24 The Depression By Ed Stephens
Introducing the Great Depression and Ableism in the USA
Crowd gathering on Wall Street after the 1929 crash by US-gov, Public Domain
| Curriculum Context | VCE Modern History, Unit 1, Area of Study 2: Social and Cultural Change (VCAA, 2020) |
| Historical Thinking Concepts |
Identify continuity and change Ask historical questions
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| Historical Context | The Great Depression/continuity and change in the Inter-war period (USA) and the New Deal Response
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| Learning Intentions | Understand and form historical questions about the key events/impacts of the Great Depression.
Understand that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) used new technology when confronted with Ableism. Identify continuities and/or changes between the interwar period and the present day
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Activity
Using the textbook, your own internet searches, and pre-existing knowledge, do a brief self-investigation of:
- What caused the Great Depression?
- What was its biggest impact?
- Identify one topic/area/theme that you are interested in. Examples could include the role of women, financial market speculation or others.
Contribute your answers to the class Padlet using the provided link.
Source 1:
Unemployed men queued outside a depression soup kitchen opened in Chicago by Al Capone, 1931, Unknown author, Public Domain
Using the student contributions to the class Padlet as a prompt, a class discussion identifies the key events, impact and themes, and a timeline of key events, in chronological order, is constructed on the whiteboard, or using ICT resources. The teacher could link the intense stock market speculation in the lead up to the Stock Market crash of 1929, and the number of people who owned shares, to the contemporary phenomenon of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Students can identify similarities and differences, and reinforce the significance of the stock market crash as causing the Great Depression. Students are then encouraged to reflect on the timeline and identify any gaps/missed opportunities, with assistance from the teacher.
Source 2:
Bronze Sculpture of a man listening to the 1930s valve radio by Koshy Koshy, (CC BY 2.0)
Students conduct a mini-investigation to produce a definition of ableism in their own words and using the textbook and internet searches investigate this inquiry question:
How did President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) use radio broadcasts and restrict access of photographers to overcome entrenched ableist attitudes towards his physical mobility?
This can then lead into further investigation of the history of disability rights, the New Deal and a comparison with disability rights in Australia in the first part of the Twentieth century.
References
VCAA. (2020). VCE Study Design: History 2022-2026. Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/curriculum/vce/vce-study-designs/history/Pages/index.aspx
