1. Sample Slide with Image
1) Describe what you see in this picture.
2) When and where do you think this picture was taken?
Explain your answer.

2. The Dust Bowl

3. The Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl refers to parts of the Great Plains that experienced the most intense soil erosion and dust storms of the 1930s.
This region included parts of Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado, and smaller parts of New Mexico and Nebraska.
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4. The Dust Bowl
There were more than 300 dust storms, also known as “Black Blizzards,” between 1933 and 1938.
These storms often featured fast moving clouds of dust several miles wide that covered farms and homes, destroyed crops, and made people sick.
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5. The Dust Bowl
Many people left the region hit by the Dust Bowl. They abandoned their homes and looked for work in Western states, such as California.
However, many stayed behind and attempted to maintain their lives and farms.
Migrant family in San Francisco, 1935
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Lower image source:
Farmer leveling dust hills in Texas, 1938

6. Today’s Central Historical Question: What caused the Dust Bowl?