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Community Benefits of the New Deal

9-12th Grade Social Studies

Content Topics

  • Great Depression
  • New Deal
  • Civilian Conservation Corps
  • Works Progress Administration

Duration 2- 60 minute lessons

Objective: 

Students will analyze, discuss and identify programs that stemmed from the New Deal. Students will apply local knowledge with historical information to understand the impacts and implications of the Great Depression era in the state of Montana, and their local area. Students will understand and utilize primary and secondary sources.

Overview and Purpose:

The New Deal was a series of programs President Franklin D. Roosevelt created to help the unemployed and poor during the Great Depression. In Montana, the New Deal helped to improve the economy and created jobs. From theatres to schools, armories to wildlife sanctuaries, Montana benefited with economic development and income to the state as it navigated the collapse of the stock market. 

Many Montana residents suffered during the Great Depression. From drought-ravaged lands in eastern Montana to job losses in copper mines in the west. The programs of the New Deal allowed Montana families to scrape by and acquire work that promoted development in their communities as well as the state.

Guiding Questions: 

  • How did national-level policies impact rural Montana economies?
  • How did the New Deal change, improve, or develop rural Montana?
  • What lasting effects did the policies that stemmed from the Great Depression Era leave on Montana communities and the diversity of our state's population?

Education Standards:

  • SS.CG.9-12.5 evaluate how citizens and institutions address social and political problems at the local, state, tribal, national, and/or international levels
  • SS.H.9-12.1 analyze how unique circumstances of time, place, and historical contexts shape individuals' lives.
  • SS.H.9-12.2 analyze change and continuity in historical eras in US and world history.
  • SS.H.9-12.12 analyze multiple historical sources to pursue further inquiry and investigate additional sources.
  • SS.H.9-12.13 integrate evidence from multiple relevant historical sources and interpretations into a reasoned argument about past and present people, events, and ideas

Materials and Resources:

  • Past and current images are of infrastructure that was created or developed by New Deal programs.
  • VTS Stems
  • Articles
  • Markers, colored pencils and poster board- or digital program for the task.
  • New Deal overview video
  • Montana Memory Website
  • Student Narrative
  • Push and pull cards or “investigation claims trading cards”
  • Resident biographies from this time
  • Primary and Secondary Source Handout

Local Resources:

Part 1 (30 Min)

Introduction/Hook

Today we will analyze programs and initiatives that stemmed from the New Deal and discuss their impacts on Montana, specifically Northeastern Montana. We will identify programs, describe their implementation in Montana, and evaluate their effects on economic recovery, infrastructure development, and social changes within our local region. This will include understanding the perspectives of different community members affected by these changes. Your final project will include specific examples of projects, such as constructing bridges, installing phone lines, building dams, and establishing wildlife refuges across the state.

Presentation

Part 2 (30 Min)

Discussion

Divide students into small groups and provide them with historical documents, photographs, and other primary sources related to the CCC's, WPA work in Montana. Walk around, monitor and guide students in analyzing the sources and identifying specific examples of CCC, WPA projects and their impact on Montana communities. Use VTS Stems on all items, allowing the groups to work together and share.

  • What’s going on in the source? (look closely, think critically, what connection do you have to this item?)
  • What more can we find? (analyze, dig deeper, look close, listen to your peers)
  • What makes you say that?

Ending Question: How did this impact communities, individual perspectives and diverse populations in our state?

Part 3 (2- 30 Min sessions)

Activity

Students will use the information they gathered during the guided practice to create an informative poster. This can be started at home and wrapped up at school on day 2 or you could extend the lesson out one day.

  • Provide clear guidelines and expectations for the poster/presentation, including the requirement to include specific examples of CCC projects and their transformative effects on Montana communities. Encourage students to use appropriate visual aids, such as maps, photographs, and diagrams, to enhance their work.
  • Invite students to share their posters or presentations with the class, highlighting the key insights they gained about the CCC's influence on Montana.
  • Optional: Class discussion, allow students to ask questions and provide feedback on each other's work.

Examples of area projects

  • Fort Peck Dam
  • Fort Peck theatre
  • Culbertson Armory
  • Dagmar Church Dam
  • Medicine Lake Refuge
  • Glasgow Civic Center, Post Office, Courthouse
  • Scobey Inspection Station
  • Richland County Fairgrounds
  • Roosevelt County Courthouse
  • Savage School
  • Sheridan County Courthouse

Part 4 (60 Min)

Activity

  • Recreation of transportation individually or with a partner- model, image, or other.
  • Students will share their project with class- Rubric

Extension Activity: Timeline-Image Map

Have students create a Google Map or large poster map of Montana. Have them locate several New Deal generated spaces across the state and label those along with dates and descriptions.