Introduction: How to Use this Guide

Organization

• Sources are sorted into four thematic sections, arranged chronologically.
• Each section begins with an overview and index of sources.
• Primary sources are curated alongside questions, videos, and podcasts to help contextualize each source.

Links

• Many sources are linked to their hosting websites (external to this site).

Environmentalism in the Progressive Era & WWI (c. 1890-1920)

Overview

The primary source documents and videos in this section illustrate the growing environmental ethos evident in the early twentieth century, from the Progressive Era through Wold War I.

The Progressive Era, spanning roughly from 1890-1920, can be understood as a period of reform movements formed in response to rapid industrialization, urbanization, and commercialization. Among these reform movements were two early environmental movements known as preservationism and conservationism. Preservationists believed that natural landscapes should be left exactly as they were, and conservationists sought to maintain natural resources in order for them to be best used and enjoyed. John Muir was known as the most prominent preservationist, whereas Gifford Pinchot was known as the most prominent conservationist.

This growing environmental ethos continued into World War I, as Americans conserved and rationed resources in order to support the war effort. Through their participation in garden clubs and local victory gardens, American women and children on the home front used agricultural practices to support soldiers abroad.

The sources in this section exemplify the many perspectives among Americans fostering connections to the environment in the early twentieth century.

Sources

• Essay: Gifford Pinchot, 1890 (Excerpt) 
  • 6-12 Video: Mira Lloyd Dock: A Beautiful Crusade
• Legislative Summary of the Bill to Establish the National Park Service, 1916
  • 6-12 Video: Brigadier General Charles Young
• “Everybody Plant a Garden,” Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 22, 1917
• “Yule Exhibits in Portsmouth,” Virginian-Pilot, December 11, 1941
• Will you have a part in Victory? 1918 Poster
• The Gardens of Victory, Poster
  • Victory Gardens Video

Excerpt: Gifford Pincho Essay, 1890

Link: https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/environmental-preservation-in-the-progressive-era/sources/919

Background:

• Gifford Pinchot (1865-1946) was known as the “father of American forestry.”
• He was an influential Progressive Era conservationist who advocated for the protection of natural resources in the United States.
• This 1908 Essay discusses issues of deforestation, the over-extraction of coal and other minerals, and the negative effects of monopolies on natural resources.
• Pinchot calls for a “New Point of View” regarding the environment, and he appeals to doing so for future generations and the United States as a nation.

Discussion Questions: 

• Which natural resources do you think Pinchot is referring to?
• What might Pinchot mean by a “critical point” in history?
• In what ways might this relate to industrialization?

Extension Video:

Mira Lloyd Dock: A Beautiful Crusade (Link to Web)

Annotation/Discussion Questions:

• How might Dock’s experiences growing up in an industrializing city influenced her career trajectory?
• What were some of the environmental hazards
  Harrisburg faced due to industrialization?
• What were some of the argument Dock made for cleaning up Harrisburg? How might her trip to Europe have influenced her arguments?
• How might public parks have helped industrializing cities?
• How might Harrisburg’s city beautiful movement have influenced movements in other cities, as well as city parks in our own time?

1916 Congressional bill to establish the National Park Service & NPS Video

Link: https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/environmental-preservation-in-the-progressive-era/sources/913

Background:

• President Woodrow Wilson established the NPS
  into law through the 1916 “Organic Act.”
• Congress proposed a bill to establish the NPS in response to the growing national ethos toward conservation coming out of the Progressive Era.
• This Congressional report summarizes the bill,
  highlighting the utility behind the creation of the
  NPS under the Secretary of the Interior.

Annotation/Discussion Questions:

• In the first paragraph, the report summarizes the main purposes behind the foundation
  of the National Park Service. What are they?
• Which department will manage the NPS? Why do you think Progressive Era Americans wanted the federal government to oversee parks? How might this fit into broader Progressive Era reforms?
• How does Congress distinguish the difference between the National Parks and the National Forests?

Extension Video:

Brigadier General Charles Young Link: https://home.nps.gov/seki/learn/historyculture/young.htm

Background:

• First Black National Park Super Intendant of Sequoia National Park
• Prolific military career despite segregation of US armed forces

Link to Supplementary Lesson Plan, NPS: https://home.nps.gov/articles/000/-h-our-history-lesson-fit-for-service-colonel-charles-young-s-protest-ride.htm

"Everybody Plant a Garden," Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 22, 1917

Annotation:

• As a newspaper, this was intended for a wide audience and was published just weeks after the US declared war on Germany during WWI. Victory Gardens were encouraged as a way to help with food shortages and rations during the war. Gardening also gave people something to do and a way to participate that would ease anxieties about the war, food, and the threat of inflation.
• While Garden Clubs were primarily run by women, men and children were also encouraged to join so the whole family could be involved.
• War took millions of men away from their jobs which included agriculture and transportation. Imports of goods from other countries including fertilizer also slowed or stopped. With decreased home grown food and decreased imports of foreign food, shortages occurred  which caused increased prices and hoarding.
• The bank invested in the Garden Club in support of the war effort and the local economy.

