The Great Depression Era Scavenger Hunt
The following scavenger hunt can be completed using encyclopedias, reference books, on-line resources and any other references that will help you to be successful. After completing this scavenger hunt, you should have a basic understanding of what life was like during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
1. When and what was Black Tuesday?
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/peopleevents/pandeAMEX07.html
Why is this date so important in history?
2. As more and more people lost their jobs and fell into poverty, more people were forced to live in shanty towns or “Hoovervilles”. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/peopleevents/pandeAMEX05.html What were “Hoovervilles”? Who were they named after and why?
3. Who became the President in 1932? http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/peopleevents/pandeAMEX01.html
What did he believe was the duty of the federal government (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/peopleevents/pandeAMEX09.html) to the citizens of the USA?
How as this view different from what President Hoover had believed?
4. How did the President’s “New Deal” (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/peopleevents/pandeAMEX09.html) help people who were hurt by the hard economic times of the Depression?
5. What 5 states made up the Dust Bowl http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/maps/index.html?
6. How did the Dust Bowl http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/maps/index.htmlget its name?
What happened to create the Dust Bowl?
7. Describe, in your own words, what these dust storms http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/sfeature/eyewitness.html were like for people who were caught in them.
8. Farmers living in the “Dust Bowl” had to change the way they farmed their land if they were going to bring the land back to life. What did the farmers do to “fix” their land http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/peopleevents/pandeAMEX06.html and make sure it would never become a barren “dust bowl” again?
9. The dust storms of the 1930s destroyed their lands and many farmers had their land taken away by banks they owed money to. So these farmers took their families, and everything they owned, and left the Dust Bowl in search of something better. Where did many of these migrant farmers http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/peopleevents/pandeAMEX08. html go? What was life like for them in their new home?
10. What were Okievilles?
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/peopleevents/pandeAMEX08.html Describe what these places were like. What name was given to the people who lived in these places and why?
11. What major world event brought an end to the Great Depression? http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/content/ask_earl/20030411.html
