Lesson Plans > Social Studies > American History > Gilded Age to the Depression

	Gilded Age to the Depression (16)
		1. The Gilded Age
			1b. The New Tycoons: John D. Rockefeller
				"Robber Baron" or "Captain of Industry?" You Decide • High School • Middle School  1 day Discuss the wheelings and dealings of prominent industrialists during the Gilded Age. Have students interpret the social and political messages of political cartoons, and create their own cartoon reflecting the contributions or crimes of these leaders of industry. Have the students decide whether these men were "robbers" or "pioneers" in industry.
		2. Organized Labor
				Investigative Report: The Labor Movement • High School • Middle School  3-4 class periods Introduce your class to the demands of 19th-century workers and have the students write an investigative report on one aspect of the struggle the labor movement faced in gaining rights for workers in America.
		3. From the Countryside to the City
			3a. The Glamour of American Cities
				America: Melting Pot or Salad Bowl? • High School  1-2 class periods America has always been referred to as the home of the free and the brave - a place where liberty comes first above all else. However, this inviting "melting pot" image can be challenged. Many insist that America is more of a “salad bowl” where cultures do not mix; instead they live as distinct factions within a foreign world.
			3f. Artistic and Literary Trends
				Whitman and the City • High School • Middle School  1 class period Transport students back in time to old NYC using the works of Walt Whitman and photos of the city in the mid to late 1800s. Students will analyze the words and photos and create their own descriptive essay providing a secondhand account of what city life was like during the Gilded Age. Students should include any relevant historical information gleaned from their study of this era in their essays.
		5. Closing the Frontier
				The End of the Buffalo • High School • Middle School  1 class period Use the links provided below for information about the extinction of the buffalo. Some scholars suggest that the American Government purposely depleted the species in order to open the frontier for United States expansion. What do you think? Conduct a class debate on the issue.
			5c. The End of Resistance
				The End of the Buffalo • High School • Middle School  1 class period Use the links provided below for information about the extinction of the buffalo. Some scholars suggest that the American Government purposely depleted the species in order to open the frontier for United States expansion. What do you think? Conduct a class debate on the issue.
		6. Western Folkways
			6e. The Election of 1896
				The Election of 1896: Analyze Political Cartoons • High School  1 class period The election of 1896 is often cited as one of the most exciting and complicated elections in history. For that reason, there are multitudes of political cartoons to document the events and hot debates. Take your students back in time to see what society was like and learn more about the political issues that affected the nation prior to the turn of the 20th century.
		7. Progressivism Sweeps the Nation
				Progressive Power! The Election of 1912 • High School  2-3 class periods This lesson will incorporate the platforms and issues central to this important election by having students act as candidates, members of the audience, or the press to recreate a presidential debate that may have taken place prior to the heated 1912 election. Students will use historical data to write speeches, rebuttals, and questions for the debate. After the debate, the students in the audience and the press will cast their votes for the winner.
			7b. Muckrakers
				Be a Muckraker! • High School • Middle School  1-2 class periods Muckrakers of the Progressive Era are credited with exposing injustices and bringing horrors in industry and society to light. Have your students use their pens and computers to speak out against things they feel are wrong in their school, community, or the world. By writing muckraking articles and presenting them to the class, students will learn to voice their opinions and affect change.
			7c. Women's Suffrage at Last
				Life During the Jazz Age: Flamboyant Flappers • High School  1 class period Flappers shocked and wowed older generations with their bold fashion choices and brazen behavior. Use this lesson to introduce students to the flappers of the 1920s, and discuss whether they helped or hindered the fight for women's rights in America.
		8. Progressives in the White House
				Progressive Power! The Election of 1912 • High School  2-3 class periods This lesson will incorporate the platforms and issues central to this important election by having students act as candidates, members of the audience, or the press to recreate a presidential debate that may have taken place prior to the heated 1912 election. Students will use historical data to write speeches, rebuttals, and questions for the debate. After the debate, the students in the audience and the press will cast their votes for the winner.
		9. Seeking Empire
			9c. 'Remember the Maine!'
				Yellow Journalism • High School  1 class period Students will analyze primary source political cartoons and newspapers. They will assess the extent to which yellow journalism influenced the start of the Spanish American War.
		10. America in the First World War
			10d. The Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations
				What if the United States had Ratified the Treaty of Versailles? • High School • Middle School  2 - 4 class periods plus time to work at home What if the United States had ratified the Treaty of Versailles and joined the League of Nations? Would this have prevented World War II? Explore this topic by taking a look at the United States' role in WWI and what was happening at home at the end of the war. Then play the role of a political pundit for the 1920s and 1930s.
		11. The Decade That Roared
				Life During the Jazz Age: The Automobile • High School  1 class period Henry Ford's affordable version of the automobile made it accessible to the general public. By doing that, Ford successfully changed American life and culture. Use this lesson to discuss the effects the automobile had on life since the 1920s.
			11a. The Age of the Automobile
				Life During the Jazz Age: The Automobile • High School  1 class period Henry Ford's affordable version of the automobile made it accessible to the general public. By doing that, Ford successfully changed American life and culture. Use this lesson to discuss the effects the automobile had on life since the 1920s.
				The Automobile and Change • High School  1 class period Students will consider how the growth of the automobile industry completely transformed American life.
			11b. The Fight Against 'Demon Rum'
				Life During the Jazz Age: Prohibition • High School • Middle School  1 class The Eighteenth Amendment, passed in 1919, outlawed the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages in America. Use this activity to discuss the causes and effects of this legislation on an otherwise "roaring" decade.
			11c. The Invention of the Teenager
				Life During the Jazz Age: Invention of the Teenager • High School  1 - 2 class periods The decade of the 1920s ushered in a new cultural concept; the teenager. This new youth culture had great influence on the rest of American life. Use this lesson to show your students the changes that took place as a result of this new group of Americans.
			11d. Flappers
				Life During the Jazz Age: Flamboyant Flappers • High School  1 class period Flappers shocked and wowed older generations with their bold fashion choices and brazen behavior. Use this lesson to introduce students to the flappers of the 1920s, and discuss whether they helped or hindered the fight for women's rights in America.
			11e. The Harlem Renaissance
				Life During the Jazz Age: The Harlem Renaissance • High School  Approximately 3 class periods or at home Creativity, new ideas, and diversity sprang from the Harlem Renaissance. This lesson will introduce students to the cultural movement and the icons, and help them discover how works from this era reflected and changed American society.
		12. Old Values vs. New Values
				America: Melting Pot or Salad Bowl? • High School  1-2 class periods America has always been referred to as the home of the free and the brave - a place where liberty comes first above all else. However, this inviting "melting pot" image can be challenged. Many insist that America is more of a “salad bowl” where cultures do not mix; instead they live as distinct factions within a foreign world.