Research Topics 1930s

1. What was daily life like in the 1930s? How did people entertain themselves? How did they get from one
place to another? How did average people dress? What was housing like? How did people celebrate holidays
such as Christmas during the depression? Who was famous? (Include musicians, actors, athletes, etc.) Also
research the New Deal program called the Works Progress Administration, how it worked, and what it did.

2. Herbert Hoover – What were his policies? What did people think of him? What was a Hoover cart?
Hooverville? Hoover Blanket? Also research the New Deal program called the Civilian Conservation Corps,
how it worked, and what it did.

3. Franklin Delano Roosevelt – What were his policies? What did people think of him? Research his polio and
how it affected his presidency. How did Roosevelt appeal to the people? (Include Fireside Chats and famous
quotations) What did he do during his first 100 days in office?

3. What were race relations like in the 1930’s? Focus on African American rights. What were Jim Crow laws?
(Give specific examples) What was lynching? What was the KKK? Could people of different races date in the
1930s? Marry? Specifically research the case of the Scottsboro Boys. Also research the New Deal program
called the Rural Electrification Administration, how it worked, and what it did.

4. What was the Dust Bowl? How did it affect people? Also research the New Deal program called the
Agricultural Administration Act, how it worked, and what it did.

5. How did the Great Depression begin and progress? What was the Stock Market Crash (in general)? How
much money was lost? What does it mean that there were “runs” on banks? How did everyone end up poor,
even if they didn’t have money in the market? Could something like this happen again today (FDIC, etc.)?
Also research the New Deal program called the Tennessee Valley Authority, how it worked, and what it did.

6. Truman Capote and Harper Lee. Who are these people and what are they known for? How did they
influence our culture? You will do a biography on each person concentrating on their literary career and
relation to each other. Also research the New Deal program called the National Recovery Act, how it worked,
and what it did.