History

The Dust Bowl

The Dust Bowl chronicles the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history, in which the frenzied wheat boom of the Great Plow-Up, followed by a decade-long drought during the 1930s nearly swept away the breadbasket of the nation.

Reaping the Whirlwind

1h 55m

Black Sunday was only halfway through the decade-long crisis. The storms continued. The Great Depression still affected people. Government programs were instituted to help. Learn what FDR’s administration did to try to keep the southern Plains from becoming a North American Sahara desert. Find out why some residents finally decided they had to give up and move somewhere else and how some held on.

Episodes

  • Reaping the Whirlwind: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Reaping the Whirlwind

    S1 E2 - 1h 55m

    Black Sunday was only halfway through the decade-long crisis. The storms continued. The Great Depression still affected people. Government programs were instituted to help. Learn what FDR’s administration did to try to keep the southern Plains from becoming a North American Sahara desert. Find out why some residents finally decided they had to give up and move somewhere else and how some held on.

  • The Great Plow-Up: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Great Plow-Up

    S1 E1 - 1h 55m

    The grasslands of the southern Plains were rapidly turned into wheat fields. Then following the early years of the drought, storms killed crops and livestock and literally rearranged the landscape. The worst storm of them all was on April 14, 1935—Black Sunday—a searing experience for everyone caught in it, including a young songwriter from Pampa, Texas, named Woody Guthrie.

Extras + Features

  • Reaping the Whirlwind | Preview: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Reaping the Whirlwind | Preview

    S1 E2 - 30s

    Experience the conservation efforts to bring farms back to life, with dangers of another Dust Bowl in the future.

  • Boise City: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Boise City

    S1 - 25s

    Hear from Timothy Egan about how Boise City was marketed to people.

  • They Were Good People: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    They Were Good People

    S1 - 1m 25s

    As people moved west many areas were left with dwindling populations.

  • All Political: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    All Political

    S1 - 33s

    Everyone had different opinions about the New Deal programs.

  • Official Trailer: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Official Trailer

    S1 - 30s

    Feel the full force of the worst manmade environmental disaster in America’s history.

  • Woody Guthrie: The Great Dust Storm: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Woody Guthrie: The Great Dust Storm

    S1 - 2m 17s

    In the introduction to episode two, Woody Guthrie sings "The Great Dust Storm" as historians and survivors talk about the conditions of living in the Dust Bowl during the Depression.

  • Environmental Catastrophe: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Environmental Catastrophe

    S1 - 12m 11s

    As the Great Depression sets in, farmers on the Great Plains begin to feel its effects. A combination of natural and made-made factors begins to turn the profitable farming land into a vast wasteland. The effect of these factors on individuals and families is documented.

  • Lessons: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Lessons

    S1 - 4m 54s

    With better weather the suitcase farmers returned and the same process that caused the dust bowl started again in the 1940s. What lessons can we take from what happened during the Dust Bowl?

  • Trying To Get Ahead: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Trying To Get Ahead

    S1 - 45s

    Calvin Crabill talks about how his father drove a tractor at night to try to get ahead.

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