Harris & Ewing. Starts electric ball rolling. Morris L. Cooke, head of
Rural Electrification Administration, puts his approval on seven rural projects which will place electricity in about 7,000 [...] farm [...] homes at a cost of $1,274,000. These homes, in the most part, have never been lighted by electricity. The projects are in Indiana, Tennessee, Ohio, Texas, Iowa, and Nebr. About 1,125 miles of lines will be constructed. 11/4/35. 1935. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/2016881704/.
After learning about the Rural Electrification Administration and Roosevelt’s New Deal, students will close read the image of Morris L. Cooke signing documents to approve projects that will bring power to 7,000 farms/homes that have never had it before. Students will consider who Cooke appears to be in the photo and what the project would likely mean for those 7,000 households.
It wasn’t until 1960 that virtually all rural households had access to electric power. As part of Roosevelt’s New Deal, the Rural Electrification Administration was created to raise the standard of living for rural people and narrow the gap that existed between living conditions of rural and urban people.
Source: https://www.britannica.com/technology/rural-electrification#ref246792
- Looking at the photograph, what do you notice about Cooke?
- Do you think he’s connected to rural people/places? Why or why not?
- What clues are there about the time period of this major historical event?
ELA Standard
8.RC.1. Analyze what a text says explicitly as well as draw inferences through strong and supportive textual evidence.
Social Studies Standard
8.G.3. Identify the agricultural regions of the United States. Give explanations for how the land was used and developed during the growth of the United States.
Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
- Invite students to write to think, jotting down individual responses to the questions:
- Why do humans take photographs?
- How does photographic evidence help us commemorate and remember major historical events?
- After students have finished writing, invite them to pair and share with a partner, noting the similarities and differences in their responses.
- As a whole group, ask for students to share responses that struck them and why they were struck by the response.
- Offer the follow-up question about how photographs help us commemorate important events. What can they tell us about the event?
- Show the photograph of Morris L. Cooke signing approvals to give 7,000 rural households electricity. Ask students to perform a close reading of the photo.
- What time period do they think it is? How do they know?
- What do they notice about Cooke? Do they think he’s connected to rural people and places? How do they know?
- Why do they think this photo was taken?
- Invite students to do some research on Cooke to see if their assumptions/inferences were correct.
- After discussing, invite students to step into Cooke’s shoes. After signing the approvals, what would he write in his diary? How would he feel about his role in this?
Harris & Ewing. Rural electrification program speeded. Executives of the Rural Electrification Administration gather around their chief, Morris L. Cooke, as seven projects are launched to give 4,000 farm homes electric light. Cooke is seated. From the left, standing: Melvin O. Swanson, Chief Engineer; W.E. Herring, Special Assistant to the Administrator; L.A. Sears, Chief of Projects Section Guy Thaxon, Engineer, and Charles W. Bass, Assistant Chief Engineer, 11/4/35. 1935. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/2016881712/.