Studs Terkel Biography

“The Views of the Great Depression (1932)” is taken from a book called Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression by Studs Terkel. Terkel was an oral historian who wrote books on specific topics based on his interviews with everyday people (“Studs”). He was born on May 16, 1912 in New York City and he lived until October of 2008 (“Studs”). Terkel wrote this source to publicize the views of oppressed people during the Great Depression rather than focusing on the average, working, white man at the time.
He attended the University of Chicago Law School where he got his training in being a journalist and talk show host, which made him great at interviewing people for books like Hard Times. Terkel was not specifically associated with any movements or organizations. He is loosely related to the Progressive Movement because he published books that shed light on progressive views, but he was not an activist for it. He has written many other works though, like Giants of Jazz, Division Street: America, and The Good War: An Oral History of World War Two, to name a few (“Studs”). As a result of these books, he is generally associated with their topics, like the Great Depression or World

The entire source consists of two directly quoted interviews about the Great Depression from the views of a black man and the daughter of an immigrant. The black man, Clifford Burke, was a pensioner living on the west side of Chicago (Jones). He spoke about how blacks were “born in depression,” meaning that they have always been poor and disadvantaged, so the Great Depression was only a big deal for the white man (Shi 201). Next, Burke says that “the American white man has been superior so long, he can’t figure out why he should come down” (Shi 201). This goes on to explain that the loss of riches and superiority hits them harder because they could no longer have the privileges they were used