Genealogy Lesson Plan (Grades 9-12)

“Family history research is not a race. Go slow, verify your information, and have fun.” – GenealogyGirlTalks.com

The 1920’s through the Great Depression

Standards from the National Endowment for the Humanities (www.neh.gov )

·      NCSS.D2.His.1.9-12. Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.

·      NCSS.D2.His.2.9-12. Analyze change and continuity in historical eras.

·      NCSS.D2.His.3.9-12. Use questions generated about individuals and groups to assess how the significance of their actions changes over time and is shaped by the historical context.

·      NCSS.D2.His.4.9-12. Analyze complex and interacting factors that influenced the perspectives of people during different historical eras.

·      NCSS.D2.His.14.9-12. Analyze multiple and complex causes and effects of events in the past.

In grades 9-12, students will learn about post-war disillusionment and Americans search for peace, 1921-1929. Americans experienced the “horrors of modern war during one world war…many Americans in the nineteen twenties concluded that there must not be another,” (neh.gov). Students will “view memoirs, photographs, and other primary source documents to examine rise of antiwar sentiment in the United States, as well as measures taken to prevent future wars,” (neh.gov). Students will also look at photographs and primary source documents to understand how the Great Depression affected families, communities, and the nation as a whole.

After viewing these materials and discussing antiwar sentiment and the Great Depression, students will use the free website, FamilySearch to view census records for their family in 1910, 1920, and 1940. Students will also search for military records from the first world war to see if they had any family members who were in the war.

Students will use these military and census records to compare and contrast their family in the years leading up to the war, directly after the war, several years after the war, and as the Great Depression ended in 1940.

Students will be asked, for example:

·      Where was your family living? Did they reside in the same city or town during all four censuses or did they move to another location?

·      What are the differences in your family in the 1910 census and the 1940 census?

·      Did you have a relative in the military at the time of the war? Who were they? What branch did they serve in? Etc.

·      The 1930 and 1940 census asks the value of the home. What was it? (Some families did not answer this question and sometimes the answer is not indexed. You will have to look at the actual record.)

·      Then, use an inflation calculator to understand how much the home value would be worth today.

·      Did your family live on a farm? Or in a more populated area?

·      Any photos of family members from this time? Did their appearance change (besides age) in the time between 1910 and 1940? Did they appear to be happy in photographs?

Students will write responses to these questions and the class will have a discussion about their families and how their lives changed through these four censuses – 1910, 1920, 1930, and 1940. If a student had a relative who served in the military during this time, the class discussion can include branch of service, discussing where the individual was stationed, and what life would have been like for this person while in the war.

If a student is not able to trace their biological family, they may search for another family who was living in their local community at the time.