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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What job does Paulson eventually get after educating himself?

2. How old was Ed Paulson when he took to the road?

3. Why would hobos put marks on people's houses with chalk?

4. What did Slim Collier's father do before the Depression?

5. In what scant costume did Sally Rand enter the Beaux Arts ball?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Slim Collier's discussion of her father say about the effect unemployment has on men?

2. How did the "southern belle" Diane Morgan become socially conscious in the 1930's?

3. Who is Bob La Follette?

4. During the Depression, what did Terkel do instead of becoming a lawyer?

5. How did the Bonus March end?

6. How did Blackie Gold end up maintaining national forests in the 1930's?

7. How did hobos get by during the Depression?

8. How did William Benton make his fortune?

9. How did Mrs. Winston Roberts of Chicago survive the Depression?

10. What resources for the transient did Ed Paulson discover during the Depression?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The Roosevelt Administration took special care to ensure that arts professionals were employed in the period of the Great Depression. Write an essay about the changes in the performing arts during this period of history. How did the actors union gain strength at this time? What did traveling sketch troupes have to do to remain viable? To what extent did the theatre begin to tackle more current and controversial subjects? Which famous artists emerged from this crucible?

Essay Topic 2

Among the strangest interviews in the book are those dedicated to the plight of farmers in the Midwest, in particular the sections regarding reactions to the price of corn. Write an essay about how the fluctuating price of corn led to massive wastes of foodstuffs. What did farmers do in an attempt to boost the price of corn? What other products did they turn to when the price of corn plummeted to absurdly low levels? What absurd and, later, sensible solutions did the United States government offer?

Essay Topic 3

The Great Depression was a time during which the most basic and reliable of systems in the United States failed. Though full-on revolution never broke out in America, dissident movements cropped up regularly. Write an essay about three such movements. What issue or injustice gave rise to this spontaneous act of dissidence? How did the movement grow in strength? What happened that finally put an end to the movement?

Part 1) The Bonus March.

Part 2) The opening night of The Cradle Will Rock.

Part 3) The farmers of Iowa stopping corn deliveries.

(see the answer keys)

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