, i continued at the mine.  We had some problems with the companies that employed us.  I was responsible for organizing a few strikes.  One day during one of our strikes, the company people came out and started shootin' at us.  They had so many guns, all hanging off their belts.  Surprisingly the police came and were on our side of the situation.  They told the company officials that they are not allowed to carry all those weapons and shoot at their employies.  It was a wonderfuls sight.  We won the strike.
My father got layed off later for old age and he didnt even get a pension.  He died when he was 63 because a boy shot him.  In my 50s i had to quit mining.  I no longer had enough stamina to continue such hard work.  However, I'd say i survived the depression pretty good... I was lucky to have done so well.

__________________
s.bailey

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~ It took longer for unions for women to be developed. (Gender) Doesn’t everyone have the right to fair wages and work? (Rights, equality)

 

~ There were only 3 black girls working in shops near me. (Racism) Even though they were some of the most skilled, why were most not hired? (Equality, prejudice)

 

~ The bosses and union officials called us Communists for staging a sit-in. Don’t we have the right to challenge in order to protect rights? ( patriotism, rights)



__________________
s.bailey

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^ evelyn finn, issues^

__________________
CRYSTAL

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PART 1: the stock market crash of '29 and its causes and effects, etc.

The 1920s were a time of peace and prosperity, also called the “Roaring Twenties.” After World War I, its success was caused by industrialization and new technologies, such as the radio, the automobile, and Air flight was becoming widespread. The rising stock prices had become a symbol and a source of wealth during the ‘20s. On the stock exchange on Wall Street in New York City, stock prices kept going up for 18 months from march 1928 to September 1929. The Dow Jones Industrial Average of major stocks soared, many investors quickly stocked up shares. An average investor who bought $1,000 worth of stocks would have doubled his/her money in less than a year. Millions of people invested because they thought the stock market was safe due to the economic boom. Soon, investors purchased stock on margin to get mor leverage. For every dollar invested, a margin user would borrow 9 dollars worth of stock. Because of the leverage, if a stock went up 1%, the investor would make 10%. This also works the opposite way and exaggerated minor losses. From 1921 to 1929, the Dow Jones rocketed from 60 to 400! Millionares were created instantly, however, many people lost their money, when the stock market collapsed in October 1929. On Thursday, October 24, 1929, panic selling occurred on Wall Street, an stock prices plunged. Margin users were being decimated as every stock holder tried to stabilize prices, without any gain. Millionaire margin investors quickly became bankrupt, as the stock market crashed on October 28th and 29th. Prices on Wall Street kept going down, and by November, the Dow Jones index had falled from its high of 381 to 198. In three days, the New York Stock exchange erased over 5 billion dollars worth of share values. By the end of the 1929 stock market crash, 16 bllion dollars had been shaved off stock capitalization. Some Causes of the Crash were the uneven distribution of income, stock market speculation, excessive use of credit, overproduction of consumer goods, weak farm economy, government policies, and global economic problems. Wages had risen quite little comapred to the large increases in productivity and corporate profits. Success was not distributed to everyone, as the top 5 % of the richest Americans received over 33% of all income. Many people in all economic classes believed that they could get rich through investment in the stock market. People were no longer investing their money to share in the profits of a company, instead, they were speculating that the price of a stock would go up and theycould sell it for some profit. Buying a margin also contributed to the crash because it allowed people to borrow most of the cost of the stock, and inventors depended that the price of the stock would increase so they could repay the loan. When the stock dropped, the market collapsed, many people lost everything they had borrowed and put in. A belief of both consumers and business that the economic boom was permanent led to incresed installment buying. Advertising stimulated consumers’ desire for the new appliances and cars that were made. Business growth, helped by increased productivity and use of credit, caused to have goods that workers with low wages could not continue to buy. The success of the 1920s never affected farmers, who had suffered from overproduction, high debt, and low prices since the end of World War I. During the depression in the 1930s, severe weather and long droughts added to the difficulties the farmers’ had to endure. In the 1920s, the government had relied on business and did little to control it. Congress ratified high tariffs that protected U.S. industries but hurt farmers and international trade. Nations became more interdependent due to international banking, manufacturing, and trade. The U.S. insisted that all of its wartime loans to European nations be repaid in full, but at the same time the tariff policies reduced the sale of European goods in America significantly. War reparations burdened Germany in the 1920s. There was relief with the U.S. loans under the Dawes Plan, and with the market collapse of 1929, the loans were suspended. Europe’s troubles had an affect to the depression in the United States, which became the worldwide Great Depression.The Great Depression had a big impact on economic decline that had reached bottom in 1932. The end of the depression came at the beginning of another world war, in 1939. The U.S. Gross National Product, the value of all the goods and services produced by the nation in one year had dropped from $104 billion to $56 billion in four years, while the nation’s income had decreased by 50%. Banks had invested their deposits in the stock market. Now that the stockes were demolished, the banks had lost their depositors money. Bank runs began, where bank patrons tried to withdraw their savings all at once. Major banks and brokerage houses became bankrupt. Many bankrupt speculators, who were once aristocracy, commit suicide by jumping out of buildings. Even bank patrons who had not invested in shares became bankrupt as $140 billion of depositor money disappeared and 10,000 banks failed. 20 percent of all banks closed, and wiped out 10 million savings accounts. By 1933, the number of unemployed people reached 13 million, or 25 % of workers, farmers not included. Republican domination of government was ending,and the federal government would become more powerful. All classes were affected by the depression. Even those who were not prosperous in the 1920s, such as farmers and African Americans endured much hardship. Poverty and homelessness increased, stress came upon families as they searched for jobs. Mortgage foreclosures and evictions became very common during these times.