Discussion Questions:

• Why might the Bank sponsor a Garden Club? For what reasons might the government have encouraged victory gardens?
• What benefits do you think victory gardens provided?
• What do you need to start a Victory Garden? Can everyone do it? (knowledge, tools)

"Yule Exhibits in Portsmouth," Virginian-Pilot, December 11, 1941

Annotation:

• As a newspaper, this was intended for a wide public audience. The date reveals that this Yule Exhibit was held the weekend after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
• A Federation of Garden Clubs through the County indicates that Garden club work was important to the government. Even on the local level, there was institutional support of the war effort.
• This exhibit attempted to make conservation interesting
  to a wide audience by connecting it to Christmas, and
  hoped to encourage families to reduce waste and decorate using recycled materials at home. Reducing
  waste was important during war time when money and
  resources were scarce.
• All of the club’s leaders were women which shows that
  conservation was seen as a “women’s activity.” Garden
  Clubs provided women leadership opportunities. Also note that they were all listed by their husbands’ names.
• Garden Clubs were often made exclusive to only wealthy
  white women. This article shows that in spite of
  segregation, Black women organized their own Garden
  Clubs and advocated for conservation.

Extension Videos:

Smithsonian Gardens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtrlcLslK5w

Discussion Questions:

• How might Garden Clubs connect to politics?
• Why was gardening an “acceptable” way for women to become activists and professionals?
• What were gender roles of the time? How did this work stay within or reject them?

Will you have a part in Victory? 1918

Link: https://www.loc.gov/item/2002712327/

Annotation:

• This was published by the National War Garden Commission, a temporary department created to encourage gardening during WWI.
• Dressed in the American flag, this woman, beautiful and innocent looking, represents the country. She appears delicate and yet powerful, but ultimately worthy of
  protection. She walks with a purpose and sows seeds that presumably will allow the nation to win the war. This imagery is often used for America or American ideals (think Statue of Liberty). The image conjures an emotional attachment to the nation, but also inspires women to join her in the garden or farm fields.
• “Every Garden a Munition Plant” communicates that growing food is just as important as manufacturing guns and ammunition.

Discussion Questions:

• How is this similar to or different
  from other propaganda images?
• Why might America be depicted in
  this way? Where have we seen
  something similar?
• Why do you think the painting/image
  was made to look this way?
• Who is the audience for this image?

The Gardens of Victory

Gardens of Victory Video

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBg1ND5X3tA

Annotation:

• This film was made by the United States Office of Civil Defense. It shows the wartime need for vegetable gardens. It advertises that people can get instructions from the government on how to plant a successful garden. The film also says that people benefit from being in the sun and feeling involved in the war effort.
• In both of these sources, every member of the family is shown participating in the garden. The poster is not just focused on a wife or mother, in fact she is in the back. This family also does not appear to be wealthy which suggests Victory Gardening is for everyone.
• “Our food is fighting,” is similar to the WWI Poster that said “Every Garden, a Munitions Plant.” Food is seen as just important as military material and action.

Discussion Questions:

• Do you think this video would have been helpful to people? Why?
• What are some of the benefits victory gardens provided?
• How is this poster similar to or different from other propaganda images?
• Do you see any similarities or differences between these sources and victory garden material from WWI?

The Great Depression & The New Deal (c.1929-1945)

Overview

The sources in this section chronicle the environmental aspects of the Great Depression and the New Deal. This period can be studied for both its environmental disaster and federal initiatives toward conservation and reforestation.

In the early 1930s, as the Great Depression wreaked havoc on the economy, the Dust Bowl hit in the Great Plains and the eastern US. The Dust Bowl became known as the largest human caused environmental disaster in US history and is largely attributed to the poor use of agricultural lands as well that were intensified by a long drought in the region. The disaster would lead to mass migration from the Great Plains to Wester states, including California. Primary source photographs, an interview, and a PBS video illustrate the toll the Dust Bowl had on the environment and the people living there.

President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal ushered in a series of federally funded programs to alleviate financial burdens of the Great Depression, while also focusing on environmental projects. Notably, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) employed young men to work on conservation initiatives and reforestation projects. Their work would benefit the National Park Service, as well as State Parks around the country.

Sources

• The Dust Bowl & The Great Depression
  • Photo: Arthur Rothstein, “Abandoned farm in the dust bowl area, Oklahoma,” April 1936, Farm Security Administration.
  • Photo: Dorothea Lange, “Migrant Mother: Birth of an Icon,” Nipomo, 1936.
  • Video: A Man-Made Ecological Disaster
  • Interview with Flora Robertson, 1940
• Civilian Conservation Corps & the New Deal
  • Video: Zion National Park Ranger Minute
  • NPS, Civilian Conservation Corps Article
  • Video: Civilian Conservation Corps | Oregon Experience, Oregon Public Broadcasting

The Dust Bowl and the Great Depression

Background:

• In the early 1930s, extreme drought hit the Great Plains. For decades, farmers in the region had been over-plowing and depleting the soil through a lack of crop rotation.
• The drought, combined with high winds, caused massive
  dust storms that blew across the plains, further stripping topsoil.
• Along with environmental damage, the Dust Bowl caused
  further economic hardship and health issues.
• The Dust Bowl would also cause a mass migration of
  farmers out of states like Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas
  and to California as they searched for better opportunities.

