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The Dust Bowl

Dust Bowl

What is it?

What was it?

Dust bowl

dust bowl

noun

an area of land where vegetation has been lost and soil reduced to dust and eroded, especially as a consequence of drought or unsuitable farming practice.

an area of Oklahoma, Kansas, and northern Texas affected by severe soil erosion (caused by windstorms) in the early 1930s, which obliged many people to move.

singular proper noun: Dust Bowl; noun: the Dust Bowl

Important Terms

Black Blizzard

Black Blizzards

During the Dust Bowl period, severe dust storms, often called “black blizzards” swept the Great Plains. Some of these carried Great Plains topsoil as far east as Washington, D.C. and New York City, and coated ships in the Atlantic Ocean with dust

Plague

Plagues of biblical proportions

***Caution***

Graphic images

Do NOT watch if you love jackrabbits

"To combat the hundreds of thousands of jackrabbits that overran the Dust Bowl states in 1935, some towns staged “rabbit drives” in which townsmen corralled the jackrabbits in pens and smashed them to death with clubs and baseball bats."

https://www.pbs.org/video/dust-bowl-dust-bowl-jackrabbits/

https://timeline.com/in-the-1870s-12-trillion-locusts-devastated-the-great-plains-and-then-they-went-extinct-6f7c51a15d90

Dust Pneumonia

Dust Pneumonia

Have you been wearing a mask lately? In the 1930's many Texans were wearing masks to protect their lungs from dust.

Drought

a prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall, leading to a shortage of water

Drought

Location and Impacts

Where did it take place & how bad was it?

Follow along with images of some of the damage that resulted

Top soil was lost at an alarming rate.

Soil Damage

97,000,000 acres of land had the topsoil removed. Eroding (removing) nutrients and soil.

On average 480 tons per acre were blown away.

Without the topsoil, moisture evaporated and the soil become dust and blew away easily.

***Graphic***

Cattle would die from dust storms because their lungs would fill with dust and they would suffocate

Black Sunday

severe dust storm that occurred on April 14, 1935 as part of the Dust Bowl. It was one of the worst dust storms in American history and it caused immense economic and agricultural damage. It is estimated to have displaced 300 million tons of topsoil from the prairie area.

Dust traveled over

1,500 miles and ships

in the Atlantic Ocean

reported dust covered

their boats

Largest Black Blizzard

Stock market crash of 1929

Black Tuesday - October 29, 1929.

On this date, share prices on the New York Stock Exchange completely collapsed, becoming a pivotal factor in the emergence of the Great Depression.

Bad Timing

Unemployement peaks with more than 20% unemployment.

1 in 5 homes are without income.

What happened after Black Tuesday?

October 29, 1929, known as "Black Tuesday", stock prices fell and the stock market crashed. The crash started the Great Depression that lasted from 1929-1945. Because stock prices fell so low, investors were unable to repay their loans. Businesses failed, banks failed, factories closed, and a large numer of people were unemployed. This caused more factories and businesses to go fail because people were not buying goods.

Unemployment hits home

Problems get worse for farmers in the Midwest

With the market crashed, farmers in the midwest were hit again with severe drought that destroyed crops, ruined soil and let many unable to pay their bills.

History tends to repeat itself. We must learn from history.

Lessons Learned

The Drought alone did not cause the black blizzards. Although dry spells are unavoidable in the region, occurring roughly every 25 years, it was the combination of drought and misuse of the land that led to the incredible devastation of the Dust Bowl years.

https://www.pbs.org/video/dust-bowl-dust-bowl-lesons-learned/?continuousplayautoplay=true

Ken Burns "Dust Bowl"

Documentary Video

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