Question

In the lesson, you read about the causes of the Great Depression and how the U.S. government reacted to it. You also saw how Americans were affected by these hard times.
Look at the photograph shown on this screen. It was taken by Dorothea Lange in 1935 of two families on the side of a highway in Bakersfield, California.

Choose three people from the photograph. Write one paragraph from each person's perspective explaining how the Great Depression has affected their lives.

Elements you must include when writing your paragraphs:
•details of the photograph, such as which person you chose, what they are wearing, and what belongings they have with them
•how the stock market crash or Dust Bowl affected your chosen person
•why your person chose to migrate during the Great Depression

Answer 1

1. I am the little girl in the bottom-left corner of the photograph. The only things I have with me are the clothes that I am wearing, which are quite old and worn. The Dust Bowl has affected me severely. I have little food to eat, and the food is repetitive. This means I am not getting all the nutrients I need and I am not growing. I am migrating because my family is taking me.

2. I am the woman carrying the baby. I am married to a farmer who lost all his crops due to the Dust Bowl. We can no longer farm in our region, so we are moving to California to look for better opportunities. I have very few belongings. Only a couple of dresses and some clothes for my baby.

3. I am the man sitting down in the middle of the picture. I took out loans to pay for my farm, but when the Dust Bowl came, I could no longer repay them and I lost the farm. I am moving to the city to try to find a job there. I'm bringing my whole family with me. We only have a few possessions, and a little bit of money that will help us get established once we arrive to the city.

Answer 2

Things to discuss in this could be to describe that this family potentially came from the Mid-West during the Dust Bowl and migrated to California in search of better work. You could also discuss the hardships faced by the average family as a result of the Great Depression and so on. Also you could discuss the particular hardships faced by the women who are working to provide for their children and their families.