Discussion Questions:

• Describe what you see in the photo.
• Read the caption:
  • Who took this photo and when?
  • Where is this located?
  • Why do you think this photo was taken?
  • Why might this photo have historical significance?
• Taken together, how do these two photographs provide different perspectives of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression (eg. environmental, migration, childhood)

Extension Videos:

A Man-Made Ecological Disaster

Link: https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ecological-disaster-ken-burns-dust-bowl/ken-burns-the-dust-bowl/

Interview with Flora Robertson, 1940

Link: https://history.iowa.gov/history/education/educator-resources/primary-source-sets/dust-bowl/interview-flora-robertson-about

Discussion Questions:

• When was this interview recorded and where is Flora located?
• How did Flora take to protect her from the dust storms?
• Why might Flora have waited to move to California?
• How does a personal account of the Dust Bowl add to your understanding of what happened?

Segregation and Jim Crow in the Environment

Overview

In the early twentieth century, Jim Crow segregation relegated Black Americans to separate and often unequal environmental spaces. In spite of this, Black Americans had robust relationships to the environment through recreation, and commercial or personal ownership.

The sources in this section highlight the specific ways outdoor spaces were segregated through law and social custom. The sources also reveal how Black Americans maintained connection to the outdoors despite the segregation they actively fought, creating spaces of joy and environmental connection for their communities. By exploring these not so distant stories, students will also be able to consider what effects of environmental segregation and racism are still present today.

Sources

• Ownership and Segregation of Beaches
  • Photo: “YWCA camp for girls. Highland Beach, Maryland,”
    1930, Scurlock Studio Records, Box 41, Archives Center,
    Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
  • Newspaper: “Police on Guard at Wade-In,” Chicago Tribune, July 9, 1961
  • Video: “Five Minute Histories: Carr’s Beach,” Baltimore Heritage, August 25, 2023.
• “African Americans and the Great Outdoors,” National Park Service, Digital Project and Map

Ownership and Segregation of Beaches

Annotation:

• Incorporated in 1922, Highland Beach was the first African American municipality in Maryland. It was also the first African American Summer Resort in the Country.
• Many very wealthy African Americans including Mary Church Terrell and Charles Douglass.
• In the late 1800s and early 1900s, most beaches and coastal properties were owned by Black people, particularly formerly enslaved folks and their descendants because the weather and sandy soil made the land less valuable. In the 20th century, predatory white land developers started trying to take these properties and monetize them as segregated beaches and resorts.
• The car and clothing hint at when this was taken, and reveal the presence of Black people in outdoor spaces, specifically beaches, long before desegregation.
• This photo is of a YWCA camp for girls. Recreation, specifically in the outdoors, was not limited to just boys.

Annotation:

• Wade-ins were just like sit-in protests happening at lunch counters during the civil rights movement. Instead of sitting down in restaurants, activists were visiting the beach and swimming in the ocean.
• Many of the beaches where wade-ins occurred, including Rainbow Beach, were not legally segregated, but were “segregated by custom,” meaning that only white people had been welcome there for many years, they were dangerous places for Black people to go.
• Wade-ins advocated for integration. Many communities ended up getting designated Black beaches rather than equal access to all beaches.
• The police are facing the group of protestors. This stance indicates that the protestors were seen as the threat of violence rather than the racist mob.
• Although no violence was reported, ten people were arrested for “unlawful assembly.” This charge is meant for people who enter a space illegally or who threaten public safety. Since there was no legal segregation of Rainbow Beach, neither one of these things was the case.

Discussion Questions:

• What or who do you see in these photos?
• When do you think these photos were taken?
• Why do you think the photos were taken?
• Did anything in the photos surprise you?
• What questions do you have for the photos?

The Environmental Movements of the 1960s and 1970s

Overview

By the 1960s, decades of industrialization, resource over-extraction, and use of harmful chemicals had taken a noticeable environmental toll. The sources in this section explore the environmental movements of the 1960s and 1970s and pieces of federal legislation passed in response to the growing popular movement to protect the environment.

By the early 1960s and 1970s, what had been a burgeoning environmental movement grew into the mainstream as activists and scholars alike noticed an intensifying environmental crisis. Some key issues included deforestation, air and water pollution, and species extinction. A few key moments in this growing environmental movement include: the fight against DDT, made popular by Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring; the first Earth Day in 1970; and the American Indian Movement’s March to Wounded Knee in 1973. Important pieces of legislation include the Wilderness Act (1964), Clean Air Act (1970), the Endangered Species Act (1973).

