Mary Culp describes her life during the Great Depression in rural Newberry County, South Carolina, discusses economic programs that President Franklin D. Roosevelt created, and explains how these programs helped her family and the community. According to Mrs. Culp, the Depression started for her family before 1930 when she was about ten years old when boll weevils destroyed their cotton crop, causing them to lose part of their family farm. She talks about New Deal programs that President Roosevelt implemented to help people during the Depression, including the Civil Conservation Corps, National Youth Administration, and the Agricultural Adjustment Act, and how those programs impacted her community. She recounts the political climate during the Depression, including listening to Roosevelt's fireside chats, the 1928 presidential campaign between Herbert Hoover and Alfred E. Smith, and candidates using white supremacist messages in their speeches. Mrs. Culp shares how her family and her close-knit community helped her get through the Depression, including how her community came together to rebuild the local Lutheran church in 1932.