citations:
http://www.engineofsouls.com/file-147.pdf
http://www.stock-market-crash.net/1929.htm
http://www.engineofsouls.com/file-148.pdf

__________________
Brandi

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Part 2 Issues:

Ed Paulsen


Politics- I ran into Upton Sinclair in 1934.  I didn’t like his views though.  His idea was to relate the unemployed to the resources not being used.  I got really mad because I thought that the hungry should be eating the food.  He had been campaigning and people had been listening.  But even though I did not agree with him I decided that the need to survive was more important.  I got a job singing with the quartet that was campaigning with him.  For some reason, campaigning with him would help me, even though what he was campaigning for would not. 


Racism- Many people were in search of jobs during this time.  It was hard for mostly everyone to find jobs that would pay enough to support a family, never mind the minorities.  Many Negroes were demanding things during this time.  Some were demanding shelter, groceries, and work, but that usually never worked, especially the work part.  It was horrible to see how many signs were up posted that were outright putting down different races.  There were signs like “Only White Labor Employed” or “No ******s, Mexicans, or Dogs Allowed”.  During a time that everyone should have been working together to try to support and build up the country, everyone was pulling apart and bringing people down.  That was probably the biggest shocker of the depression. 


Equality- I was absolutely furious when I was not able to work on the docks because I didn’t have a college degree.  Up until now I was able to use my mind and my skills to get me places in life.  It is not fair that the people who have enough money to go to college should be the only people that are able to get the good paying jobs.  That doesn’t make any sense to me!  Everyone should have a fair chance at getting jobs that they would be good at.  Why should us less fortunate people not be given the chance to bring ourselves up?  Why do we not all have the same chances in life? 


Justice- People that were in my position finally found justice through different camps.  We were able to be given food and shelter when I went to the Transient Camp.  It finally gave us a chance at life.  It was one step closer to pulling our lives together and being able to support our families.  The wealthy were not the only ones that got a break anymore.  The camps weren’t places of luxury, but they sure were a places that gave us justice during a time of hardships and pain.

__________________
Krystal

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People:

 My name is Mike Widman.  I work for Mr. Ford and his motor company.  The other workers and I are getting fed up with our working conditions.  People are getting fired left and right.  Some days you get fired if you have a certain hair color, and other days if you wear a certain color shirt.  If service men see you on the street, they will beat you up.  We had meetings with the other workers and the ones that had been fired.  We decided to go on strike.  The five men on our committee went down on April 1, to talk to the employment office.  They instantly were fired for leaving their jobs.  That incident just pushed us over the edge.  We planned to go on strike just after midnight.  All shifts came in, and we had a band as well.  Bennett wanted to make it work, for Ford.  That was the end for us and the company.

__________________
sarah

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My name is Eileen Barth. I’m thirty-seven years old now. I was a young woman just out of college when the Depression hit. I had been going to school to be a caseworker, and I got a job almost as soon as I left school and was employed by the city. I had no experience, and I had no idea how to deal with mass unemployment, or its aftermath. Sometimes, I’d be covering the entire city and would work late into the night. Those were the most difficult cases. In college, I had felt that I was pretty secure. My education was paid for, my parents had saved up all the funds while I was still a small child. When I got out, I still had adequate money for a young single girl to live off of. I lived in an apartment with two other girls, and we got along pretty well. They all had jobs, though not employed by the city. One girl was a maid in the mayor’s home, and the other was a nanny for some stockbroker’s family. Throughout the Depression we lived there. We felt so lucky that we had a home and good jobs. I’d go to work every day and see families that had been evicted from tenant buildings just like mine, because the father was out of work and could not pay the rent off to the landlord. I had to make sure my families had everything they needed. This even meant that I had to go into their homes and investigate their closets, to determine how much clothing they had to them. If it weren’t enough to clothe each member of the family well, I would have to find a way to get them clothes. The father was humiliated to let me see his wardrobe, and I felt his pain. I was ashamed to have to do it.

