The New Deal in Alabama

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SKYLINE FARMS: The New Deal in the Heart of Dixie

Lesson Activity: The New Deal in AlabamaA Look at Rural Resettlement

Communities

Recommended Grade: 11th grade

Overview: Students will learn about two rural resettlement com-munities in Alabama: Skyline Farms in Jackson County and

Gees Bend in Wilcox County. Students will learn why these

communities were established, how the residents of these

communities were affected by these programs, and compare and

contrast the lives of the residents before the New Deal program

started.

Tennessee Standards:

US History11th grade

8.4 Identify the changes in social and cultural life caused by the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl

8.6 Identify New Deal Programs/Initiatives

Alabama Standards:

US History11th GradeObjective 11.6.1: Describe the economic impact of the Great Depression on the people of the United States.

Objective 11.6.3: Describe major contributions of the administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Common Core Standards:

Literacy in History/Social Studies 11-12

2. Determine the central ideas or information of a

primary or secondary source; provide an accuratesummary that makes clear the relationships among

the key details and ideas.

4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as

they are used in a text, including analyzing how an

author uses and refines the meaning of a key term

over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in

Federalist No. 10).

5. Analyze in detail how a complex primary source is structured, in-

cluding how key sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of text

contribute to the whole.

.

Materials: Copies of photographs of Gees Bend and Skyline Farms (see image list), Additional Library ofCongress and external sources listed below,photograph analysis worksheet, primary source analysis work-

sheet, pencils, journal

Gees Bend Family, Gees Bend, Alabama.

Rothstein, Arthur. 1937

Mrs. Mary McLean, Skyline Farms,

Alabama.Shahn, Ben. 1937
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/resources/Analyzing_Photographs_and_Prints.pdfhttp://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/resources/Analyzing_Photographs_and_Prints.pdfhttp://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/resources/Analyzing_Primary_Sources.pdfhttp://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/resources/Analyzing_Primary_Sources.pdfhttp://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/resources/Analyzing_Primary_Sources.pdfhttp://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa2000006970/PP/http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa2000006970/PP/http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa1997017195/PP/http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa1997017195/PP/http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa1997017195/PP/http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa1997017195/PP/http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa1997017195/PP/http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa2000006970/PP/http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/resources/Analyzing_Primary_Sources.pdfhttp://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/resources/Analyzing_Primary_Sources.pdfhttp://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/resources/Analyzing_Photographs_and_Prints.pdf


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Additional Library of Congress sources:

Traveling exhibit.Rural Resettlement Administration program. Panel One. July 1936

Traveling exhibit.Rural Resettlement Administration program. Panel Two. July 1936

Traveling exhibit.Rural Resettlement Administration program. Panel Three. July 1936

External Sources:

Campbell, David. Skyline Farms. Encyclopedia of Alabama article.

Stevens, Kyes. Gees Bend. Encyclopedia of Alabama article.

Summary of New Deal programs in Alabama. The Great Depression, the New Deal, and Alabamas Political

Leadership.

Fireside Chat 7: On the Works Relief Program and Social Security Act(April 28, 1935)

Procedure:

Day One

1. Introduce the class to the Great Depression and the New Deal. The Library of Congress has a wonderful

Teachers Guideregarding the New Deal that contains useful introductory information and a timeline.2. Give the students a copy of President Roosevelt'sFireside ChatOn the Works Relief Program and Social

Security Act, in which he discusses the governments role in providing relief to the Nation. An audio file

of the speech is also available at the link located above.

3. Have a class discussion about theFireside Chatusing the Primary Source Analysis worksheetas a guidefor inquiry. Who is the intended audience for the speech? What was the goal of theFireside Chat? What

was the role in government during the Great Depression as stated by FDR?

4. The class should be familiar with the following vocabulary words: rural, urban, destitute, agriculture,stock market crash, tenant farmer, sharecropper, transients, economy.

Day Two

1. Have the students read The Great Depression, the New Deal, and Alabamas Political Leadership.2. Group Discussion: How was the economy in the South prior to the Stock Market Crash of 1929? Did the

Great Depression affect the South differently than other parts of the nation? What did the New Deal pro-grams do for the citizens of Alabama?

