Problem
McElvaine 2008 Down and Out in the Great Depression - Letters from the Forgotten Man (Chapter 4 Black Americans in the 1930s)
1) Who wrote the letter and what message were they trying to convey to the recipient?
2) What clues does this document provide about what life was like during the Great Depression (depending on gender, class, location, etc.)
3) What were some common experiences for the letter writers? What were some differences?
4) How did the depression affect the way people thought of themselves? Their relationship to the government?
5) How did people cope with the strains of the depression?
6) What was it like for African Americans to live through the Great Depression & how did the economic crisis shape their identities as Americans?