Social Realism in the 1930s
4
Audio Transcript Auto-generated
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Hi,
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my name is Trina Brower and this is my presentation on social realism in the 1930s.
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Yeah,
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here on the left we can see a photo shot
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by Dorothea Lange of the migrant mother and her Children.
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Um Dorothea Lange was an american photographer
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who um
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worked for the resettlement administration,
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which is a government agency that was formed to
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raise public awareness and provide aid to struggling farmers.
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She met the migrant mother in a pea pickers farm in California
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and she took a total of seven pictures of um the mother and her Children.
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Um during this time the great Depression was happening
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In 1929, the stock market crash which caused a widespread of panic.
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And this also resulted in a time of suffering many people suffered from hardships,
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um homelessness
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unemployment and hunger.
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Um President Roosevelt was elected during this time and he created
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the new deal which provided a lot of jobs for people
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during this time as well.
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Um The farmland was unusable because there was
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a drought happening as well as poor farming techniques
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and during this time there was a lot of racial inequality as well.
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Mhm.
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Here we can see um Elena cut by Elizabeth Catlett
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called I have special reservations,
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Elizabeth Catlett was in a mexican american sculptor and graphic artist.
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She made a lot of art for carbon and
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mexican american audiences that featured a lot of women
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and in the lineup cut,
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we can see four black women sitting on the bus behind a sign called colored only.
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Um
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in
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1932, approximately half of African Americans have lost their jobs
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and the first ones to lose their jobs in this time
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were african americans.
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Um, lynchings started to increase increase again in the south
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and um, President Roosevelt welcomed a lot of the black community with open arms.
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However, due to political reasons,
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he was unable to back a lot of the legislations that favored the black community
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he did, however, once World War two started and the U. S. Had to join.
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Um,
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he
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Made the executive order 8802
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which states um,
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that all persons regardless of race, creed,
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color or national origin would be allowed to participate
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fully in the defense of the United States.
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Mm hmm.
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Um,
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here we have
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the mural by Ben Sahan
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called the passions of Sacco and Vanzetti.
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Um, Ben Hassan was born in Lithuania.
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Um, he was an activist and preserve social justice.
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Um,
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the mural captured a controversial conviction
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of two Italian American immigrants.
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This was one of 23 paintings
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um, made by Sahan of
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the
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conviction.
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Ah the,
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this was about men that were sentenced to death for an
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armed robbery and murder of a shoe company paymaster in his guard
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in massachusetts.
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The jury convicted them on the basis of circumstantial evidence and um,
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three appointed
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commissioners upheld the death sentence verdict.
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This case caused public outrage and um,
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a lot of
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the people believe that it was
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because of discrimination,
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right wing politics and a corrupt police investigation.
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And so this resulted in a lot of riots and protests.
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Um
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During this time a lot of people were able to see that
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the government was um unable to respond to a crisis well,
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and this prompted a lot of people to have Marxist movements and ideas.
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Um
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and
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so
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they also were able to see that um
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in the soviet union there was a model for a more humane society.