3. Introduce the Resettlement Administration as part of the New Deal programming and explain its purpose.

Read theEncyclopedia of Alabama articleson Skyline Farmsand Gees Bend.4. Group Discussion: What did you find out about the people of these communities prior to their lives in the

resettlement communities?

5. Pass out reproductions of photographs (see image list) of both Skyline Farms and Gees Bend, two rural

resettlement communities in Alabama.
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8c52308http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8c52308http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8c52314http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8c52314http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8c52309http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8c52309http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1546http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1546http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1094http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1094http://www.alabamamoments.state.al.us/sec48det.htmlhttp://www.alabamamoments.state.al.us/sec48det.htmlhttp://www.alabamamoments.state.al.us/sec48det.htmlhttp://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3304http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3304http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/primarysourcesets/new-deal/pdf/teacher_guide.pdfhttp://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/primarysourcesets/new-deal/pdf/teacher_guide.pdfhttp://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3304http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3304http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3304http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/resources/Analyzing_Primary_Sources.pdfhttp://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/resources/Analyzing_Primary_Sources.pdfhttp://www.alabamamoments.state.al.us/sec48det.htmlhttp://www.alabamamoments.state.al.us/sec48det.htmlhttp://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1546http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1546http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1094http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1094http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1094http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1546http://www.alabamamoments.state.al.us/sec48det.htmlhttp://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/resources/Analyzing_Primary_Sources.pdfhttp://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3304http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3304http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/primarysourcesets/new-deal/pdf/teacher_guide.pdfhttp://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3304http://www.alabamamoments.state.al.us/sec48det.htmlhttp://www.alabamamoments.state.al.us/sec48det.htmlhttp://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1094http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1546http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8c52309http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8c52314http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8c52308


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1. What do you notice about the people that live in these communities? What type of activity do you see?

What are common activities in both communities? Pay special attention to the titles of the photographs

they can reveal context of the picture.2. Divide students into small groups of 2-3 people. Give each group one photograph to analyze, using a pho-

tograph analysis worksheet.

3. Have each group present their finds to the class.

4. Group Discussion: Compare and contrast your findings.

Day Three

Using the information gathered during the previous classes, students will write a comparative essay portray-

ing lives of farmers residing in these resettlement communities. How did their lives change because of the

New Deal programs? How was life for the sharecroppers and tenant farmers before the Great Depression? Doyou think the government agencies involved improved the lives of the community residents? What was the

benefit? Were their drawbacks to living in these communities?

Suggested Images from the Library of CongressUS Farm Security Administration/Office of War

Information Collection

Skyline Farms Store, Alabama Arthur Rothstein,

1937

School. Skyline Farms, Alabama.
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa2000006822/PP/http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa2000006822/PP/http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa2000006822/PP/http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa2000006821/PP/http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa2000006821/PP/http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa2000006821/PP/http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa2000006822/PP/http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa2000006822/PP/


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Mrs. Mary McLean, Skyline Farms, Alabama. Ben

Shahn. 1937.

Farmers at Skyline Farms, Jackson County, Ala-

bama. Arthur Rothstein. 1937.

School scene at Cumberland Mountain Farms (Skyline

Farms) near Scottsboro, Alabama. Carl Mydans, 1936.

Temporary shacks used by resettlement families

while new homes are being constructed. Arthur

Rothstein, 1935.

Sawmill, Skyline Farms, AlabamaArthur Roth-

stein. 1935.New House. Skyline Farms, Alabama. Arthur Roth-

stein. 1935
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Going to school, Gees Bend, Alabama. ArthurRothstein, 1937.

Inside cooperative store, Gees Bend, Alabama.

Marion Post Wolcott, 1939.

New and Old home of Clay Pettaway, Gees Bend,

Alabama. Marion Post Wolcott, 1939.

Inhabitants of Gees Bend, Alabama. Arthur Roth-

stein, 1937.

Gees Bend Family. Gees Bend, Alabama. Arthur

Rothstein, 1937.
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Documents

The New Deal in Alabama