The Dust Bowl

In your journals, create a table like this… WhenWhereWhy Below the table, number your page from 1-9 and skip a line in-between each number

Dust Bowl Background…When & Where? When: mid 1930’s during the Great Depression (a.k.a – “The Dirty Thirties”) – Dust even reached New York and Washington D.C. Where: America’s “breadbasket” – the Southern Great Plains (effects were felt nationwide, wheat replaced cattle as “king” in the Southern plains)

Texas New Mexico Colorado Oklahoma Kansas Nebraska Wyoming Mexico Gulf of Mexico South Dakota Red River Rio Grande Sabine River 1. Over-Grazing. To many cows and sheep. 2. Farmers plowed up the native grass and planted wheat. This area only receives 20 inches of rain per year. The native grass held down the soil. With the grass gone… 3. It just flat-out didn’t rain much for a decade.

Dust Bowl Background…Why Did it Happen? Caused by both humans and nature (poor farming techniques of over-plowing, Homestead Acts in 1862, 1909, & 1916 resulted in too many farmers trying to meet demands for the war effort, several years of severe drought ) Droughts killed the roots of native prairie grasses (the only thing holding the top-soil in place) Effects were compounded by the Great Depression (Unemployment in the east made it harder to sell wheat, price of wheat fell to less than what it cost to produce) Killed livestock and people (dust pneumonia, jackrabbits became a big problem and a part of people’s diet)

Famous Works…

PoliticalEconomicSocial New Deal programs initiated to prevent erosion Crop prices dropped Farms were lost to the bank Population decreased in Panhandle towns Texans migrated to California and other parts of the nation Implemented ways to stop erosion – planting trees, contour plowing, terracing Impact Copy this Down

For each slide that follows, you will do two things… 1)Come up with a title or caption for the photo 2)From your own analysis of the photo write a brief description of what you think is happening for each… Be prepared to share…

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#1 – A car tries to outrun a “Black Blizzard” in the Texas panhandle – March 1936

#2 – Unemployed men outside a store. Undated

#3 – A farmer in North Dakota shows how high his wheat should be…1936

#4 – Abandoned farm north of Dalhart, Texas…1938

#5 – Plowed field that used to produce crops – Panhandle of Texas

#6 – A farmer tries to dig out his fence. Tumbleweeds would blow and get stuck on fences, then catch dust…

#7 – A U.S. government sign promoting land terracing in Texas, 1939

#8 – Migrant boy living out of his family’s car…1940

#9 – Migrant workers waiting for relief checks. California, 1937