Sources

• "DDT is good for me-e-e," Advertisement, Time Magazine, June 30, 1947
  • Podcast: "DDT: The Britney Spears of Chemicals"
• Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, excerpts
  • American Experience: Rachel Carson Video
• Earth Day and March to Wounded Knee
  • Walter Cronkite, Earth Day CBS News Broadcast, April 22, 1970
  • "World Pilgrimage: Wounded Knee," Poster, April 22, 1970
  • Podcast: Throughline, "The Force of Nature"
  • Video: PBS, "The American Indian Movement and Wounded Knee"
• Environmental Movement: Legislation
  • Complete Text of the Wilderness Act (Teaching Version)
  • Endangered Species Act of 1973
  • Video: PBS Learning Media, "Birth of the Clean Air Act"
  • Video: US Fish and Wildlife Service, Endangered Species Act 101

"DDT is good for me-e-e," Advertisement, Time Magazine, June 30, 1947 

(see https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/1831ck18w)

Background

• Created by the Penn Salt Chemicals company
• Published in Time Magazine, June 1947
• Touts the multiple uses and benefits of DDT for different audiences, including commercial farmers and in the home.
• Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) was developed in the late nineteenth century, but became commercially available by the 1940s.
• The US military initially used DDT to stop the spread of diseases, like malaria, that spread through insects.
• DDT became commercially available in the 1940s as a pesticide that everyday Americans and famers could use to keep insects off of crops.
• Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring has been credited with exposing the harms of DDT on human, animal, and plant health.
• The movement against DDT can be seen as one of the main signifiers of the modern environmental movement, which had already started to take shape by the early 1960.

Discussion Questions

• What kind of document is this? (Is it a newspaper article, an advertisement, a letter, etc.)
• Who created this document?
• Who might the intended audience be for this document?
• Choose three of the photographs and text blurbs. What do these sections argue?
• Taking the document as a whole, what do you think the argument of this document is?
• Given what has been discussed about DDT, how might this document be misleading?

Extend: "DDT: The Britney Spears of Chemicals" Podcast, https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/1831ck18w.

• What were some of the initial uses of DDT?
• When did the public start to question the use of DDT and why?
  • What are some of the different interpretations of when the public started doubting the use of DDT?
  • How did the Polio epidemic sway public opinion on DDT?
• Where do we see discourses surrounding uses of chemicals and safety in today’s media?

Excerpts: Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, 1962, Chapters 1 & 17

(see https://www.uky.edu/~tmute2/GEI-Web/GEI/GEI10/GEI%20past/GEI08-Global%20Env%20Issues/GEI%20lecturse/carson_silent-spring.pdf).

Background

• Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was published in 1962.
• Carson’s work exposed the dangers of DDT to the public, spurring an already growing environmental movement.
• Carson was born in Springdale, Pennsylvania (near Pittsburgh) in 1907, and died in 1964 after a battle with cancer.
• Carson was one of the foremost nature writers of the twentieth century.
• For more on Rachel Carson see: https://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/literary-cultural-heritage-map-pa/bios/carson__rachel_louise.

Video Source: American Experience on Rachel Carson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeJNRaE11A0. 

Questions

• Carson’s introduction spells out a “before” and “after.” How does she describe the natural landscape like before?
  • How does she describe the condition of nature after?
• What is the cause of this change, according to Carson?
• Why might Carson have called her book Silent Spring?
• What is Carson’s call to action?
• How does Carson appeal to broad audiences beyond the scientific profession?
• How would you describe Carson’s philosophy behind humanity’s relationship with nature?
• Do you think Carson’s observations and solutions are still relevant today? If so, how? 

The First Earth Day & March to Wounded Knee, 1970 & 1973

Walter Cronkite, Earth Day CBS News Broadcast, April 22, 1970, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbwC281uzUs.

March to Wounded Knee: Earth Day World Pilgrimage Poster, 1973, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2016648085/. 

Background

• The growing popular movements aimed at environmental protection led to a major moment in 1970 with the first Earth Day.
• Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin is credited with organizing the first Earth Day, wherein activists from across the country, protested the environmental degradation caused by unchecked industrial pollution.
• The American Indian Movement (AIM) used Earth Day as a focal point of the 73-day Wounded Knee occupation in 1973.
  • AIM protested the US government’s broken promises and exploitation of American Indian land and human rights. Activists protested on the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre.

Cronkite Broadcast Questions

• What are some of the environmental issues Earth Day might have remedied?
• Who participated in the first Earth Day?
  • Why might Cronkite have said Earth Day “failed?”
• What role do the media play in shaping public awareness and action on environmental issues?
• How do you think the environmental movement has evolved since 1970?
  • In what ways do you think it has succeeded, and where do challenges remain?

March to Wounded Knee Poster Questions

• Who created this poster, and when?
• Why was this poster made?
• What is on the poster, and what might these symbols represent?
• How might the goals of Earth Day align with those of AIM?

