1930s Culture

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

Orson Welles: for his radio broadcast “The War of the Worlds”, and his ability to act, direct, produce, and write such a broadcast. His movies: Citizen Kane and Touch of Evil. Showing he is able to all those things, to bring up a form of entertainment for people as a one man crew.

Woody Guthrie: American songwriter and singer. He was able to write about how the Dust Bowl and Depression affected him and how we on a search for a better life. He was able to influence people through music to not give up, and to have hope. He was able to use experiences he went through, and saw others go through to help them. He was also doing something he loved, not giving up on his dream.

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

Movies: Gone With the Wind, Flying Down to Rio, The Wizard of Oz, Duck Soup, Little Caesar, and The Public Enemy.

Books: Native Sone by Richard Wright, showing how how hard of a life an African-American has in a racist world. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, talking about how he had to move from his hometown in order to make a living, and then not having much luck for so long with all the difficulties at hand, and it took a long time for some success to start showing.

Other: Comedians, war news, and such over radios.
Soap operas and children’s shows were played on T.V. throughout the day for homemakers. The Lone Ranger

Art is paintings, murals, and teachings at school to show the depth of the depression through a creative way. Most commonly portraying sad and serious features, or hopeful uplifting messages. Like the American Gothic.

Music, such as singing and playing an instrument to give words a tune to live by. Such as Guthrie’s, “This Land is Your Land”.

Plays like Our Town was able to catch the beauty of a small town during these hard times, and Waiting for Left brings out the struggles of labor.

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

It either talked about how awful it really was and how it effected everyone somehow. Wether it was good or bad. It also gave it a more meaningful touch so people won’t forget about it. When something bad happens we like to look back upon it, and think of how far one has come from that hard time. It gives a person a little boost knowing how strong and how hopeful they had to be to get through those times, and how it impacted them as a person. It could have made them a better person, or worse, just depends on how they took it.

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

I think the songs and song writers. These people were really well known for what they did, but seeing This Land Was Your Land, I instantly new what song it was and what it was talking about. It’s simply something put into music and it gets stuck in our heads. Music is one of those things that grabs our attention and we can easily remember it. It also has such a strong impact when it comes to the lyrics and understanding what someone is saying. Most commonly the music made either seemed like it was a sad story or a happy story. Depending on how someone listened to was the key, it could have more then one meaning, but had one the most powerful reasonings in the world.

Great Depression

1. What kinds of hardships did children and teenagers suffer during the Great Depression?
Without proper nutrition for kids, many got disease. There was just not enough money to make ends meet for them. Also, without enough budgeting going towards schools, many schools had shorter days of learning or even closed down. For kids, they lost a huge education. It was common for many kids to be out working instead of school causing the that percentage to drop even more. For teenagers, they could not bare to live at home, and would commonly run away and jump on freight train in hopes of finding work of their own somewhere in another part of the state or a different state. They wanted an adventure and wanted to escape poverty. Even though this seemed like a solution, it was not the best choice they had made.

2. How did Men struggle with it?
Most men felt destroyed. They no longer could work, and dealt with the guilt of not upholding a manly image. They lost their jobs, their pride, their ability to care for their families and losing them as well. Most of all, these men lost their dignity. They would have to beg or wait endlessly in lines for food. Even more so, men would go hunting for jobs, and would get no where. Some even left their families to find work across the country.

3. What about Women? What was unique about their struggle?
Women almost worked harder then men, when it came to home living. They would can food up to last longer, or sew clothes together instead of buying them. Some even took care of the money, and did everything in their power to budget it correctly. Many women also worked outside the home, except for the fact that they were payed less then men. Some folks believed it was wrong for women to be employed instead of men in the first place. Some believed that women had it easy during the depression, but in all reality, they were sacrificing just as much as men. Starving themselves to death to feed others to opening up as much room as possible in their home to help others.

What LONG LASTING effects did the Great Depression have on the personality our society?
The fact that going through the depression was bad enough, and living through was difficult, some found it better to just end it. Many people committed suicide because they had no hope in living through those times, others had a hard time following their dreams. People put off dream jobs, college opportunities, and even making a family. Most people were focused on one thing, and that was to be wealthy again. Nothing else mattered to most. Even though a lot has changed since then, a few things remained. People would help those in need, even strangers. People helped people, the kindness of humanity remained through the hardship.

