1930's Culture

Who were the most influential people in 1930's popular culture? 

 Walt Disney, Clark Babe, Vivien Leigh, Orson Welles, Diego Rivera, Grant Wood, Woody Guthrie, Richard Wright, and many others. They captured the American people's attention by sharing their stories of the Great Depression and presenting Americans with visions of wealth, romance, and good times to escape them from reality. Writers, artists, and singers made their paintings, novels, and songs easy for Americans to relate to because these popular people had experienced the same feelings other Americans had felt throughout the Great Depression. 

What books, movies, and other entertainment programs were popular during the Great Depression?

Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, and Snow White were just some of the most popular movies shown during the Great Depression. People would pay to go to the movies just to escape the reality of the hardships they were currently facing. Americans loved the variety of movies offered. Radio programs were popular among the American audience, also. Families would sit together for several hours a day listening to their favorite programs. One popular radio program was "The War of the Worlds". Music, paintings, and novels didn't involve drama but were serious. Some painters like ,Diego Rivera, painted pictures of Americans at work. Grant Wood's painting American Gothic became famous.  Theaters productions were another program created to entertain people. Waiting for Lefty was a theater play about labor struggles of the 1930's.

How did the entertainment of the Great Depression reflect what was going on at the time? 

The entertainment of the Great Depression showed people going through hardships just like the American people faced through the Great Depression. Some types of entertainment even showed real life examples of other peoples' experience of going through the depression. Paintings expressed sadness or serious emotions and showed people hard a work trying to survive. Novels and songs showed the listeners and readers the poverty and traveling done in search of a better life and hope.  

What part of 1930's entertainment did you find most important and why? 

I think the most important entertainment of the 1930's was movies. They helped Americans escape reality for awhile. The characters within movies showed honest and kindness which set a good example for the American people to be like. Other movies had characters that were going through hardships like the American people which gave them hope to get through their hardship just like the people in the movie did. I think movies influenced and  set the tone of American character and attitudes toward their obstacle of the Great Depression. The U.S. had more movie theaters than banks and double the amount of hotels. 

Great Depression

1. What kinds of hardships did children and teenagers suffer during the Great Depression? During the Great Depression, children suffered from malnutrition and diseases that were caused by malnutrition. Due to falling tax revenues, schools started to close. Since there was no school, teenagers went to work in sweatshops. They experienced terrible working conditions. Some children rode the freights in search of jobs and a way out of poverty. They suffered from being caught by armed freight yard patrolmen, terrible living and sleeping conditions, and being murdered by criminals. 

2. How did Men struggle with it? Men struggled finding jobs. They would walk the streets in search for jobs everyday. Some men left their families while others became hoboes. Hoboes rode freights or either hitched a ride. They would sleep in homeless shelters. 

3. What about Women? Women struggled with managing the household budget. They would often work out plans with other women to save money on food. Some put off getting married and having children. What was unique about their struggle? Women were being accused of having it better than anybody else. People thought married woman had no right to work when men were still unemployed. In some cities, they wouldn't even hire women that were married as schoolteachers. Women didn't show the struggles they were having. They would hide them in shame. 

4. What LONG LASTING effects did the Great Depression have on the personality of our society? A long lasting effect that the Great Depression had on the personality of our society was the habits of saving and thriftiness. Another long lasting effect would be setting young people's mind to achieving financial security. The bonds created between families and communities by sharing resources would continue on into a new generation. 

Stock Market Crash

1. What caused the great crash of 1929?

The cause of the great crash of 1929 was the widening bubble between the reality price of each stock and the price the stocks were being sold at to people. When people realized that the stocks they were investing in weren't actually worth that much, they decided to get out. Soon a lot of people started getting out, and the stock prices kept going down. Eventually, everybody wanted to get out which made the prices crash. 

2. What was your strategy in the game? 

My strategy was to take out loans to invest in stocks. I didn't want to take out to many loans. I invested my money in the stocks that I thought were doing well. When I wanted to pay off a loan or thought it was high enough to make some money, I sold the stocks. After the rebound, I sold half of my stocks. I didn't get the other half out before it crashed. 

3. Were you using what you learned from the text in your strategy?

I was using what I learned form the text in my strategy. I sold half of my stock after the rebound. I was waiting to sell the other half the next turn, but I stayed in a turn too long. I should have realized that after the rebound, I didn't have much time before it would crash again. 

thebubblebubble.com

WWI Movie

What ideas, facts, concepts, or information did you learn from the video that you didn't know before viewing it?

I learned that the  Schlieffen Plan was revised from the original plan which made the plan weaker. One change was the number of Germans on the Belgium border. The original plan stated there was suppose to be ninety percent of the German combat to be there, but the revised plan didn't. I didn't know that the reason Germany's army became weak was because of their supply shortage. Germany's communication skills between the front line and the rest of Germany wasn't good. I learned the British used an attack called flanking on the Germans. I also didn't know that Hindenburg was brought out of retirement to help in the east.

American Imperialism

The U.S. became a more imperial country by the influence of military and political leaders. For example, Alfred T. Mahan, Admiral of U.S Navy, wanted government officials to make U.S. naval power stronger. The influence of Alred T. Mahan resulted in the construction of nine steel-hulled cruisers which made the U.S. the world's third largest naval power country. William Seward, Secretary of State when Lincoln and Johnson were serving, influenced the expansion of U.S. land. He helped with the process of making Alaska a state, buying Midway Islands, and building a naval base at Pearl Harbor.

Alfred T. Mahan

Ellis Island Experience

What kind of emotions would you feel reuniting with a loved one at "The Kissing Post"?

           I would feel joyful because my family supports me and gives me advice. With them being separated from me, I wouldn't have the support and advice that they give me. I would feel relieve because I would have someone to help me get accustomed to the new lifestyle in the United States. Also, I would feel curious to know the experiences they have came across while away from me. 

Carnegie "Wealth" Essay

       The author states, "We assemble thousands of operatives in the factory, in the mine, and in the counting-house, of whom the employer can know little or nothing, and to whom the employer is little better than a myth." I agree with what the author says about the employers knowing little to nothing about the employees, and the employees knowing little to nothing about the employers. The author also says in the article, "All intercourse between them is at an end. Rigid Castes are formed, and, as usual, mutual ignorance breeds mutual distrust." I agree with the author. I believe that people don't have trust in each other when they don't know one another.
      "Beside this, it may fairly be said that no man is to be extolled for doing what he cannot help doing, nor is he to be thanked by the community to which he only leaves wealth at death. Men who leave vast sums in this way may fairly be thought men who would not have left it at all, had they been able to take it with them." I disagree with this quote because I don't think men who leave vast sums after their death would not have left it at al, had they been able to take it with them. This may be true in some men, but I don't think it is true in all men. Some men may not just want to receive the praise of their donation while they are alive, or they have some other explanation or reasoning.