Objectives:

Students will:

• Identify the historical experience of people living through the Depression and New Deal in Portland and Oregon.
• Identify the legal and governmental actions that affected the lives of Oregonians.
• Analyze short- and long-term effects of the Great Depression in Oregon.
• Use primary and secondary source documents to analyze the effects of the Great Depression and the response by the government.

Standards Met:

History:

• SS.HS.HS.06.05 - Understand the causes of the Great Depression and the effect of the Great Depression on the American family.
• SS.HS.HS.06.06 - Understand how the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration and the New Deal addressed the Great Depression, redefined the role of government, and had a profound impact on American life.
• SS.08.HS.02 Distinguish between cause and effect relationships and events that happen or occur concurrently or sequentially.

Social Science Analysis:

• SS.08.SA.04 Examine the various characteristics, causes, and effects of an event, issue, or problem.

Anticipatory Set:

1. Warm Up/Quick Write
2. How much should a government involve itself with people's private affairs such as work and family? Should the government spend money providing jobs to people during times of high unemployment? Or, should they encourage and assist private business to create jobs through tax breaks, etc.?

Lesson Description:

Part One

1. Students read background sheets in groups. Students should read their background sheets individually first, then form groups to compare answers and discuss. As students read, they should consider the questions, "What caused the Great Depression?" "What effects did it have on Oregonians?" "How did Oregonians react?" Print copies of these subtopics pages:
   1. Subtopic : Bust and Boom: The Depression Years and World War II: Dry Years, Hard Times
   2. Subtopic : A New Century: Last Land Rush and Later Boom/Bust Times: The Great Depression: Hard Times of the 1930s
   3. Subtopic : Oregon in Depression and War, 1925-1945: Muddling Through
   4. Subtopic : Oregon in Depression and War, 1925-1945: Hard Times
2. Instruct students to take notes using the attached Graphic Organizer. Explain the Graphic Organizer before students begin. They should take notes after reading individually. They should add more after they’ve discussed their background sheet as a group.
3. After students have had some time to discuss and take further notes, have each group share the following (This may be done at the beginning of the second day. It may not be necessary to re-group the students):
   1. What did they read about?
   2. Explain one or two causes, effects, reactions, and key terms.
4. During the discussions, take class notes on the board or overhead. Instruct students to add to their Graphic Organizer based upon the discussion. If you have access to a projector, you can project the photos from each of the subtopics during discussion/note-taking.

Part Two

1. Ask students, "Who has been to Government Camp?" "Why is it called Government Camp?" "Who has been to Timberline Lodge? Bonneville Dam?" "What are these places like?" "How are they connected?" Explain to students that they were constructed as part of the New Deal.
2. Give slide lecture about the different New Deal projects in Oregon. Print out the lecture notes beforehand.
3. Students view and design their own CCC posters or plays about the New Deal in Oregon.

Part Three

1. Have students work in groups on the Oregon TimeWeb, asking them to find the Depression and War Era on the time line.
2. Assign topics for each group from the Topics page on the TimeWeb:
   1. New Deal, 1933-1939
   2. Art and Culture
   3. Government programs
   4. Unemployment
   5. Occupations and Working
   6. Architecture
   7. Tourism
3. Have students make notes on the primary source documents connected to their topics plotted on the TimeWeb time line. These lists should be shared with the class to see how the topics overlap.
4. Load the topics into the Oregon TimeWeb on the overhead projector as the students present. Click on each topic in the topic tray to see how the records relate to each other (the topics will light up and collect in the center of the screen as a Venn diagram).
5. Discuss the many ways New Deal programs combated unemployment, from dam building to the creation of murals. Connect the building of Bonneville Dam to the building of Sunset Highway (Wolf Creek) to the architectural features of Timberline. How did all of these projects work together to compensate for the Great Depression?

Assessment:

After the slide show, students should have an understanding that the New Deal created employment not only for laborers, but also for artists, writers, and historians. For the assessment, students should choose an assignment. Some ideas for choices:

• CCC poster.
• Diary entry from someone employed in a New Deal program.
• Oral history of a fictitious character living in Oregon during the time, set up like a Q & A interview.
• A song.

Encourage students to develop and propose their own formats. You may require students to use the Key Terms from the Graphic Organizer. Also, be clear on your expectations and grading criteria to avoid students doing the bare minimum (posters and songs should have an accompanying paragraph with an explanation and demonstration of understanding).

Closing discussion question:

Many people (Father Charles A. Coughlin, Former New York governor Al Smith, for example) felt that FDR was a dictator, driven on leading the country in a Communist direction. What arguments could be made in favor of or in opposition to these allegations?