Extension Podcast and Video

• NPR Throughline Podcast, "The Force of Nature," https://www.npr.org/2021/04/19/988747549/earth-day-1970.
• PBS Video: "The American Indian Movement at Wounded Knee," https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ush22-soc-aimwoundedknee/the-american-indian-movement-and-wounded-knee-we-shall-remain-wounded-knee/.

Environmental Movement: Legislation 

Background

The growing social and cultural movements throughout the 1960s and 1970s helped push both state and federal legislatures to pass a series of laws to combat air and water pollution, and curb species extinctions. Legislation including the Clean Air Act (1963, 1970), the Wilderness Act (1964), and the Endangered Species Act (1973), provided federal support for the conservation and protection natural environment. These acts, along with the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970, formed the backbone of modern environmental policy, as the federal government began to take a more active role in environmental protection efforts. 

Sources

• Complete Text of the Wilderness Act, 1964, https://www.nps.gov/subjects/wilderness/upload/W-Act_508.pdf/ .
• Endangered Species Act of 1973, https://www.fws.gov/sites/default/files/documents/endangered-species-act-accessible_7.pdf/.
• PBS Video: "Birth of the Clean Air Act," https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/birth-of-the-clean-air-act-video/ecosense-for-living/. 
• Fish and Wildlife Service Video: "Endangered Species Act 101," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6wJpGO8j4Q.

What is it?

Housing disparity is still a challenge many people, including students, face today. This guide provides historical context and primary sources so that students can better understand housing issues in the present-day U.S. 

Key points:

• This activity will take one 90-minute period or two 45-minute periods. It is appropriate for a high school U.S. history classroom, but the sources can also inform a government class looking at the policy issue of housing.
• Students will analyze, interpret, and evaluate primary sources related to housing. 
• Students will gain a better understanding of the defining characteristics of housing and the historical actors and policies that determine these factors 
• Guiding Question: How has housing been provided for people in the U.S. and how has that changed over time? 

Introduction

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, initially enacted in 1987 but reauthorized in 2015, ensures that youth facing homelessness can still access quality education and provides resources and assistance for students facing homelessness to succeed in their education. While there is a consensus that education is a fundamental right, housing is still an issue under debate. The purpose of this lesson is to indicate that the concept of housing as a basic right has changed over time. Students should take away that access to housing has not been solely based on individual actions or motives. It is based on various people, laws, ideas, and institutions.

This lesson aims to provide students with an understanding of the defining characteristics of housing and the historical actors and policies that determine these factors. The students should begin formulating the lesson's introduction about the foundations of a home. Have students think about what made those individuals’ houses homes. Another critical objective that teachers should have students think about is the interrelatedness of housing and houselessness. As the lesson will illustrate, housing development is usually coupled with the displacement of groups of people. This should prompt students to think about what happens to individuals when they are removed from places. To explore this interdependency of housing and houselessness, it is best to look at housing reform, which was emphasized during the New Deal. Educators should briefly reference the Great Depression and economic crisis to provide students with a starting point on how housing reform and public housing shifted into the present. The New Deal era demonstrates that concerns surrounding housing and the response to those concerns are displayed through policy and legislation. The reaction to those policies and legislation is through activism and lobbying. By the end of the lesson, students should be able to comprehend this cycle of development and reform, along with its various actors. 

Background/Context

While housing has been an issue throughout history, the first federal action to address housing came as a response to the Great Depression in the 1930s. The Great Depression brought about a massive housing crisis and high unemployment rates across the United States. Progressive reformers, as a response, initiated housing reform. The U.S. Housing Act of 1937 provided government funding to build regulated public housing, creating affordable living arrangements for low-income citizens. These new housing structures had racial segregation embedded in their design and coupled with urban renewal initiatives, the deterioration of public housing initiatives would begin after World War II. The Great Migration brought many African Americans to urban areas in the Northeast, West, and Midwest, searching for new opportunities. Due to the increasing number of African Americans in the urban centers and changes in legislation such as Brown v. Board in 1954 and the soon-to-come Civil Rights Act of 1964, housing authorities could no longer preserve the separatist vision of their progressive architects. Policymakers and white residents began to use de facto methods to maintain segregation. Leaving public housing areas in droves as a response, creating a need for more suburban neighborhoods designed to maintain segregation. Additionally, federal subsidies could no longer support the costs of maintaining these public housing buildings. As a result of tenant rent adjustments, housing authorities could no longer sustain quality conditions for tenants, and these buildings often became neglected. 

