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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 does Edward Burgess say he never saw in Chicago in the 1930's?

2. According to historian Christopher Lasch, what was never a serious possibility in the Depression?

3. Aaron Barkham informs the reader of what strange practice of certain clans within the Appalachian Ku Klux Klan?

4. What was Dorothea Lange's profession?

5. Of what sixties-era organization is Robert A. Baird's son Peter a member?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Jack Kirkland become famous during the Depression?

2. Describe the incident with the Iowa Judge in The Father Is the Man?

3. How does Christopher Lasch explain the possibility of a socialist revolt in the 1930's?

4. What does Dr. Martin Bickham discover about the American drive to work through his relief work in the 1930's?

5. What was Dr. Townsend's contribution to the Depression-era discourse?

6. How did The Cradle Will Rock become a lightning rod of controversy?

7. What strange dichotomy exists in Stanley Kell's interview in Honor and Humiliation?

8. According to James Farley, how did Roosevelt alienate members of his own administration?

9. According to Horace Cayton, why did black Americans not join the Communists en masse?

10. How did Wilbur Kane experience the Joe Louis fight against Max Schmeling?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Studs Terkel mentions throughout the book that the Roosevelt administration had a vested interest in chronicling the realities of the Depression as it was happening. Write an essay about three of these historical/artistic documents. What specific component of the Depression experience did each highlight? What was its medium? How was it received at the time and since? Why did the Roosevelt administration avoid publicizing that it was funding this sort of archiving work?

Part 1) Tobacco Road.

Part 2) The River.

Part 3) Dorothea Lange's portraits.

Essay Topic 2

Over the course of Hard Times, Studs Terkel interviews several individuals who held powerful elected positions during the Depression. These men took different positions on the issue of the day, and these positions were best expressed in terms of their support or opposition to FDR. Write an essay about these three figures. What did they think of FDR and the New Deal? How did each attain the power they enjoyed in the 1930's? Was each able to make a definitive mark on the country at this time?

Part 1) C. Wright Patman

Part 2) Stanley Fish

Part 3) Alf Landon

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay about the tactic used by union supporters in the 1930's Rust Belt. How did they effectively shut down plants, stopping the introduction of scabs and limiting the union-busting? What kind of press did these strikes get, and how was Governor Frank Murphy of Michigan leveled by these events? What effect did the passage of the Wagner Act have on the ability of workers to unionize?

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