Surviving the Depression in
Champaign-Urbana
By Matt Goerss
Summer Fellowship 2009
Lesson #1: Impact of the Crash in Champaign-Urbana
To download this lesson in PDF format, click here.
Abstract: In this
lesson, students will investigate primary sources related to the impact of the
1929 stock market crash in Champaign-Urbana. Students will focus on the ways in which the stock market
crash affected the lives of local citizens, and they will also study 1930
census data on unemployment to compare the local impact of the crash to its
statewide and nationwide impact.
Essential Questions:
Assessment:
Students will be assessed based on their ability to read and analyze the
local newspaper articles about the early impacts of the Depression in
Champaign-Urbana. Students will
also be assessed based on their ability to make comparisons between federal,
state, and local census data on unemployment in order to determine the impact
of the stock market crash locally, statewide, and nationwide. Finally, students will be expected to
incorporate information from the primary sources in this lesson in their essays
at the end of the unit.
Procedures:
1) Setting
the Purpose: In order to frame this unit in a context
with which students are familiar, this lesson begins with a discussion of the
local and national impacts of the current economic crisis. At the beginning of the class period,
the teacher should give the students about five minutes to brainstorm ways in
which the current economic crisis has impacted their lives and community. In addition, students should think
about ways in which the crisis has impacted the nation as a whole. Encourage students to think of any
positive impacts of the crisis, not just the negative ones. After five minutes have passed, the
students should share the impacts that they came up with, starting with
national impacts and then shifting to local impacts. The teacher should write down student responses on an
overhead or large sheet of paper that the class can refer to throughout the
unit.
2) After the introductory exercise, the teacher
should briefly review with students the events leading up to the October 29,
1929, stock market crash. Students
should be familiar with how people across the nation reacted to the stock
market crash.
3) The students should then be exposed to the essential
question of how the stock market crash impacted the lives of Champaign-Urbana
citizens from 1929-1931. To gain
an understanding of the early effects of the Depression in the community,
students will read and analyze the October 29, 1959, article from the Urbana Courier, ÒOctober, 1929: Stock Market Teeters; Champaign-Urbana
UnawareÓ (Source #1). As students read the article, they
should complete the T-chart notes by noting important facts about life in
Champaign-Urbana in 1929, as well as the cost of important goods at the
time. The teacher should then
discuss with the students how the stock market crash impacted the local
community. The students should document
the source for the final essay on their source charts.
4) After reading the article on the early
impacts of the Depression in Champaign-Urbana, students will analyze data on
unemployment from the 1930 census (Source
#2). The teacher should hand
out the census data and introduce the second essential question for the lesson
about how Champaign-Urbana fared compared to the rest of the state and
country. The teacher should spend
a few minutes explaining to students how to read the census data and calculate
the percentage of unemployed people.
Students should then complete the census data analysis sheet. After the students have finished
analyzing the data, the teacher should discuss with the class whether
Champaign-Urbana fared better than the rest of the state and country in terms
of employment at the beginning of the Depression. Students should document the source for the final essay on
their source charts.
5) To give more context to the census data,
students should read the May 8, 1930, article from the Daily Illini: ÒData on
Labor Survey Is Ready for Twin CitiesÓ (Source
#3). They should answer the
questions about this article on the census data analysis sheet. Students should also document the
source for the final essay on their source charts. The teacher may want to wrap up the lesson by having
students answer a few questions about the impact of the stock market crash in
Champaign-Urbana versus the impact in the rest of the state and country.
Analysis of Local Primary Sources:
During this lesson, students will analyze two local newspaper articles
about the impact of the stock market crash in Champaign-Urbana. The first article, from the Urbana Courier, will help students to
understand life in Champaign-Urbana at the time of the stock market crash. The second article, from the Daily Illini, will provide more context
about local unemployment to supplement the census data.
Ties to National Primary Sources:
During this lesson, students will analyze unemployment data from the
1930 census. This data includes
information on unemployment at the national, state, and local levels.
List of Materials and Resources:
ÒOctober,
1929: Stock Market Teeters;
Champaign-Urbana Unaware,Ó Urbana Courier,
October 29, 1959
ÒData on Labor
Survey Is Ready for Twin Cities,Ó Daily
Illini, May 8, 1930
1930 Census data
Life in
Champaign-Urbana T-chart