I always felt frightened that I would lose my job. There were constant layoffs, and so many of the people that I worked with had to go on relief programs themselves. I never really had any sense of security during those Depression years. I worked tirelessly, trying to get my clients employed in President Roosevelt’s agencies for public works. These relieved so much of the problem that many of my clients began to think I could work miracles. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get every one of them a job. My clients respected my work, and they knew I couldn’t make the impossible possible. But I tried my best.
 


sorry bout before Krystal



__________________
kathryn

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Much of  my life was affected by the great depression.  For example:

1. Our pay started to decrease rapidly and men were being laid off. 
2. My father and I were layed off out of work.  Our mining company closed during the stock market crash of 1929.
3. We resorted to farming.  We couldnt buy anything because we had no money since banks closed.  Everything we had was grown from the ground or raised by our own hands.
4. When FDR created his New Deal, the government started opening up businesses again.  Thats when we went back to work in the mines.  There were'nt a lot of mines, however, the government did give us a place to work and make money.

We were not rich so even if there was no depression, we would have had to work hard anyways.  But the depression made everything more difficult.

__________________
Makeda

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Part II

My name is Lewis Andreas. I am 35 yrs old. I am a doctor and am very tired. I work all day everyday. More and more people come every single day for care and many of the times the situation the patients are in is sad. Some of my colleagues and I founded Chicago’s first medical center. Here we practice as a group and charge low fees. Lately there has been a lot of picketing. It has been like this since the Wagner act went into effect. Sometimes I get called out to set up first aid stations and treat people. On Memorial Day steel workers along with others picketed Republic Steel, one of the companies that did not raise their workers wages to 5 dollars a day for 8-hour days like many of the bigger companies agreed to do. Republic Steel believed the Wagner Act only made corporations talk about problems not, it didn’t make them to sign contracts.

            It was about 90 degrees outside and I was sitting in my office reading patient reports when I received a phone call asking me to set up a first aid station at the picket because there might be trouble. When I got there I went to a tavern called Sam’s place and set up there. It looked as though it was going to be a peaceful protest. People were there with their children having picnics. The police were there. I was setting up when I heard gunshots and a strange popping sound. I ran outside and saw the police shooting people. I was shocked because the people were unarmed. People were shot in all different places but many of them were shot in the back. I received a lot of criticism when I testified to this in court. I got many threats in the mail. Mayor Kelly even did an investigation to see if I was doing abortions. Nothing ever happened though. The newspapers tried to make it look as though the strikers were the ones who beat up the police, but I knew different and reported it. It was later discovered that the captain and Lieutenant told the police that the people were armed. What happened to the strikers that day was terrible.

  Historical events:  1.Strikes because of low wages-many patients were strikers because of the fights that broke out.2.Wagner Act-allowed people to hold organized strikes.

3.Inequality among social classes with health care.- Many of the people who couldn’t afford health care were the middle classes. They also had too much pride to come to clinics such as the one I worked at. Eventually, it got so bad everyone ended up coming rich and poor.

4.The New Deal- allowed doctors to use some of the creative new ideas.

5. WWII- Ended Depression

   

__________________
kathryn

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^^ My last post was PART II Events ^^^

__________________
melanie<3

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Sikeston, Missouri
January 20, 1938

Dear Mrs. Roosevelt,

I am writing this letter in hopes that you will answer in my favor.

My father H. C. has been in bed from a stroke for almost a year. We have no money and my brother works but makes $3.00 a week and there are eight in our family.

My step-mother is very good to me and I try to help her. She takes in washings and I have to walk for six or eight blocks and then carry the washings home. I have to go of a morning before school and it has been very cold here. If you could send me a bicycle to ride when I go after washings for her I shall appreciate it. I am in eighth grade at school and work very hard to make passing grades. The Principal of the school bought two of my sisters and me a pair of slippers so we would not have to stay at home. If you would do this for me I shall be able to help my step-mother more. If you send me one I would like a girls bicycle. I am about 4 feet 3 inches tall so if you send me one you can judge as to what size.

Loving and appreciating-
A. L. C.

  

                                                                                                    Washington D.C

                                                                                                      March 1, 1938

 

Dear young A.L.C.

 

 I truly feel for you my child. I appreciate your willingness to help your step-mother and my sorrow goes out to your father. I receive many letters like these from children like you. I will do whatever I can to help you get a bicycle because I feel for your story. I will bring you a bike as soon as I am able to. Keep up your head and continue to help your family. Please do not get discouraged if you do not hear from me for a while.

 

With loving sympathy-

Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt

 

 

Granette, Ark.
Nov. 6, 1936

Dear Mrs. Roosevelt

I am writing to you for some of your old soiled dresses if you have any. As I am a poor girl who has to stay out of school. On account of dresses & slips and a coat. I am in the seventh grade but I have to stay out of school because I have no books or clothes to ware. I am in need of dresses & slips and a coat very bad. If you have any soiled clothes that you don't want to ware I would be very glad to get them. But please do not let the news paper reporters get hold of this in any way and I will keep it from geting out here so there will be no one else to get hold of it. But do not let my name get out in the paper. I am thirteen years old.

