Guide Note

The Dust Bowl refers to a series of dust storms that lasted for most of the 1930s on the American and Canadian prairies. The storms caused devastating agricultural damage and severe economic problems. On April 14, 1935, also known as "Black Sunday," twenty severe dust storms blew across the plains to literally block out the sun.

Fast Facts

Strong winds caused dust clouds called "Black Blizzards" or "Black Rollers"
Decade is nicknamed the "dirty thirties" due in part to dust bowl storms
100 million acres were affected
Great volumes of soil were carried across the continent and deposited in the Atlantic Ocean
Approximately 300,000 people from Oklahoma migrated because of the storms
More than 500,000 people lost their homes in the storms

The Cause

During the early 20th century, large numbers of settlers colonized the North American plains and set up farms. The native grasses, which held the soil together and helped to retain its moisture were removed to make room for crops. The native grasses naturally prevented erosion, but after they were removed, a period of drought turned the topsoil to dust, which was easily blown away by the strong prairie winds.

Categories

History | U.S. History | Droughts

View Note History

Dust Bowl

The Mahalo Top 7

Wikipedia: Dust Bowl
PBS American Experience: Surviving The Dust Bowl
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: About The Dust Bowl
Humanities Interactive: The Dust Bowl
The Handbook of Texas Online: Dust Bowl
Wessels Living History Farm: Farming in the 1930s: The Dust Bowl
Video: Dust Bowl Blues - Part 1 (Time: 10:01)

Dust Bowl Background and Causes

NASA: "NASA Explains 'Dust Bowl' Drought" (2004)
Perryton.com: Black Sunday: Dust Bowl Southern Plains in the 1930s
National Drought Mitigation Center: Drought in the Dust Bowl Years
u-s-history.com: The Dust Bowl
The University of South Dakota: The Dust Bowl
EH.net: The Dust Bowl

Dust Bowl Central Figures

Mahalo Guide to Franklin D. Roosevelt
Mahalo Guide to John Steinbeck
Mahalo Guide to Lee Hazlewood
American Studies at the University of Virginia: Woody Guthrie
ThinkQuest New York City: Dorothea Lange

Dust Bowl Personal Reminiscences

Kansas Collection: "We Aim To Stay" By Susan Chaffin
PBS: An Eyewitness Account
Weedpatch Camp: Personal Reminiscences
Library of Congress: Voices from the Dust Bowl
Wessels Living History Farm: Farming in the 1930s: The Dust Bowl

Dust Bowl Books, Merchandise and Research

Amazon.com: Dust Bowl Books, DVDs and CDs
Barnes & Noble: Dust Bowl Books and DVDs
eBay: Dust Bowl Merchandise
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum: The Dust Bowl
BookRags: Black Blizzards
National Climatic Data Center: North American Drought: A Paleo Perspective
Oklahoma Department of Libraries: Is the Dust Bowl Returning?

Dust Bowl Images and Videos

Kansas State University.edu: Dust Bowl Photos
Google Image Search: Dust Bowl
Yahoo! Images: Dust Bowl
Live Search Images: Dust Bowl
University of Washington: American Exodus: The Dust Bowl Migration and Okie Culture in California
YouTube & Google Video: Dust Bowl Search
YouTube: Dust Bowl Blues - Part 2 (Time: 6:25)
YouTube: The Dust Bowl and The Great Depression (Time: 3:28)
YouTube: Trouble in the Fields (Time: 2:56)
YouTube: Woody Guthrie's Talkin' Dust Bowl Blues (Time: 2:54)

Dust Bowl Timeline

1931: "Black Blizzards" begin
1932: Fourteen reported storms
1933: Congress adopts the Emergency Banking Act of 1933
1933: The Frazier-Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act is approved
1935: Worst "Black Blizzard" occurs on April 14th, a day that becomes known as "Black Sunday"
1937: President Roosevelt states, "I See One-Third of The Nation Ill-housed, Ill-clad and Ill-nourished"
1938: Extensive work begins to re-plow and replant shelterbelts
1939: Rain brings an end to the severe drought

Related Searches

The New Deal | Black Sunday | Shelterbelts | Black Blizzard | Oklahoma | Great Depression | Okies | Dorothea Lange | Lee Hazelwood | Franklin D Roosevelt | John Steinbeck | Woody Guthrie

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