The Great Depression

Read about the Great Depression (Links to an external site.).  According to this article, what was wrong with President Hoover's response?  Why did people blame themselves when things went wrong, and how valid or invalid was this response?

President Hoover believed and told Americans that the "Great Depression" would end in 60 days (not 10 years). He had said that "this is a passing incident in our national lives." Hoover also believed in "individualism" meaning that he thought that the government should help out the poor. American then began to feel ashamed and felt that they were guilty of "causing" the depression, this was an invalid response. People were living how they wanted and in some cases, this meant them spending all of their money and not saving it. They didn't cause the stock market to crash when it did.

Read about Black Sunday (Links to an external site.). How would you have felt if you'd been there on that day? What kinds of fears, concerns, or questions would be going through your mind during, and after, the event described?

If I were in the same situation as others did on April 14, 1935, find myself afraid for my life. I am already afraid of the dark and to just be surrounded by in for 4 hours would have me deathly afraid especially because I would also worry about my family. If this storm was to destroy everything I would have multiple questions. How long will this darkness last? What will happen in the end? Will I lose any or everything? What will I do now? 

Read about The Drought (Links to an external site.).  What areas were affected by it?  What caused it.  The author ends this article with a pithy quote.  Do you agree or disagree with this historian's perspective? Why or why not?

The Great Plains (" the western third of Kansas, Southeastern Colorado, the Oklahoma Panhandle, the northern two-thirds of the Texas Panhandle, and northeastern New Mexico” )were affected by the Great Drought. The Dust Bowl was caused by overuse, overgrazing, and "thin flimsy top soil" that the wind would pick up and what ultimately cause the storm. I agree with the authors that The Drought and The Dustbowl were created from miss use and because of no regulation on the use of the land.

Read about Mass Exodus from the Plains (Links to an external site.).  Where does the migration of people out of the Dust Bowl rank in terms of other migrations in US History?  What made life hard for people once they arrived in California?

The migration of people out of the Dust Bowl ranks as the largest migrations in US History. One aspect of California that made life hard for those migrating in was that the state was overcrowded. There was also the point that the crops between the great plains and California were complete different and that the jobd that the farmers did receive paid little to none.