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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. How did Jim Sheridan travel to the Bonus March?

2. What did Arthur Robinson do before entering the financial markets?

3. In Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, where do Lily, Rob and Buck hear about the Depression?

4. What did Blackie Gold do in the CCC during the Depression?

5. What unorthodox job did Phyllis Mortimer take when her family fell short of money in the 1930's?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do interviewees who were young in the 1930's realize something bad happened in the country?

2. How did a small community develop around the Ford plant strike in Detroit?

3. How did hobos get by during the Depression?

4. How was Robin Langston's family affected by the Depression?

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

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

7. How did the jazz community take care of its own in the Depression?

8. Why is Jerome Zerbe's interview oddly disturbing?

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

10. How did blues and alcohol play a defining role in Terkel's college years?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The 1930's, as a result of the abject poverty and of Prohibition, became an era of romanticized criminality. Write an essay on the popularity of illegal behavior at this time. What was the nature of the industry dedicated to circumventing Prohibition laws? Why were figures like John Dillinger and Machine Gun Kelly folk heroes for robbing the banks? To what extent were they enacting public disgust with failed institutions?

Essay Topic 2

The federal government went through a series of processes in its attempt to react to the 1929 crash of the stock market and to stem the sinking of the national economy. Write an essay about these attempts at governmental assistance and how they did or did not succeed:

Part 1) How did the Hoover administration react in the immediate aftermath of Black Tuesday? Discuss what sort of governmental initiatives went into place, and whether the administration succeeded in stemming the decline or allaying fears in the general populace. What unrest cropped up at this time?

Part 2) Discuss the first steps taken by the Roosevelt administration upon its arrival into office. What, specifically, was the NRA? What powers did this administrative body offer Roosevelt to place limits on the private sector? Why was the NRA preemptively shut down soon after its creation?

Part 3) How did the Works Progress Administration prove to be more effective at stemming destitution than simple relief? What did this desire of Americans for work programs say about the country's work ethic? What were some material results of the WPA?

Essay Topic 3

During the Depression, the United States government offered amenities to its people that were unheard of in the past: farmland, housing, camps for the indigent. Write an essay about the public reaction to these amenities. How did each of them prove a model of cooperation? To what extent did people view them as a stepping stone to private ownership? Which of these amenities are still in existence? Why did some disappear and others degrade over time?

(see the answer keys)

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