Reading Challenge
Ch. 32 – The Human Impact of the Great Depression/EQ: How did ordinary Americans endure the hardships of the
Great Depression?
Reading Challenge
1.
What was the highest rate of unemployment during the Great Depression? 25%
2.
3.
Which of the following groups was particularly hard-hit by the Depression? Minority, elderly, and young
workers
Why did farm property values fall substantially in the early 1930s? Farmers could not sell crops
4.
During the early 1930s, the marriage rate decreased and the birth rate decreased.
5.
The legal process that landlords use to remove tenants from their property is known as eviction
6.
8.
Why were the shantytowns on the edge of cities named after Hoover? HE didn’t do anything to help the
economy
Which of the following was an effect of high malnutrition rates during the Great Depression? Soup kitchens and
bread lines
What were the black blizzards that plagued farmers on the Great Plains? Dust storms
9.
What was the nickname given to the ruined Great Plains farmland? Dust Bowl
7.
10. What process caused the black blizzards in the Great Plains? Desertification
11. Why did Great Plains farmers overuse their lands prior to the drought? Make a lot of crops or increase output
due to falling prices
12. How did the federal government respond to the deterioration of the farmland? It created the Soil Conservation
Service to improve farming methods.
13. Why did depopulation occur across the Great Plains? Foreclsure, desertification, drought Black Blizzards
14. What famous book by John Steinbeck described the Great Plains migration? Grapes of Wrath
15. Where did the majority of Great Plains migrants choose to relocate? California
16. How did Congress react to the Great Flood of 1936? Tennessee Valley Auth – designed flood control
17. How did government assistance change under the New Deal legislation? It expanded the gov’t in helping the
poor
18. Government support in the form of money or services to those in need is called public assistance
19. Why did government assistance change over time during the Great Depression? Churches, local and state got
run out of $
20. Why did Harry Hopkins argue that "Hunger is not debatable"? Helping basic need that is not measurable
21. In the 1930s, a prolonged drought and windstorms turned much of the Great Plains into a Dust Bowl