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

  • Okies: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Okies

    S1 - 6m 20s

    Woody Guthrie sings “I Ain’t Got No Home” and talks of how the migrant families traveling to California inspired him. The immigrant population explodes in California as thousands of people move there to find work and a better life. Those from the Dust Bowl, whether they are from Oklahoma or not, are called “Okies.”

  • New Deal Programs: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    New Deal Programs

    S1 - 3m 39s

    Help came to the Great Plains by way of New Deal programs.

  • CA Border: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    CA Border

    S1 - 1m 25s

    Some people were arrested on the CA border for not having enough money.

  • First Look | Just Like Midnight: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    First Look | Just Like Midnight

    S1 - 20s

    Survey the causes of the worst man-made ecological disaster in U.S. history: the catastrophic dust storms of the 1930s.

  • The Dust Bowl Intro: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Dust Bowl Intro

    S1 - 5m 9s

    The Dust Bowl was a decade-long natural catastrophe of biblical proportions and the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history. It is the classic tale of humans pushing too hard on nature and nature pushing back during a period of economic boom and bust in the 1920s and 1930s.

  • 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?

  • Boise City: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Boise City

    S1 - 25s

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

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