INTRODUCTION

Beginning with the Great Depression and ending with WWII, the era from 1931-1950 holds change for the United States, which is reflected in the educational system. Art education plays a major role in the Progressive Education Movement as research and empirical study begin to dictate change within the system. Americans become immersed in efforts to sustain democracy. Thus, the independent nature of democracy is the foundation of Creative Self Expression, which dominates instructional methods of the time. Leaders in art education are able to take advantage of the Progressive Education Movement, and the arts once again find a place within American education. Because research plays such an important role in the promotion of educational reform, many of the individuals who impact art education during this era generate research still debated and discussed today.

 

Timeline of Important Events:

1931 - Empire State Building opens

1932 - Amelia Earhart flies across the Atlantic

1933 - Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes president

1933 - National Recovery Act

1941 - Attack on Pearl Harbor

1941 - US enters WWII

1944 - D-Day

1945 - Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima

1949 - NATO formed