John Steinbeck: Author of “Of Mice and Men”

A Man and His Times

Population: 123,188,000in 48 statesPopulation: 123,188,000in 48 states

Life expectancy:Males-58.1 Female-61.6Life expectancy:Males-58.1 Female-61.6

Average yearly Salary: 1,368Average yearly Salary: 1,368

Food Prices:Milk 14 cents a qt.; Bread 9 cents a Food Prices:Milk 14 cents a qt.; Bread 9 cents a loaf;Round steak 42 cents a poundloaf;Round steak 42 cents a pound

Unemployment rises 28% percentUnemployment rises 28% percent

Facts About the 1930’sFacts About the 1930’s

The Great Depression

The Social Security Act

The Scottsboro Boys Trials

The Hindenbergh

The Lindbergh Kidnapping

Literature and Film of the 1930s The Hobbit

J.R.R. Tolkien Gone With The Wind Mitchell, Margaret Young Man of

Manhattan Kathrine Brush

Dr. Seuss The Cat in the Hat

Vogue Magazine Snow White and the

Seven Dwarfs Zorro

Famous People Born In The 1930’S

James Earl Jones/born in 1931/actor

Sam Cooke/January 27, 1935/singer

Gene Hackman/January 30, 1930/actor

Dudley Moore/April 19, 1935/actor

Peter Jennings/born in 1935/News Broadcaster

Elvis Presley/1935 Tina Turner/1939

Pastimes, Games, and Music Monopoly Campbell Shopping Game Standard Oil Checkers Congress designated The Star

Spangled Banner as the national anthem

Big Bands such as Duke Ellington

Coined Words From the 1930s

Muzak Cool Girl Micro Wave Punk One-Armed-Bandit Dig Dude Black-market

Famous People of the 1930’sFamous People of the 1930’sShirley Temple – child actress

Joan Crawford - actress

Walt Disney

Amelia Earhart

•Jesse Owens - an African American athlete who won four gold medals in track-an-field at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and put to shame Hitler's Aryan superiority message

Charles Lindberg – first man to fly around the world solo

Will Rogers

•John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California on February 27,1902.

•His mother was from Ireland and his father was from St. Augustine

•Married his first wife, Carol Henning, in 1930

•Two sons, Thomas and John IV•During WWII, he wrote articles about the war as a correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune•Died on Dec. 20, 1968 in Sag Harbor, N.Y.

He lived in Monterey County, CA for early part of his life

At the age of 14, he wanted to be a writer

Attended Salinas HS His dad worked as a county

treasurer His mom was a teacher He attended Standford

University in 1919 and quit 1925 without a degree

The greatest award he won during his life time was the Nobel Prize in 1962

His first novel was Cup of Gold

Tortilla Flat marked turning point of his writing career in 1935

His most popular books include Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath,

Won the Pulitzer Prize for his book Grapes of Wrath in 1940

•His stories come from all types of common working people including: immigrants, hoboes, and especially migrant workers.

•The people in his novels come from different places in search of a happier life and jobs in California.

•He writes about the hardships in life these people had to endure in order to survive.

•The story takes place in the Salinas Valley.

•This is one of the places that was NOT affected by the Great Depression.

•Its nickname is “The Salad Bowl of the World”.

•It consists of large farms.

The Novel: Of Mice and Men

Classic tale of friendship (Lenny and George)

Set in the Salinas Valley

Migrant workers Hard look at

social issues that still exist

•During the 1930’s, people went to California to find jobs in farming because of the drought/Great Depression.

•The people were poor.

•The demand for workers went up, so they hired more people and lowered wages.

•Bringing home a wage is more important than dignity and fairness in the workplace

Rights of the Handicapped Basically they had no rights

and could only do limited things and were often confined to holding cells

Handicapped people part of “freak shows”

Individuals that were mentally retarded were also considered to be an unacceptable part of society.

Eugenics Some people now believe that

capital punishment of people with mental retardation should be prohibited

Less likely to receive probation or parole

African Americans in the 1930’s Jim Crow Laws

– majority of American states enforced segregation

– could impose legal punishments on people for consorting with members of another race.

– most common types of laws forbade intermarriage and ordered business owners and public institutions to keep their black and white clientele separated.

1939 the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund was established

The Harlem Renaissance – allowed African Americans to flee the violence

and racism of the KKK and lynch law and the abject poverty of share-cropping

Civil Rights movement doesn’t gain prominence for 10+ years – the times they were a changin’