Virginia Schools in the Great Depression

Abstract:

This project provides teachers and students with free, online historical sources and instructional materials for teaching the history of the Great Depression in Virginia, using public schools as a case-study of how decision makers, the public, and educators responded to the crisis of the Depression.

The five educational modules available on this website address the following themes:

1. The Impact of the Depression on Virginia Public Schools
2. Who Should Bear the Burden? Public Opinion and School Policy in the Depression
3. Virginia Schools in Black and White: Enforcing Racial Lines in 1930s
4. Who Should Teach? Prohibitions on Married Women Teachers during the Depression
5. Teaching Civics in an Era of Crisis: Virginia's Curriculum during the Great Depression

Each module includes an introductory section, a set of primary source documents, and a conclusion with suggested assignments and list of additional resources.
These sections are designed for use by students at a variety of reading levels. Each module includes a teachers' guide and model lesson plans for immediate classroom applications in both a traditional and computer-based classroom and a table of SOL correlations by subject and grade.

Subject:

Humanities, Social Sciences

Grade Level:

Primary, Secondary

Collection:

Virginia Tech