The 1970s and 1980s ushered in significant changes to housing policy in the United States. Concerns about private versus public funding for public housing and a resurgence in attention to homelessness created new policies that shifted American perspectives across racial and class lines. In the 1970s, urban renewal initiatives and policies such as the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 shifted funding for affordable housing from federal responsibility to corporate opportunity. This act established Section 8 housing, which provided housing vouchers that allowed low-income individuals to get government subsidies to live in privately owned properties. However, because of this new shift, many public housing buildings were neglected, and many African Americans and other minority groups, like Latino communities, were still residing in them.  In the late 1970s and 1980s, there was an effort to move these residents out of public housing and into new privately owned neighborhoods. The 1986 Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) incentivized private developers to build new housing developments regulated by the state but relieved the federal government from fiscal responsibility. These initiatives, while alleviating the responsibility of the state and federal governments, did not lessen the ongoing poverty issues. By the 1990s, the HOPE VI program was created by Congress to demolish abandoned and neglected public housing and create new “mixed-income” housing developments. 

Throughout these efforts, the demolishing of housing and the creation of new neighborhoods always come with the displacement of people. These efforts not only created housing opportunities but also created homelessness. During the 1960s and 1970s, there were areas of placeless people, commonly known as “skid row.” These areas were filled with liquor stores, poorly managed hotels, crime, and disorder. During the 1950s and 1960s, homelessness and these areas were mainly populated by males, but as policy changed over time, there was a rise in women and children facing homelessness in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1987, the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness was created to respond to these changes in homelessness. Continuing these efforts in the 1990s and early 2000s, advocacy increased in combatting homelessness. Many non-profit organizations were forming to relieve issues concerning homelessness and federal policy, such as the Homeless Emergency Assistance Transition to Housing Act, enacted in 2009, to provide funding for homelessness prevention and re-housing. Place and placeness are interdependent. Examining housing and homelessness in the history of the United States involves examining policies, the individuals who create them, and the individuals who are affected by them. 

Activity

Bell Ringer  

To begin the lesson, students should consider the foundational elements of what constitutes a home. Using a textbook, a selection of reference materials, or even an internet search have students find examples of different homes throughout history; think of Indigenous housing structures, homes of the settlers-colonists during the Westward expansion, or the elaborate houses built by the elite class during the Gilded Age. Students should be able to express commonalities and indicators of defining “home” by the end of the discussion. 

Educators should allow students to consider whether housing structures are defined by their permanence and sustainability. Have students name the factors that could have led to temporary housing during earlier periods in U.S. history, such as migrating due to low food sources or natural disasters like fires or floods. There could also have been a lack of safety. Educators should guide students to determine that these first livable structures were built out of a necessity to survive, sheltering individuals and providing protection from elements that would compromise safety. Their permanence was yet to be determined. 

Homes began to form when people had the proper devices to ensure their structure could shield them from primary threats and cultivate sustenance. Examples are the ability to farm and raise animals. Most importantly, there was no longer a need to uproot quickly. Have students name a few activities individuals can do when they no longer must worry about these threats. Ask students what some ways these individuals could manage these threats are. 

Another significant development in creating permanent housing was property rights and land claims. People began to obtain documentation, such as deeds and titles, contracts, and leases, to represent their residences legally. Due to this, housing is now codified, but the right to housing is still in question. Federal and state governments create policies on how these laws can be enforced. Prompt students to consider the difference between a right to housing versus a right to shelter. 

After this brief discussion, this activity will allow students to begin rationalizing their definitions of what constitutes a home.  

To clarify the exercise, offer definitions for home. Here are a few definitions:  

Example: 

A home is a permanent structure used for habitation, procured through legal processes. 

Oxford Dictionary 

House 

• (noun) A building for human habitation, typically and historically one that is the ordinary place of residence. 

Home 

• (noun/adj.) A dwelling place is a person’s house or abode, the fixed residence of a family or household, and the seat of domestic life and interests. 

There are many definitions of house and home. Michael Allen Fox’s chapter “The Many Faces of Home” in Home: A Very Short Introduction suggests that the definition of home depends on linguistics, region, and cultural norms. Fox concludes that the definition of home is flexible and dependent on circumstance. Educators that would like additional information on how to define home should reference Fox’s chapter. 

For additional resources on defining home, Habitat for Humanity’s “What Does Home Mean to You” voices the definition of home through various perspectives. This resource can be used as a preliminary source for educators to tie in themes from the discussion.  

Step One 

First, ask the class: What do you think defines a home? 

Step Two 

As an entire class or in small groups, use the images below in the Primary Sources section and ask students what characteristics define these types of houses. These images can be printed and put on a board or provided to students. The images can also be projected on the board, or if students have their own digital devices (i.e., laptops, tablets, desktop computers), provide them the links and have them pull the images up on their devices. Students can work individually or in groups according to the teacher's preference. 

Educators can arrange these images in any order; however, they should refrain from telling the students what category they would be placed in. 

Step Three 

Create a list on a whiteboard or have students in groups write down characteristics for each image they think creates a home. For example, in Image #1, students can identify that there are curtains and other items displaying that people reside in the residence. 

Conclusion

During the activity, students have become the decision-makers on defining what constitutes a home. This is a common theme throughout the lesson: who defines housing, and who decides who gets to have housing? Historically, actors have been policymakers, activists, and legal apparatuses. 

