Objectives

At the end of this lesson, students will be able:

• to navigate the "Voice from the Dustbowl" American Memory collection
• to understand the distinct and various uses of language of Depression-era migrant workers
• reflect on the differences between fictional, musical, and documentary language and how language has evolved
• utilize their created collections to give "voices" to their migrant personas for their scapbooks.

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Dust Bowl Ballads by Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie website
Voices from the Dust Bowl: The Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection, 1940-1941

Procedure

Introduce the lesson by explaining that students will gather voices of migrant workers from three kinds of sources: literature, folk music, and a variety of voices documented by field workers.  Individually or in groups of three to four, students will select snippets of language using any of the following criteria:

a.    The way language is used is different than how we speak today.  This might include words or phrases we no longer use,        words or phrases we no longer use in a particular way, or sentences which are structured in a way that is different than what students are used to.  Students are to trust their ears in identifying these.
b.    The way language is used seems to capture the feelings of the workers, and/or seems to capture what they think is important.
c.    The way language is used is interesting, and just captures the attention of the reader or listener.

Part One: The Grapes of Wrath

In their groups students will be assigned a small chunk of chapters in order to skim to begin gathering voices.  They should log the following details:

Example of sentence or phrase:
Page:
Speaker (name, age):
Context:
Why selected:
Meaning (if necessary):

Link for examples

Part Two: Woody Guthrie songs

A brief  introduction of Woody Guthrie should be given.  The liner notes from Dust Bowl Ballads provides a brief, but meaningful introduction.  Using either audio examples from Woody Guthrie's Dust Bowl Ballads, or lyrics, students in their same groups should log examples of language.  Students should do their best to transcribe the words to reflect how they sound.  The log format is:

Example of line or words:
Song title:
Format (audio or lyric):
Topic of song:
Why selected:

Link for examples
 

Part Three:  Voices from the Dust Bowl: The Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection, 1940-1941
 

Introduce collection by having students read the introduction to the collection.

Using both audio and written sources from the web site, students should compile examples of language. Some of the resources available include songs, interviews with migrant workers, Camp Council Meeting minutes, court proceedings in the government camps, migrant camp newsletters, field notes, and miscellaneous audio snippets.

The following format should be used:

Example of language:
Source:
Speaker (name, age):
Genre (song, conversation, notes . . . ):
Notes about recording, if given:
Location:
Date:
Context:
Why selected:
Meaning (if necessary):

Link for examples

Part Four:  Compilation and Reflection

Within the groups students may compile the various "voices" from all three sources.  Students may want to organize them in a stack of index cards, or perhaps on pages of paper.  They may want to organize them by speaker or by topic. Another possibility is students may use worksheets generated from the above activities.

After compilation, students should write an informal relection focusing on the following questions:

1.    When you examine the examples from fiction (The Grapes of Wrath) and those selected from the documents, what observations can you make?  In what ways are the voices similar?  In what ways are they different?

2.    In what way is the way you, or people you know, speak, similar to some of the voices?  Give specific examples.  Are there ways in which your language is distinctly different than these migrants?  Explain.