1. Document Based Questions
The Dust Bowl
Document Based Questions

2. What was the Dust bowl?
A period, essentially from , during The Great Depression, when severe dust storms caused major ecological and agricultural damage to the mid-western United States.
Over-farming the land had worn away the natural grasses that kept the soil in place.
When a drought hit the region, the dried-up, loose soil was easily picked up by the wind and swept across the open plains.

3. What were some of the major causes and effects of the dust bowl?
Drought
Starvation
Famine
Foreclosure
Exile
Doom
Bankruptcy
Dust Storms

4. The Dust Bowl Drought Exile Foreclosure
Now let’s organize these words into categories to help understand how they are related to one another.
Drought
The Dust Bowl
Exile
Foreclosure

5. Document A
This map depicts the areas affected by drought during the Dust Bowl.
Which states were directly affected by the Dust Bowl?
Which states were also affected by dust storms?

6. Document B
This Picture depicts a giant dust cloud engulfing a small mid-western farm during the Dust Bowl.
3. Why were mid-western farms vulnerable to dust storms?

7. Article questions April 14, 1935: Black Sunday The Grapes of Wrath
Near Dodge City, Kansas
Harley Holladay
The Grapes of Wrath
by John Steinbeck
Who is the speaker in this article?
Where is the speaker’s farm located?
In which ways did the family take precautions against the dust storms?
What is the setting of this passage from The Grapes of Wrath?
Who are the main characters?
What is their relationship?
What is the cause of the farmers’ anger?

8. Vocabulary Reinforcement
Drought
Famine
Dust Storm
Poverty
Bankruptcy
Low Wages
Exile
Over-Farming
Foreclosure
Rural Small Farmers
Rural Large Farmers
Urban Factory Workers
Bankers and Businessmen