• Ed. Rober Cohen. “Dear Mrs. Roosevelt: Letters from Children of the Great Depression.” 2002. Google. 20 April 2006. <http://uncpress.unc.edu/chapters/cohen_dear.html.>

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• “In her first year in the White House, Mrs. Roosevelt received more than 300,000 pieces of mail, far more than any previous First Lady. And it was not merely the number of letters that was unique, but their origins and character. Unlike in previous administrations, the majority of letter writers were from the working class and wrote to seek aid rather than merely voice an opinion.” S-1/8

 

2. “RIDING THE RAILS: Teenagers on the Move During the Great Depression.” 2003. Google. 20 April 2006. <http://www.erroluys.com/RidingtheRails.htm>.

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• “At the height of the Great Depression, two hundred and fifty thousand teenage hoboes were roaming America. Some left home because they felt they were a burden to their families; some fled homes shattered by the shame of unemployment and poverty. Some left because it seemed a great adventure. With the blessing of parents or as runaways, they hit the road and went in search of a better life.” S-top
• Teenagers in this era faced hardships when trying to find work and help support the family, mostly to the point that they couldn’t handle it and had to ride the trains in search for a new life.

 

3. Spencer, Tina. “Life During the Great Depression.” 7 December 1997. Google. 20 April 2006. <http://newdeal.feri.org/sevier/interviews/413s.htm>.

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• “When I got old enough to work, a dollar a day was big money. At one time, after I was married, I got paid a silver dollar for a day's work that I did. I was showing it to my wife Emma and dropped it on the porch. There was a crack in the porch and it went through underneath, so we tore the whole porch down to get to that dollar. That's how rough things got. Seemed everybody was poor.” S-1/8
• Everyday was a struggle for money…Jay Spencer worked hard to support his family.

4. “Teenage Hoboes in the Great Depression.” 2000. Google. 20 April 2006. <https://www.nationalheritagemuseum.org/Default.aspx?tabid=300>.

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• “During the Great Depression, 1929-1939, over 250,000 young people left home in hope and desperation and began riding freight trains or hitchhiking across America.  Most of the them were between 16 and 25 years of age.” S-1/8
• Life was difficult in the teenagers home towns and they needed to ride the rails to find work in new cities and a better life.

 

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