Yours Truly,
Miss L. H.
Gravette, Ark.
R #3
c/o A. H.

 

Dear Miss L.H,

 

I am very sorry to hear about your poverty. I cannot let you have my old clothes because of the publicity that will come from it, but I can however find some clothes elsewhere to give to you. A young child like your self should be in school fully clothed getting an education. Keep your head high and proud. I will send you the clothes as soon as it is possible. Make something out of yourself when you go to school.

 

With loving sincerity-

Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt

  STANTONVILLE TENN
DEAR MRS. PRESIDENT I AM A LITTLE GIRL 5 YEARS OLD I HAVE A LITTLE BROTHER HE CALLS ME SISTIE I CALL HIM BUZZIE. AFTER YOUR LITTLE GRAND CHILDREN. I WISH I HAD A SHIRLEY TEMPLE DOLL. DADY CANT NOT BUY ONE I LOVE YOU

P. A. C.

 

Dear P.A.C

I understand that you want a Shirley Temple doll but I however receive too many letters from too many children to deal with everyone’s needs, although I wish I could. You have a daddy and a brother and that’s all you need. When you grow up, you will see what is important in life. I love you too.

Sincerely

Your friend Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt

__________________
C.Santos

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Part 3: Letters Letter:  Dear Mrs. Roosevelt, Please excuse the paper. I have never asked anybody for anything before and I feel kind of awkward writing this so please excuse any mistakes. I am in the second term in Flushing High School and have managed to buy notebooks and pad so far. This being the spring term spring football is in session. This being my favorite sport I am trying out for the team. I managed to loan from a boy friend shoulder pad, helmit, and football pants but he didn't have any luck in securing a pair of football shoes. Practise started yesterday. I wore snickers and had my ankle cut by a fellow with shoe's on. I came home last night and spoke to my parents about getting a pair of shoes. I'm sure they would like me to have these but my father, who works three days a week makes only $13.44 on the Long Island State Park Commission said we could not afford them. I thought one of your sons may have an old pair of football shoes they do not use now. I wear size eight. Please answer even if you can't do anything for me.

Thanking you in advance,
C. K.

Response: 

Dear C.K. ,

 

You are the first young man to request for a pair of cleets for athletics. It is a very rough time in the United States as a whole. I really don’t have any cleets from my sons because they weren’t much into the sports when they were your age. If I could I would send you money for a pair of cleets immediately but I really cant because then I would have to give everyone something. I want you to try and succeed in school and hopefully somehow you can come across some shoes for football. Please don’t hurt yourself and stay in school.

 

Dear Mr. And Mrs. C.K. ,

 

I am sorry that I can’t comply with your son’s request but I really do want him to succeed in school. I am very proud that you and your family are able to survive and still work in this hard time in the nation. I really do hope he can manage some cleets and actually play football. My main concern is that he stays in school and uses that notebook and pad well. Education will help end the depression.

 

Sincerely,

Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady.

  

Letter:

 Dear Mrs. Roosevelt, I am a senior in high school this year and expect to graduate may the thirty-first. My daddy is sixty-five years old, a poor farmer and isn't able to supply the necessary articles which graduation calls for. I am determined to get an education, so that I can help him in the very near future. I am asking you to send me, out of your personal funds thirty-five dollars ($35) to purchase these things such as invitations, class ring, graduation dress and shoes and other small articles. In September I'll be prepared for College and will need some help in financial conditions as well as suggestions as to which college a poor girl should attend. Send only enough in September for my freshman year in College, and maybe the next year times will be better. If you will take notice of my letter and answer as soon as possible, it will be highly appreciated, for without help I can go no further into the step of education, nor can I reach the requirements of a high school graduate. I thank you. For reference you may refer to Rev. J. Knight, pastor of the Indian Bayou Methodist Church, Indian Bayou, Louisiana,

Sincerely yours,
J. R. D.

Response: 

Dear J.R.D. ,

 

I know it is rough these days to get any money and I sympathize with your because your father is old. I really wish I could send money to help you with your graduation but it is too hard to accomplish anything in this time of crisis in the nation. I really hope you do graduate and continue on to school after.

 

To the Parents of J.R.D.,

 

I am sorry to hear of your had times on your farm but I really want you to know that you are not alone in this time of crisis. Many other farmers are facing the same trouble and many other high school students cant graduate because of the money shortage. Please encourage her to continue to go to school.

 

Sincerely

Eleanor Roosevelt

  Letter:My dear Mrs. Roosevelt, You may think I am a very insignificant person to be writing to a person of your standing and ability but by reading your article and hearing your talks I know you are real and have an interest in people even my dear little needy boys and girls of the mountain schools. I am Rural Supervisor of schools in my county. I have forty schools to supervise. Due to insufficient clothing and food many are unable to attend schools. I wish it were possible for you to see some of the conditions. It is not uncommon for a child to have but one dress or one shirt. They have to stay at home the day the mother laundries them. I am just wishing that in some of your groups that it would be possible to interest them in our needs. The Save the Children Fund, with headquarters in New York, has helped me some. Many children of my schools would be unable to attend school had it not been for this organization. I hope you will not consider me rude for writing. I have my heart in the work. I realize a hungry or a cold child cannot learn too much. Yours very truly,
C. B. S. Response:

Dear Superintendent,

 

I am sorry to hear and inform you that it would be hardly possible to clothe every child in your county because there are many other students in other places that don’t have clothes other than the ones they wear on their backs now. I am trying to push for a relief effort to help all students.

