Using the "Great Depression" Experience in a College American History Survey Course

Abstract

COLLEGE INSTRUCTORS IN THE AMERICAN HISTORY survey course face the difficult task of encouraging students to develop a sense of history and to connect themselves with earlier generations of Americans. In an age that often seems bent on mindlessness, media hype and instant gratification, that job may be more difficult than ever before. One technique I have employed over the past decade to personalize history and encourage participation involves student's interviewing relatives about their lives during the Great Depression and preparing a brief family history of that era. Because I make this a requirement of all students in a survey class, the project is not designed as a sophisticated oral history exercise or an all-inclusive Foxfire type project. The rules require a student to interview one or more family members who have memories of the Great Depression using a thirty-five item questionnaire which they administer. Students are urged to encourage elaboration on the responses to this questionnaire and to take copious notes. Using this data and other assigned materials each student is required to write a six to eight page narrative which places the family history within the context of the 1930s. There are limiting factors. Although most students can personally interview one or more relatives, some cannot. For those the research can be completed by correspondence. Students without family members who can participate and the number is increasing each