1. The Dust Bowl
H-SS Discuss the human toll of the Depression, natural disasters, and unwise agricultural practices and their effects on the depopulation of rural regions and on political movements of the left and right, with particular attention to the Dust Bowl refugees and their social and economic impacts in California.

2. Dust Bowl- term used for the central and southern Great Plains during the 1930s when the region suffered from drought and dust storms.

3. Great Depression and Dust Bowl caused Human Suffering

4. Okies - People displaced by dust
storms migrated to California in search of jobs and a better life.

5. Major Migration routes during the 1930s
Major Migration routes during the 1930s. Route 66 brought Okies to California in search of jobs.

6. Route 66 was replaced by Interstate 40 (I-40), however parts of it still exist and it is popular among car show enthusiasts.

7. During 1920s farmers expanded production of winter wheat, this destroyed natural grasses that held soil in place
Drought struck in 1930s. Soil dried and winds picked it up and blew it away
Dust storms called “Black Blizzards” covered fields, houses, everything. They rose up to 8,000 ft and blew dirt over major U.S. cities

12. Families lost farms and migrated from areas impacted by Dust Bowl to California in search of jobs and opportunity.
Okies –name given to homeless migrant families of the Dust Bowl era.
800,000 people migrated to California.
As the Depression continued those without money were turned away at the Stateline for vagrancy.