 

Sincerely

Eleanor Roosevelt

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alex j

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My name is Arthur Robertson. I am a financer and businessman. I was born in 1898 and previous to my success I was a war correspondent, advertising man, and engineer. A few associates and myself bought a company for 1.6 million dollars. I became the company chairman and recently we turned down and offer for 200 million for the company. By the time I was 24 I was a seven-figure man. I considered retiring at the age of 30 but then changed my mind.

            Being a businessman I met a lot of people. During the depression a lot of those people committed suicide. It was hard times but I managed to keep my head above water. Before the severity of the depression took place one of my friends a man by the name of John Hertz invited me on his yacht with two other men, Durant and Jesse Livermore. I knew who they were, businessmen much like myself except a step ahead. Durant himself owned General Motors twice but also lost it twice. Livermore owned controlling stocks in IBM and Philip Morris. They weren’t necessarily businessmen. I understood this when I asked Livermore why he would bother with anything else when he owned two very large companies. He said he only understood stock and couldn’t bother with business. He eventually went broke and wanted me to back him so he could make a comeback. He always made a comeback so I put up $400,000 and let him go to work.

            While I was in Argentina, around the same time Germany invaded Poland I received a call from Jesse. He had lost everything he could put his hands on. When I arrived back in New York he asked for a $5,000 loan. I gave it too him and three days later he went to breakfast and in the restroom shot himself. He was a brilliant man and new his stuff well but his optimism was his downfall.

            A brother-in law of mine in the thirties helped me out a lot. He said he wasn’t comfortable with the

bank situation and so he suggested we take the money out and hold it in cash. This proved to be a smart thing to do and possibly saved me from my financial demise. The depression proved to be hard times, mostly for men. A lot of men’s pride was damaged. People put too much faith in business, they invested what they didn’t have and their outlook was always positive. I myself got lucky, if I had retired I don’t think I would have made the same decisions and maybe I wouldn’t be around now but it is what it is and what a good time it was.

YAYO!

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L.Gonzalez

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PART II:
Sam Heller: I am a 40-year-old judge in the United States. I currently just finished a case that really took me overboard. I currently had let go of some prisoners because of recent crimes that they had committed. But one of the officers in my courtroom told me that they had seen this railroad agent threatening those same ex-prisoners that if they didn’t work for him they would be put back in jail by me. I was completely taken aback at that because I couldn’t believe that those people would have the nerve to include my name in something that had absolutely nothing to do with me. I quickly found out who that man was and saw that his name was John Doe. I approached him and quickly asked him who had given him the right to use my name in his looking for employees.  He then went on to tell me that other judges and officers had allowed him to do that in the past so he just figured I would allow him the same.  I just couldn’t believe that other judges and officers would allow that kind of behavior. It was just beyond me.  These past few weeks I’ve found myself being encountered by many controversial issues and cases. Yesterday I just finished a case where there was this family of 5. Because of the Depression that we’ve been going through, the father of the family was among those who had lost their jobs. He was obviously unable to pay his rent and because of that they only had five day notices to pay or they would be kicked out of their houses. I was confronted by this case two days ago and didn’t know exactly what to do because law only granted them five days to pay. But I did understand that they were enduring a very hard time. It was going to be almost impossible for them to pay in five days. I also took into consideration that there were three small children that needed to be taken care of very carefully. I wanted to do everything in my power to help them out in whatever I can.  So yesterday the family came back for their final hearing and I had to come up with a verdict. The court justices all thought that I should only allow them those five days because it was the rule and nobody should be exempted from that.  So the final decision was up to me.  I took into consideration all of the other opinions but then thought about what would be best for that family. I decided to help that family out and give them a month to get the money that they needed.  I just wanted to help them out the most that I could. After the hearing I asked to see them in my office and gave them some more money to help them out. As time went on, many other cases came up just like this one and I continuously finished them off like this. The other judges and people in power were very angered by the way that I dealt with these issues that they decided to have an election to decide whether I stayed in my position or not. Even though many were against what I was doing, many others respected me for it and said that I was very courageous for doing it.  I was proud to have made that kind of an impact on so many people.  The election took place and since many of the poor people weren’t able to vote because of circumstances, the choice of the wealthy won over the choice of the poor. Even though I was only able to be a judge for 21years, I was proud that I didn’t let myself go by what the government and many others said to me. It was a miracle that I was even able to work at all because at least I was able to make somewhat of a difference in many lives. My time as a judge was not at all in vain.

