Depression Thirties

Produced in 2005
Sacramento, CA

Musical lyrics: We’re in the money, we’re in the money. We've got a lot of what it takes to get along. We’re in the money, the sky in sunny…

Description: Photo of people standing in a bread line; photo of men in suits and hats standing in line at soup kitchen; photo of crowd standing in front of large white building with sign reading End Poverty League, Inc.

Narrator: The decade of the thirties and the Great Depression saw setbacks when many schools for adults were temporarily closed and programs were curtailed in others.

By 1933, California adult education, in its typical response to national social issues, was involved in Works Progress Administration, WPA funded programs. Vocational rehabilitation programs grew with federal encouragement.

Description: Slide showing timeline: 1933 – Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC); photo of work crews of shirtless men digging ditches; photo of five men in front of wood clapboard house;

Narrator: George C. Mann was appointed the Chief of the Division of Adult Education in 1934. The first handbook of Adult Education was published in 1937.

Description: Photo of George C. Mann, distinguished bespectacled, gentleman wearing a suit pictured in newsletter entitled Council News; photo of handbook cover

Slide showing timeline of enrollment growth: 1856 – 300 students; 1910 – 3,000 students; 1920 – 74,000 students; 1930 – 346,000 students; 1940 – 546,000 students

Narrator: Adult Education enrollment began to grow again, and was reaching more than half a million people by 1940. At that time, California had a population of about eight million, of whom five million were adults. Roughly 10 percent of these adults attended some public school class during the year 1939 to 40.