Who is Responsible for the Poor?

Essential Questions of the Unit

What is poverty and does it currently exist in the US?
If poverty exists today, what factors have assisted its existence?
How can poverty be combatted?
Guiding Question(s) for the Lesson
Who is responsible for the poor?
Standards
3.H.1understand how events, individuals and ideas have influenced the history of local and
regional communities.
3.H.2use historical thinking skills to understand the context of events, people and places.
3.E.1understand how the location of regions affects activity in a market economy.
3.C.1understand how diverse cultures are visible in local and regional communities.
Objectives
Students will complete a graphic organizer about an era in which a group of people were living in
poverty.
Students will complete a jigsaw study guide from the perspective of a social science.
Students will participate in class discussion of the question Who is responsible for the poor?
Resources
Computer lab/laptop cart
Research about each era
Paper
Graphic organizer for research
Jigsaw study guide
Activities
Have an initial discussion about the question Who is responsible for the poor?
Discuss with students how poverty is defined, what the difference between poor and poverty is
and how the poverty line is determined.
Draw a time line on the board and map out 4 historical eras in which poverty was an issue for
these people:
o Enslaved Africans living on plantations (1800s)
o Poor immigrants (1910s)
o Poor unemployed workers/farmers during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl (1930s)
o Homeless people in Raleigh (2000s)
Split students into 4 groups and have them complete a graphic organizer by gathering additional
data about their era. The students should focus on the issue of poverty for these eras and the
different perspectives of that timewho did what about it (the enslaved Africans vs. the white
men who owned them).
Informed by the historical research, have a second discussion of the question Who is
responsible for the poor? Students research should influence their answers during this
discussion.
After the second discussion have students remain in the same groups and research these eras
from the perspectives of different social sciences (economics, sociology, political science and
anthropology). Students will complete a jigsaw where they are given study questions and as a
group they will work together to complete this study guide.
o Economics: During the era of the enslaved Africans who else in society was living in
poverty and who was rich?
o Sociology: During the era of the poor immigrants what conflicts occurred and how were
families affected by poverty?
o Political Science: During the era of the farmers/workers in the Great Depression/Dust
Bowl did the government do anything to help the poor, if so, how? Who else helped the
poor?
o Anthropology: In current times how is the lifestyle of poor people (their culture) different
from that of non-poor people? What is an example of poverty in another nation?

Have a final discussion of the question Who is responsible for the poor? Students research
from the perspectives of the various social sciences should influence their answers during this
discussion.
Assessment Plan
Students will be informally assessed during the whole class discussions to gauge their
understanding of the topic and ensuring that they are making authentic and deep connections.
Students will also be formally assessed by their completion of the graphic organizer to ensure
that they are completing accurate and detailed research about their eras. By participating in the
whole class discussion and completing their graphic organizers students will be addressing the
topic of how poverty has persisted as the social issue that it is. They will be able to analyze the
issue from many different perspectives and eras to be able to deeply understand how poverty has
become the injustice that it is. This lesson also addresses the question of if poverty still exists
today because it includes a current example. Students will be discussing this example as a class
so assessing students responses during that discussion will determine if students are fully
comprehending this topic.
Lesson adapted from page 226 of Social Studies in Elementary Education by Walter Parker