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Jessica

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Part 3 b
I printed out the pictures assignment...

Dear Miss Katie

I am so glad to know that you have worked hard to receive an education.  We need more people a lot like. With the Struggles that women deal with in our country I am grateful that you have tried to make a difference.  Along with this letter I have enclosed one of my favorite dresses that I have given to you and also matching shoes.  Hopefully they will be your size and you will be able to dress as elegant as I do.  Keep up the fantastic work your doing a great job.

 

Yours truly,

                Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt  To the Parents of Miss Katie

I hope you have taking the time to notices your daughter’s ability to demand that she gets an education and the fantastic things she has done in her spare time.  I hope that you are supporting her when getting an education we need a lot more girls like her in this country who are willing to take a risk.  I would like to come visit your daughter one day hopefully we can settle a time and date that is convenient for the both of us.  Sincerely yours,         Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt   



Dear Stormi


To hear that you cannot attend school due to the poverty that your family is facing and the lack of clothes on your back really bothers me.  It would be in my best interest to send you a couple of shirts and pants so that you will be able to attend school and other functions.  Although it may be a while I would like you to try your best to remain confident.  You are a bright girl Stormi. Never forget that, maybe I might just visit your school some day. Good luck and stay strong.

Yours truly,

        Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt  To the loving parents of Stormi,  I’m not sure if your completely aware of this but your daughter has recently sent me a letter explain the harsh times that both you and her have been facing.  I am to send her a few items of clothing so that she will be able to again return to school.  I have also provided many of shops in near by towns items that will help you be strong. Your daughter is a wonderful child and I hope to hear from her soon.  Now let’s help her continue this.  She has written me a letter telling me that she is unable to attend school because of her lack of clothing.  I personally have donated much of my money and old clothes to nearby shops that you could stop by.  It is completely free, and you will be able to help your daughter out a lot.  Don’t let a minor struggle get in the way of pursuing your daughters dreams.    Sincerely yours,Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt 
Dear Harleigh, Your are truly an exceptional young women tending to your step-mothers needs traveling to far off places.  I hope that you do however to take time for yourself.  You need the rest as much as your stepmother and family do.  To help with your travels I will send you a bicycle to help with your travels and also a couple of parts just incase.  I hope your progress with in your family will continue to rise. With lots of love,        Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt  
To the Step-mother of Harleigh, 

It has brought to my attention that your stepdaughter has done a lot to help you out with the travels and the family.  Your stepdaughter is a brilliant young woman who will do her best to make ends meet. I am providing your daughter with a bicycle to help with her travels.  I am also going to send you some warm blankets and clothes to help you get through this horrid winter.

  

Yours truly,

        Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt.

 

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Butchie

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The Federal Farm Board was an organization created in 1929 as an independent agency to stabilize prices and to promote the sale of agricultural products.  They had to pay in cash for machinery, seed, and fertilizer as well as for consumer goods, yet their incomes had fallen sharply.

The whole nation soon shared the farmers' pain, however, as the country plunged into depression following the stock market crash of 1929. For farmers, the economic crisis compounded difficulties arising from overproduction. Then, the farm sector was hit by unfavorable weather conditions that highlighted shortsighted farming practices. Persistent winds during an extended drought blew away topsoil from vast tracts of once-productive farmland. The term "dustbowl" was coined to describe the ugly conditions.

Widespread government intervention in the farm economy began in 1929, when President Herbert Hoover created the federal Farm Board. Although the board could not meet the growing challenges of the Depression, its establishment showed the people that the government could provide economic stability for farmers.

Upon his inauguration as president in 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved national agricultural policy far beyond the Hoover initiative. Roosevelt proposed, and Congress approved, laws designed to raise farm prices by limiting production. The government also adopted a system of price supports that guaranteed farmers a "parity" price roughly equal to what prices should be during favorable market times. In years of overproduction, when crop prices fell below the parity level, the government agreed to buy the excess.

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kathryn

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Part II ISSUES
How have any of these issues below affected you?  What is their relationship to the events you are connected to?  Explain in detail by analyzing the relationship between your experiences, historic events and these issues. 
Justice | Politics | Economic Power | Rights | Gender | Equality   

Justice and Rights affected me because there were several times when our Mining Company turned on us and treated us unfairly.  We wanted justice and often took strikes in order to obtain our rights.  The police and our union was on our side... they gave us our justice most of the time, especially when the company managers were punished for shooting at us workers.  It angered me to no end how these people offended our rights because they thought they were higher than us.  I am an individual like them ... and no different ... except I have some morals.

Economic Power played a huge role in my employment.  I was layed off during the worst of the depression.  However, nothing could really be done about it.  My employment depended on the power of the economy and how stable it was.

Politics were important too, because when Franklin Roosevelt passed his New Deal, the government began to open the mines back up.  This gave me a job and the ability to make money.  If it werent for Roosevelt, I'd still be living on a farm.