Housing and homelessness are determined by permanence, which is determined by legislation. Legislation establishes ownership and protects residents, enforcing codes and policies to ensure the structure is livable. The policies determine housing rights. Throughout the lesson, students should continue to inquire about how these rights change over time. 

Ask students: Who decides what constitutes a home?  

Primary Sources: Housing Examples

1. Typical Housing in Greenbelt, Maryland- https://www.loc.gov/item/2018699737/ 

Annotation: These houses should be categorized as homes. Students should be able to identify residency in both homes by examining them. A satellite dish, curtains, and other identifiers provide proof of occupancy. The individual in this home is either the owner or renter, and the structure has gone through a legal process to become a permanent structure. Housing communities in the Greenbelt District were developed during the New Deal Era in 1935 under the United States Resettlement Administration. This administration was designed to resettle farmers and migrant workers affected by the Dust Bowl.  

2. One of Many Small Ponds Surrounded By Housing Developments in Gilbert, Arizona, a Southern Suburb of Phoenix, Arizona- https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2018702325/ 

Annotation: The homes in this picture are recently built. This picture was taken in 2018. Students should recognize that these are permanent structures and think about what these homes do to the environment and homes of other organisms. This picture shows a pond and clear signs of human manipulation of this environment. Teachers should guide students to conclude that homes that are this way permanently displace other living things and their habitats while creating new ones for others. 

3. Housing Development Around a Private Lake in the Northern Reaches of Indianapolis, Indiana-   https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2016631680/ 

Annotation: This image is an aerial view of housing development. Have students notice the exclusiveness of this property. It is essential to identify this lake as private. Some indicators show that there are very few entry points into this neighborhood. This is designed for the safety of the community. Students should reference the previous discussion that safety and community building are critical to creating permanence. Also, the concept of privatizing property, such as the lake, relates to the debate on property rights. This lesson will discuss the conversations between policymakers and citizens on whether housing initiatives should depend on government subsidies or become a private corporate venture. Students should begin to acknowledge the differences and outcomes between the two.  

4. Abandoned Public-Housing Units in the Liberty City Neighborhood of Miami, Florida- https://www.loc.gov/resource/highsm.62362/ 

Annotation: The housing units in this image were a government-subsidized public housing project built in the 1930s. The housing units, while no longer in use, are the physical representation of the changes in housing reform. These units were once heavily populated during the early stages of housing reform. However, they are vacant over time due to many policy changes.

Primary Source Analysis Activity: Housing Policy 

To analyze these sources, divide students into groups and create a station for each primary source, a total of four stations that students will rotate. Students should spend 10 to 15 minutes at each station examining the sources, answering associated questions, and recording them on paper. Each group should have one document to share their answers at the end of this activity. The questions are designed to have students not only think about the material from a historical perspective but also prompt students to think about historical actors involved in creating housing policy changes and homeless assistance reforms. These sources are in chronological order to aid students in analyzing how housing changes over time. During this activity, ensure that students contemplate the relationship of each source and whether it adds to the continuity or change in housing policies and public sentiments. At the end of the activity, reassemble the class and discuss each group’s answers. 

A computer or tablet will be needed for this activity. 

Step One 

To begin this activity, additional information should be provided to frame the required con, specifically with Sources #3 and #4, due to the nature of the sources. As the entire class, educators should review each source, provide background information, and review the specific questions on each source.

Step Two 

Divide students into groups, set a timer for 10 minutes, and begin the timer at the start of each rotation. Each station should have instructions for the students, including how to use the source and the associated questions. Students should write a 3-5 sentence answer for each station’s question. 

Step Three

After all student groups have completed the activity, the class should reconvene, review each question, and have students share their answers. Educators should revisit the information provided at the start of the activity as needed. 

Station One 

Educators should print out the Library of Congress’s Public Improvement map and use a computer or tablet to display Mapping Segregation DC’s “Restricted Housing and Racial Change, 1940-1970” map for students to interact. 

Source #1 

Program objectives diagram 1: 1967-1985 public improvement program priorities (partial accounting) : [District of Columbia]. - https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3851g.ct010988/?r=-0.279,0.116,1.856,0.957,0 

This city-planning map displays urban renewal plans in Washington, D.C., created in 1967 to illustrate development plans from 1967-1985. This map shows where new schools will be built, transit systems, parks, and other infrastructure for public improvement. Have students pay attention to where these activities are located. In tandem with this source, have students examine Mapping Segregation DC’s, Restricted Housing and Racial Change, 1940-1970 map, and have students identify who lives in the neighborhoods that will be affected. Choose the layers of the map that coordinate with the time of this development plan. ‘

Questions 

1. What does “public improvement” mean according to this map? 
2. What places are being added to the neighborhood? 
3. What neighborhoods and residents are being affected based on both maps? 

Station Two

Educators can print out this source or display it digitally. 