Stock Market Crash

1. What caused the great crash of 1929?
Banks had started loaning out a lot of money. People who were investing all their life savings into stocks would go and get more loans to invest in the stocks. As the stocks rose and fell, people would try to pay off the loans. Each loan also had it’s own interest rate. With banks loaning out so much, money, there was just nothing left. Stocks finally rose to a huge spot, and if people were smart, the sold all their stocks and got out before it dropped. Not long after it rose a lot, it dropped to almost nothing. Just about everyone lost all their money, and were in debt to banks. People no longer had a home, a vehicle, and hardly had a family as well.

2. What was your strategy in the game?
Mine and Elle’s strategy was to buy up a lot while the stocks were low, and sell when we thought they were decently high. We did an amazing job at this throughout the game until the end when we should have sold all our stocks before it crashed. We discussed it, but had hope that it would rise at one or two more times before it crashed. We were not in debt to the bank. But we did not make any money.

3.Were you using what you learned from the text in your strategy?
We kind of did. We didn’t want a loan though. I don’t trust banks. That’s just me. We were doing rather well without a loan throughout the game, but maybe we should have gotten one. Who knows?

Website: Doing Business.org

This image shows stock markets today, and how precise and technical everything is.

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

Some major things I did not know about the war was the usage of chemical weapons, I had thought they didn't come in until WWII, but I was wrong. I also hadn't realized the technology and weapons had advanced that greatly already. Even though this was the era of getting into those new weapons, I thought it all started later in years to come. I also hadn't realized how dangerous the barbed wire mess was out in "No Mans Land", it's sort of scary having to be the one who had to go out and cut that up, and having the fear of being blown to pieces by bombing and grenades. I knew there were sorts of guns used, I just didn't know what type of guns. Something else I didn't know was that horses were used more in the Eastern front instead of the Western front. Another I learned was how advanced the trenches were. I was amazed at how well laid out they were, and how much thought was put into them just for protection and easy access to go and attack. The last thing I learned was that Sliefen died before his plan was even put into action, and his plan failed.

What caused the U.S. to become a more imperial nation?

Some key factors into the U.S. becoming a more imperial nation are the economic, political, and cultural events. Many new advanced had sprung up a huge speed way in making goods, and making more then what the U.S. could consume, soon the solution of foreign trade came about. The U.S. was able to make money by selling it to other countries, and becoming more imperial. Having the ability to make the military grow was a huge political role. Many other countries had a growing military, and the U.S. saw this, and decided they needed to catch up with them. The U.S. were able to grow the naval forces the most, and build many hull ships to go along with their expansion of military power. With such a strong military force the U.S. was able to take over the Midway islands and get even closer to adding on Hawaii to the nation, growing the nation even more. Finally, cultural points came about since the U.S. was so in demand. Americans were responsible for spreading Christianity to those who were amongst the people labeled as inferior. Social Darwinism and Anglo-Saxons also got mixed in with the belief system, giving a racial superiority to only certain people. As more and more things came about that the U.S. could used to imperialize itself, it took the chance.

The Maine Hull Ship

What emotions would I feel if I was reunited with a loved one at the "kissing post."

What emotions would I be feeling? It might be a sudden rush of relief. It seems like there's a chance that  that loved one may not even show, but once they do, it just makes you so relieved to know they made it. I would feel joy for being able to wait that long for them to find me/ to come because I didn't go insane while waiting for however long. I may feel overwhelmed and may even start crying. Falling into whoever's arms and not want them to ever leave me again or separated from me. I wouldn't care if anyone saw how ridiculous we looked, laughing, smiling, and crying; being in a mess of loving tears.

Carnegie "Wealth" Essay

I agree with most of what Carnegie says. I mean it's all a logical thought process, and it's based on what society is about and how everything works. In reality, you need money to survive, and enough to not just get by, but enough to even give away. I think that isn't such a bad idea, but some just have a hard time getting on their feet. Sure they all have their reasons, but that doesn't mean it can't be done. His three steps to success was really useful as well. It makes sense: get educated, earn money, and be a person who doesn't want to live with their money, but give as much of it away as possible. People need to understand that earthly things will not go with us when we die. Nothing does. Do not cling to the possessions in general of this earth. Money is one of the worst to do it with.


“Besides 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 did find this quote a little unfair. I do agree giving money away is good, but if you don't give it all away before death is a disgrace, that's bad? When we talked about this in class, a thought came into my head. A thought I live by myself. When a good deed is done, don't brag about it. Sometimes people want to give you a lot of recognition for what you have done and you don't want that. Personally I would simply save money for a certain reason, that is worth the recognition, and not give it away until I die, so people wouldn't bug me about making sure I got noticed. I would hate the attention!