Reading Questions about 1930s

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?


Hoover underestimated the severity of the depression, and stated it would be over in 60 days. People blamed themselves for the depression because they believed they should be able to provide for themselves and their family. In reality, however, there was very little that any individual could do to better themselves when faced with that situation.


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?


I would be petrified because I get scared of the dark either way so I couldn't even begin to handle being in a pitch black dust storm, I would be most concerned with the fact that all of my crops were being destroyed by dust.


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 were affected by the drought and it happened roughly every twenty five years, I don't agree with the quote because I think that the people of the great plains did nothing to deserve the drought they received.


Read about Mass Exodus from the Plains (Links to an external site.). Were 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?

It was the largest migration in all of American history. Life was hard for people once they arrived in California because farms were corporate-owned. They were larger and more modernized that those of the southern plains, and the crops were unfamiliar.