Source #2

The Housing Struggle in Crisis, National Tenant Organization Poster, 1973- https://www.loc.gov/item/2016649888/ 

This source is a poster for the National Tenant Organization’s National Convention in 1973, held in Chicago, Illinois. The poster shows an apartment building being demolished. The National Tenant Organization was formed in 1969 to help with tenants' rights issues. The National Tenants Organization vs. HUD (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) determined that HUD’s restriction in deductions to secondary wage earners resulted in overcharging those tenants. The courts determined that this was a violation and that HUD must carry out the deductions. Students examining this source should contemplate the types and levels of advocacy during housing reform. 

Questions 

1. How does this poster depict issues surrounding housing during the 1970s? 

Station 3 

Educators should print or display digitally the first page of this source and highlight the excerpt or print out the excerpt of the source placed below. 

Source #3

U.S. Reports: Hills, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development v. Gautreaux et al., 425 U.S. 284 (1976). - https://www.loc.gov/item/usrep425284/ 
 

Hills vs. Gautreaux was a defining moment in housing reform. This case shows that racial discrimination remained active after the 1964 Civil Rights Act. It prompted housing authorities to create new non-discriminatory housing programs, including Section 8 and integrating Black and White residents. Students should use the excerpt below, and educators should prompt a discussion about the magnitude of why the integration of residence was essential to Americans. This case is twelve years after the Civil Rights Act and in Chicago, which is often not associated with racism as in the American South. Students should identify that racism was nationwide and that the Civil Rights Act, a federal law, did not solve the problem of segregation. While segregation was now illegal, de facto segregation was still prevalent. 

Excerpt: 

“Respondents, Negro tenants in or applicants for public housing in Chicago, brought separate class actions against the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), alleging that CHA had deliberately selected family public housing sites in Chicago to ‘avoid the placement of Negro families in white neighborhoods’ in violation of federal statutes and the Fourteenth Amendment, and that HUD had assisted in that policy by providing financial assistance and other support for CHA's discriminatory housing projects. The District Court on the basis of the evidence entered summary judgment against CHA, which was ordered to take remedial action. The court then granted a motion to dismiss the HUD action, which meanwhile had been held in abeyance. The Court of Appeals reversed, having found that HUD had committed constitutional and statutory violations by sanctioning and assisting CHA's discriminatory program.”

Questions

1. What does this case say about race in public housing during the 1970s? 
    

Station 4 

This station should center on the preservation of communities. Educators should be permanently present at this station to guide conversations and answer questions. 

Source #4

Bulletin board at Johnson Houses, E. 115th St. at Lexington Ave., Harlem, 1989 digital file from original- https://www.loc.gov/resource/vrg.07713/ 

This is a bulletin board in a public housing project in Harlem, NY. It is filled with advertisements about drug prevention and bulletins that encourage Black success. There is also a sign in Spanish. This primary source shows what some public housing communities faced during this time in these housing projects. This source also shows the dichotomy of the needs of Black and Brown community members. It shows the upliftment and success of the Black and Brown communities while protecting their communities from crime. 

During the 1980s, many members of the public believed minority communities were responsible for crime and poor living conditions. The most crucial portion of this source is that it shows an effort of community members to preserve their communities so that they won’t be subjected to urban renewal initiatives. It is also essential for students to note that there wasn’t much improvement in housing between the 1960s and 1980s. Have students identify why that is. 

Questions 

1. How do the posters on this bulletin board speak to the preservation of public housing in the 1980s? 

Wrap Up 

To conclude this lesson, have students reflect on the difficulty of decision-making and consider who determines housing and houselessness. 

Revisit the question in the Bellringer exercise and discuss how answers may have changed or have stayed consistent. 

Question: What defines housing? Who decides these defining attributes? 

General Tips for Teaching Controversial Subjects

• Center activities on primary sources. Primary sources are tangible evidence that allow students to engage directly with history. These primary sources in particular were preserved and digitized by the Library of Congress because they were deemed important to the history of the United States.
• Discussion and analysis of these sources can be wide ranging, but within each class those discussions can always be turned back to the source itself.
• The sources are also, by definition, only pieces of a puzzle. They bring us closer to understanding the past but there is always room for doubt and uncertainty.  
• Questions, Observations, and Reflections should come from students. These are primarily student-directed learning activities. It is the instructor's role to create a space for inquiry and empower students to drive the inquiry.
• It may help to remind students at the outset that it is normal for different individuals to come to different conclusions, even when we are looking at the same sources. Further, it would be strange if we all agreed completely on our interpretations. This can normalize the strong reactions that can come up and enables educators to discuss the goal of historical research, which is to hopefully go beyond the realm of individual  perspective to access a fuller understanding of the past that takes multiple perspectives into account.
• Teaching historical topics that involve violence and other trauma can be traumatic for some students as well. Providing students with previews of what content will be covered and space to process their emotions can be helpful. The following video series from the University of Minnesota contains further tips for teaching potentially traumatic topics: https://extension.umn.edu/trauma-and-healing/historical-trauma-and-cultural-healing.