 Gener and equality was always a major factor in a persons life.  Only the white men were allowed work.  Many African Americans were left with no money and no food.  If Everyone was treated equal, someone else my have my job.

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Kelsey Rae Lewin

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Part II. Autobiography.

Louis Banks

 

            Lying in this bed at this Veteran’s Hospital, I remember the little old cotton farm my family owned in McGhee, Arkansas.  I came to Chicago as just a little boy.  When I got to be fourteen years old, I went to work on the Great Lakes at $41.50 a month.  I had aspirations of one day becoming a great chef, despite the rough times of the year I was trapped in, 1929.

            My name is Louis Banks.  I worked day until night in desperate reach of progress.  I would get to Detroit.  Deaths, drunks, and suicides depressed the world around me.  Both white guys and colored, suffering and giving up on life and at wits end with the depression itself, felt they had nothing substantial to live for. 

            It was 1930 now, and the sites I have seen and all I have witnessed triggered a deep sympathy within me.  However, it was at this time that resorted to what I simply had to do.  Alabama, Wisconsin, and California… it was all the same.  I would knock on the doors of families and be thrown in prison right and left for vag.  It seemed I had no choice but to leave my family and move on. I knew for sure I couldn’t get a job based on my appearance.  Not looking like this I wouldn’t.  That’s for certain.  Something had to change.  I was dirty, ragged, and I hadn’t shaved.  I’d write, “Dear Mother, I’m doin’ wonderful and wish you’re all fine.  That was in Los Angeles and I was sleeping under some steps and there was some paper over me.  This is the slum part, Negroes lived down there.  And my ma, she’d say, “Oh, my don is in Los Angeles, he’s doin’ pretty fair.”

            I was with a bunch of hoboes, but I was too sick too eat often.  It’s a wonder I didn’t die, but I always believed in God, never doubted him for a minute, and he was there when I reached out for him.  When I’d go to the hospital and tell them my home was “Traveler’s Aid,” I’d be put in jail again for vag, and I’d pick fruit and cotton, free labor before I was turned loose.

            Things weren’t fair.  The poor people had it rough, and the rich people were living off the poor.  I was working fifteen or twenty jobs, each of them a hard job.  I’d work from six in the morning until seven at night daily fixing the meat, cooking, washing dishes, and cleaning up.  I was doing everything on my own, like throwing a ball and running to the other end to catch it too.  White chefs made $40 a week, but I was only making $21 for doing what they were doing in addition to everything else.

            At this point I remembered my dad when I was a young boy.  He was always working.  I’d pick cotton and watch my dad all day long.  $2 a day is all he would make. He’d pick two or three hundred pounds of cotton a day, getting snake bit and everything else in the hot sun, all for just a little house and tub of water.  A piece of salt pork to eat, and a barrel of flour, and that was McGehee, Arkansas.

            In this hospital bed now, I couldn’t help but recognize the depression and appreciate where I came from.






kelseyyyyyyyy



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kp

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Hello, my name is Peggy Terry and I live the life of a female factory worker. I was born in 1922 to a loving, Kentucky family who lived in poverty for most of my early years. Life was hard during the Great Depression, my father lost his job and at times I believed that even my family’s love could not get us through the hardships we faced. My mother began to send me and my sister to soup lines on a daily basis, and when we could not go we settled for whatever we could find in our house, sometimes all we had was an old bottle of mustard. As my 18th birthday came around the corner so did the reality of a second war, World War II. My father was enlisted in the military and as he went to defend our country, my mother, sister, and myself were now left to defend ourselves. Before the war it was almost impossible for my mother to find work simply because she was a woman, but now that jobs faced worker shortage new doors opened up for us all. Equality became present in the workplace and my mother, sister, and myself found work on the home front along with 19 million other woman. My first job was working at a shell-loading plant in Viola, Kentucky.


NOT FINISHED.

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Jillian

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Dorothy Day

 

Hello, my name is Dorothy Day. Throughout my lifetime, I spent my days as a social activist and a devout member of the Catholic Church. Most people visualize me as their grandmother because of my aging qualities. I could be described as a large-boned woman, touching seventy with traces of gray hair.

            When I was a young girl, my views on life were strictly religious. Sometimes my religious beliefs kept me from revolutionist thoughts. Pacifism was my main focus when I was younger.

            Athough I am catholic, I have many radical views on controversial subjects. In my younger days I believed in free love, birth control, and women’s rights. I opposed many sexual revolutions including the one in the 1920s as well as 1960s. It was in the 1920s when I actually had my own abortion, which many people viewed as wrong.

            In December 1932, I was a part of the hunger march in Washington. When I wasn’t marching, I just sat there and prayed for the good of my people in America to get through all of the problems of the Great Depression. I was also one of the first people here to publicly be against leaders such as Hitler. I remember quite vividly the strikes down on the waterfront involving the communists and Catholics.

