1. Surviving the Depression

2. Surviving the Depression
New Deal programs helped some but not most
Most made ends meet best they could

3. Surviving the Depression
Drought and Dust Bowl
During the 1930’s states from Texas to North Dakota suffered a severe drought.

4. Surviving the Depression
Drought and Dust Bowl
Top soil dried out
High winds carried the soil away in blinding dust storms.
Grasslands were removed from Top Soil.
Much of the Great Plains area became known as the Dust Bowl

5. Surviving the Depression
Dust Bowl lasted 3-5 years
Dust Bowl turned 100,000,000 acres of land into wasteland
Crops could not grow in an area that was known for rich farm soil.

6. Surviving the Depression
Drought and Dust Bowl
These dust storms called Black Blizzards buried farmhouses and forced drivers to utilize headlights for daytime driving. It also caused death and destruction.

7. Surviving the Depression
Drought and Dust Bowl
People put shutters over doors with little help
Dust blew in houses
When food was chewed it crunched

8. Surviving the Depression
Drought and Dust Bowl
One storm blew dust from Oklahoma to Albany, NY

9. Surviving the Depression
Cause of the Dust Bowl
Over grazing by cattle and plowing by farmers destroyed grasslands that held the soil in place. High winds carried the soil away.

10. Surviving the Depression
There had been cases of "dust pneumonia" where dust clogged up the lungs just like the disease.
Teachers in the southern Plains knew that people had gotten lost in dust storms when visibility went to zero.

11. Surviving the Depression
California – the state that had once advertised for more migrant workers – found themselves overwhelmed by up to 7,000 new migrants a month. The Los Angeles Police Department sent 136 deputies to the state lines to turn back migrants who didn't have any money.

12. Surviving the Depression
Since citizens of the Great Plains states were farmers, they flocked in droves to California.
In California they set up tent communities and looked for farming work.

13. Social Security Act 1935
On August 14, 1935, the Social Security Act established a system of old-age benefits for:
Workers
Victims of industrial accidents
Aid for dependent mothers and children
The blind
The physically handicapped.

14. Social Security Act 1935 Aid for dependent mothers and children
The blind
The physically handicapped.

15. Surviving the Depression
Okies and Arkies
Since the drought hurt many farmers in Oklahoma and Arkansas they packed their bags and moved west in cars and trucks.
Radio’s became important part of life to provide information.

16. Surviving the Depression
John Steinbeck chronicled the hardships of the 1930’s Migrant worker in his Book and Movie “The Grapes of Wrath”