Introduction

        The years following the crash of the stock market in 1929 were lean years for many Americans.  This period in time known as The Great Depression found hunger, poverty, and unemployment to be Americans constant companions.  To escape from the constant reminder of hard times, Americans turned to entertainment, if not just for an hour or two.  A variety of forms of entertainment were offered to the young and the old with the less expensive types being most popular.  This was a popular era for radio. People would tune in while sitting in their own living rooms and listen to a variety of programs.  Radio offered news stories, soap operas, and radio shows.   Movies were also enjoyed by many.  Shirley Temple was the star of the screen while Amos and Andy were creating controversy on the radio. Music was also a means of stepping away from the woes of the day and into a world of merriment.  The swing dance bands were popular. Benny Goodman and Count Bassie were among the great performers of this era.  George Gershwin was busy producing musicals which are still popular today.  Many of the unemployed during this period were the artists and musicians.  Government programs gave the the opportunity to produce songs and plays for all to enjoy.

Task

        You and a partner will take on the roles of writers and artists.  The task will be to  create an entertainment  newspaper which illustrates the various types of entertainment during the Great Depression. Your roles will consist of a movie critic, a music critic, a comic strip writer, and reporter.  You have several roles to complete.  Each one must take on each role and complete articles for your newspaper.  Each of will need to do at least 2 movie reviews, 2 radio show reviews, and 2 comic strips ( or one comic strip and one article about a popular comic strip character) .  It should also have several articles on interesting topics related to entertainment during this time period.  In addition,  you and your partner will design a banner for your newspaper that would be appropriate for the time period.  It should include name, date, and price which are historically correct.  The end product should consist of no less that 4 pages.  Be sure that each page is filled in completely.  In addition to articles that you will write, you will need to include several pictures that relate to your article.  These pictures need to be from the Library of Congress American Memory site.  You will use Microsoft Publisher to layout your newspaper articles.  You and your partner will do a short presentation of your final product for the class.
 
 

Process

To create the entertainment section of your newspaper, you and your partner will begin your research in the American Memory site of the Library of Congress.  You will locate information and pictures related to the events during the Great Depression era.

Before you begin your research,  you and your partner will need to organize your topics in a graphic organizer.  The organizer should contain the topics and the sub topics that are related.  For example, one topic you will research is big bands.  You will need to determine which bands were popular then, and who will  research a particular name.

After you have organized your topics,  you will be researching CLICK HERE to begin your journey in the American Memory.

Refer to your notes from our power point to select topics to cover in your articles.
Topics to be covered in newspaper:

Franklin D Roosevelt
The New Deal
WPA
Movies
Comic Strips
Radio Shows
Vocalists
Big Bands
Baseball
 

Resources

Standards

The webquest will address the English Language Arts standards for eighth grade.  See standards.

Library of Congress American Memory
http://memory.loc.gov/

American's Story
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi

The New Deal
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fedtp/fthome.html

Faces of Jazz
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wghtml/wghome.html

Baseball
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/jrhome.html

Songs
http://lcweb2.loc/gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/98/dime/intro/html
 
 

Evaluation
Each of you will receive an individual grade and a grade for the overall product.

Your individual grade will be based on the articles you write for the newspaper.
See article rubric for assessment.

The second grade will will be one on the overall effect of your newspaper and the presentation to the class.
See newspaper rubric for assessment.

Each grade will count 50 percent of the final grade.  The final grade will count as a major test grade.
 
 

Conclusion

            After completing your research and publishing your newspaper, you should have a better understanding of the  various types of entertainment during the Great Depression era. Entertainment would allow people to take them a break from the hard times they were enduring.  You should be familiar with various radio shows, types of music, entertainers, and famous comic strips from the time period.