Tasks for the Economist: To Kill a Mockingbird

Tasks for the Economist – To Kill a Mockingbird

PRESENTATION #1: The Great Depression and the Stock Market Crash

Define the following expressions in English or Japanese and be ready to explain them to your group:

The Great Depression
poverty
subsistence
entailment
mortgaged
Stock Market Crash ("the crash" – p. 21 [p. 27])
Black Tuesday
Breadline

Useful websites:

Crash

Timeline of the Great Depression

PRESENTATION #1: Questions about Poverty and Unemployment

Find the answers to the following questions and be ready to report on them to your group:

What percent of all Americans were middle class in 1929?

How many were living below a minimum subsistence level?

What was the rate of unemployment in the U.S. in 1931?

What was the rate of unemployment in the U.S. in 1932?

How many Americans lost their jobs from 1929 to 1932?

When was "Black Tuesday" and what happened on that day?

What percent of American children were hungry and without proper clothing?

Useful websites:

The Great Depression

Legacy of the Depression

Economic Collapse

How the Depression Affected Children

Internet Task

Go to Farming in the 1930s and click on Carla Due. Listen to her talk about the Stock Market Crash.

(You may use this for your Interview Report on your Study Guide.)

Task

Get four coins from CA. Find out their names and how much each one is worth.
Show them to your group.

Draw a picture of each one or find pictures of each one.

Then and Now: Prices

How much did toys and clothing cost during the Great Depression of the 1930s?

What would they cost today?

Look at the table below. In the left column is a list of women's clothing, men's clothing, games and toys, and household goods. In the middle column, the price of each of these items is listed based on advertisements from 1932. Find out what it would cost to buy the same item today. Write that amount in the right column. (It's OK to write in yen.)

WOMEN'S CLOTHES	THEN	NOW
Winter Coat	$28.00
Leather or Suede Bag	$2.25
Bathrobe	$1.00
Sweater	$1.00
MEN'S CLOTHES	THEN	NOW
Broadcloth Shirt	$1.00
Wool Sweater	$1.00
Bathrobe	$4.90
Overcoat	$18.50
GAMES AND TOYS	THEN	NOW
Sled that Steers	$3.95 - $8.95
Ping Pong Table	$23.50 to $37.50
Mechanical Toys	3 for 59
Doll	$1.95
ITEMS FOR THE HOME	THEN	NOW
Table Lamp	$1.00
Portable Electric Sewing Machine	$23.95
Electric Washing Machine	$33.50
Gas Stove	$19.95

Questions

What is the value of one dollar in yen today? $1.00 = ¥_______.

Some of those 1930s prices are very low compared to today's costs, aren't they? Why?

Then and Now: Wages

WEEKLY WAGES (general averages)	THEN	NOW	IN JAPAN
Manufacturing--Production Worker	$16.89	$500
Cook	$15.00	$236
Doctor	$61.11	$1800
Accountant	$45.00	$700

Questions

Do people earn more or less now than they did in the 1930s?

How many weeks would it take to buy each of the items on the table of prices? (If an item costs less than one week's wages, divide the week's wages by 40 to estimate the hourly wage and figure out how many hours it would take to earn the money to buy the item.)

State of Michigan. (2002). Prices: Then and Now. Michigan Historical Center, Department of History, Arts and Libraries. Retrieved January 15, 2005, from http://www.michigan.gov/printerFriendly/0,1687,7-160-15481_19268_20778-52530--,00.html

PRESENTATION #2: WPA

Go to the website on the WPA.

What does WPA stand for?

How was the WPA started?

What was the goal of the WPA?

Help your classmates with the question about the WPA (Chapter 2, p. 21 [p. 27], and Chapter 27, p. 248 [p. 332]).

Interviews

Go to Farming in the 1930s. Click on Stan Jensen and listen to what he says about the WPA.

Go to Farming in the 1930s. Click on Walter Schmidt, then WPA. Listen to what Walter Schmidt says about the WPA.

(You may use these for your Interview Reports on your Study Guide.)

PRESENTATION #2: Go Shopping!

Match the following products with a picture.
Then explain each to your group before reading Chapter 12.

Brown's Mule
Hoyt's Cologne
Lydia E. Pinkham's Compound
Octagon soap

PRESENTATION #2: Grocery Stores

In Chapter 16 (p. 160) [p. 213], Miss Stephanie says that she's going to the Jitney Jungle.

What did people in the 1930s NOT buy at grocery stores?

What could Miss Stephanie buy at Jitney Jungle that you can buy at your grocery store or supermarket?

Jitney Jingle Advertisement

Created by CA Edington, Spring, 2005; revised Spring, 2012
Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan