The Great Depression

I just found out we are supposed to make a presentation about the Great Depression for our literature group.

What a huge topic! While it has been much on my mind, and I've been studying it, I haven't really known how to start it with my kids. We're reading the book Footprints in the Dust---not on the boys' Top Ten picks!

Anyone got any ideas for me? Links?

Update: I found this site and read the Wikipedia entry and Rose Wilder's entry (from the linked site). She compared the depression of the 1890s vs the 1930s, showing more resiliency and self-reliance in the 1890s than during the New Deal policies. She also gives an overview of her own political evolution.

I think we’ll do a timeline, listen to some music, read a biography I have from a Kentucky neighbor vs. events in Utah, (big differences). . . . That’s as far as I’ve gotten. Wikipedia was an entertaining read. I had to check to see if I was reading a historical entry or the newspaper! It has a lot on the various theories that might be interesting to study.

On a personal note, I think that the solution lies in one mandate: "Love thy neighbor as thyself." I started thinking about that with the Enron scandal. I do not believe in the government mandating, "We shalt make thee love thy neighbor." I believe the people who came through the depression the best were those with family support even if the whole family struggled. The ones who came through it worst, did not.

My neighbor remembers her family being thrown out of a makeshift shack in eastern Kentucky (coal-mining country down deep in the hollers that are still unmapped) by an uncle who had found a paying renter. I was shocked that they didn't just make room in their own home, no matter how small! She hailed FDR as a Savior.

My family (grandparent and parent generation mostly) held together and have no written record of anything to do with FDR. I think the one "best" advice I have seen in recent days is one from the Dolans to hold our families closer during these times. They are our best investment. (Not a direct quote---I'm too lazy to pull up the email.)

For another look at how blessed we are, check out Pioneer Woman's blog about her family's recent trip to the Dominican Republic with Compassion. We are truly blessed!

Please share your family's stories from the depression with us! I'd love to get them from all over the country or world! If you click on the complete profile link under the About Me section on the sidebar, it will show you an email link to send us your family's stories.