History Of The Dust Bowl

What and where was the Dust Bowl? The Dust Bowl was a big, dark, and terrible dust storm in the Midwestern and southern plains. It occurred because of droughts and unhealthy farming practices (Modern American Poetry). The Dust Bowl began in 1931 and ended 1939 (Alchin). The worst year was 1935 when the biggest black blizzard happened (Gregory). This storm occurred on Palm Sunday, April 14, 1935 and was called Black Sunday (Public Broadcasting System). Tons of dirt was formed into massive black clouds. Families would try to seal their homes so the dust couldn’t come in, meals would have to been eaten before the dust would get in or it would cover the meals, and people would suffer because they would also get health problems from it (Alchin).

This event, partnered with the Great Depression, changed the way agricultural business was done in America.

The Dust Bowl was a storm that was created by strong winds blowing topsoil off of the fields of farmers. The winds would carry lots of dust, soil, dirt, and sand. The dust would leave sandy soils that drifted into dunes along the walls, fences, and ditches. It occurred in the Midwestern and southern plains of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas, however, the worst Dust Bowl area was where Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico bordered each other (Living History Farm). The places would not get any rainfall all season and sometimes not for years at all! The worst years had between 60 and 75 dust storms each year (Public Broadcasting System). In the second year of the Dust Bowl, 1932, there were as many as 14 black blizzards (Alchin). A black blizzard was a dust storm so thick and big, there was no daylight even in the middle of the day (Gregory). In 1933, President Roosevelt took office and created several legislative acts to try and help the farmers (Alchin). These acts included The Emergency Banking Act of 1933,

Over the course of the Dust Bowl, 2.5 million people migrated west looking for work and housing (Alchin). Most people couldn’t find reliable work and those who did made very little money. Many worked just for enough food to survive each day (Living History Farm). Because the dust filled the engines, it often took several weeks for a family to make it to California (Alchin). When they arrived, they found “Hoovervilles” made of tents or shacks without floors or plumbing as the only place to live, and had to follow the crops from town to town (Alchin). Wages were bare minimum and usually not enough to get basic necessities (Gregory). Add this to the stress of losing everything you have, often including loved ones while traveling, and it’s not hard to imagine why this was such a depressing