            I can’t even remember all of the strike I have participated in, in my lifetime. From brewery strikes to department stores strikes, I have stood up in them all. The outcome of most usually ends up the same with police escorting strikers out and activists getting arrested.

            In 1933, along with Peter Maurin, I founded the Catholic Workers Movement to promote non-violence and to provide hospitality for the impoverished and downtrodden. The main goal of this group was to live life through Jesus in a way to help others. There was nothing more important to me than helping other people.

            I would like nothing more then my legacy be carried on, not by my name, but by my actions. I do not wants all kinds of recognition, but I would like the human race to help one another after my life.

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melissa

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PART III
Replies to children's letters

Dear Mrs. F. Roosevelt,
I suppose you'll be kind of surprised to hear from a poor little girl. I am ten years old. On Christmas eve I had wished for Santa Clause to come but my mama said the chimney was blocked & he couldn't come, so I had a poor Christmas. I was expecting Santa to bring me some things.

I lost my daddy when I was two years old.

I have read in the papers how good you are to the poor and thought maybe you can help me some. I will appreciate it all my life.

To-day we have started school from our Christmas vacation & all the children talk about how many presants Santa has brought them & I felt so bad cause I had nothing to say. I guess that is all. My address is

R#2, Box 7
Mason, Wisconsin

Yours truly,
M. A.

  


My Dear M.A.,

I am truly sorry to hear about your father and how poorly your Christmas was, but you must not feel so bad, you must be strong. Ignore the other children; they are no better than you. Although you have not been granted with many presents, or the best life, you are who you are, and you shouldn’t be ashamed of it. God with someday grant you with everything you need and with that may God bless you my child.

 P.s. I’ll see what I can do about Santa, next Christmas.

With love and hope,
Mrs.Roosevelt


My Dear Mrs. Roosevelt,

Do you realize that "Easter" is at hand? Do you realize how many hearts are broken on this account? Do you realize how hard its going to be for most people? Like me, for instance, I am a young girl of fifeteen and I need a coat, so bad I have no money, nor any means of getting any. My father has been out of work for two years.

My brother works on the C.W.A. but he is, or rather has been, insane in an asylum and has taken most of our money. My mother gets 'fits' when I ask her to buy me something new. Poor mother, I sypathize with her because it has been very hard on her, this depression, and having no money at all but debts piling up on us. I want to tell you something: We were once the richest people in our town but now, we are the lowest, considered, the worst people of Port Morris.

For Easter some friends of mine are thinking of getting new out-fits and I just have to listen to them. How I wish I could have a least a coat. That would cost about $5.00 at least. I need a dress. I want one and it only cost $.79 cents. Dear Eleanor how I wish I had this coat and dress for Easter I would be the happiest girl. I love you so much.

Please send me about $6.00
I thank you so much.

A. C.
Port Morris
N.J.

  

My Dearest A.C.,

I do realize that Easter is at hand and I do realize how many hearts have been broken. I also realize how hard it’s going to be for most people. Much tragedy has hit this country these days and I am trying as hard as I can to help in any way possible. Do not get down on yourself; you must stay strong for your family and for everyone else around you. I cannot promise you a new coat for Easter or the happiness you desire, but my dearest I can promise you I will try my hardest to give you and all children like you a better life. May God bless you.

 

With love and hope,
Mrs. Roosevelt


 

Dear Mrs. Roosevelt,
I am a little girl 12 years old. I would like to have a bicycle so much.

My Daddy has been out of work for such a long time and now he is only working 2 + 3 days a week and cannot afford to buy one for me.

So I am working hard to earn one, by selling 9, 3 year subscriptions for the "Ladies Home Journal or The Saturday Evening Post.

I know you are a wonderful lady. I always read all I can about you. I love to read about great people so much. I wonder if you would subscribe for these magazine, and help me earn a bicycle, I surely will appreciate your kindness.

I will be waiting to hear from you.

I am E. E.



My Dearest E.E.,

I would be more then happy to subscribe to these magazines and help you earn a bicycle. I only ask of you one thing, be strong. Be strong for yourself, your family, and everyone else around you. Especially be strong for me. God bless you my dear and remember what I have said.

 

With love and hope,
Mrs. Roosevelt

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alex j

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Issues

Patriotism – Arthur Robertson was a war correspondent. In WWI he reported directly from the fighting…that’s pretty American.

Economic Power – He made a killing in the stock market and business. He bought businesses and sold then, he met many people and was a seven-figure man by the age of 24. He never went bankrupt because of a lot of the right decisions he made like taking money out of the banks before they closed.

Gender – Like most other business people at the time he was a man. It wasn’t very often that a woman was a large economic success in the work place and it sure as hell made it a lot easier to become successful by being a man.

Racism – Arthur Robertson says there was a “Negro chap he took a liking too that he had to deal with” he may have no been racist but like a lot of other people probably had some prejudice. The man who he is talking about he helped out along with 75 other people at penny restaurants. He would give 75 cents to the restaurant and give them a meal.


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