1. The Dust Bowl By Reuben, Hugh and Chris

2. What was it? ► It was a series of dust storms which damaged American and Canadian lands during the American Depression (1930s). ► It was caused by severe drought conditions, people were not able to grow cotton, corn or harvest their crops. ► During the drought soil dried out and became dust, blowing away eastwards in large black clouds. ► Skies were blackened in cities such as Chicago. ► Most of the soil was lost in the Atlantic Ocean. ► People living within Texas, Oklahoma and surrounding the Great Plains were left homeless.

3. Where Was It?

4. Damage caused by the Dust Bowl ► Many Americans migrated west looking for work. ► Canadians fled to urban areas like Toronto. ► Some Canadians had to rely on Government in order to survive because of drought and storms. ► People living in Kansas and Oklahoma became ill and died due to dust pneumonia and the effects of malnutrition. ► The agricultural market was unstable in the 1930s. ► On November 11 th 1983 a very strong dust storm stripped top soil from South Dakota farmlands in just one series of bad dust storms. Then again on May 11 th 1934 a strong, two-day dust storm removed much soil in one of the worst dust storms during the Dust Bowl. ► The dust clouds blew all the way to Chicago dumping the equivalent of four pounds of debris on each person. ► The storm then reached New York city, Washington DC, Boston and Buffalo. ► On April 14 th 1935, this is know as Black Sunday because of the dust and turned day to night.

5. Aftermath ► By 1940, 2.5 million people had moved from the Plain states from the Dusty States. ► Many moved to California because they were forced to leave. ► Migrants also left farms in Kansas, Texas and New Mexico but were referred to as “Okies”. ► The US government was to form the Soil Conservation Service which is now the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). ► This crisis was documented by authors, musicians and photographers at that time. They were able to capture the drastic impact of the storms.

6. Connection to Novel ► The Dust Bowl is connected to the novel, Roll of Thunder Hear my Cry because it was set in the same era as The Dust Bowl and there are references to everything being dusty all the time such as: ► In the book their crops are all dry and terrible because of The Dust Bowl. ► When they walk to school they are constantly complaining about things being very dusty. ► This could be around the start of The Dust Bowl.

7. Connections to 2007 ► There were droughts in Australia ► Recently, China experienced a Dust Bowl

8. THE END