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

  • Extended Look: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Extended Look

    S1 - 1m 43s

    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..

  • Caroline Henderson: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Caroline Henderson

    S1 - 2m 35s

    From the time she was a young girl, Caroline Henderson dreamed of having a piece of land she could call her own.

  • Government Reform Programs: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Government Reform Programs

    S1 - 5m 16s

    By 1937, the Dust Bowl farmers are asking for government help in regulating the land by forcing other farmers to take better care of their soil. They even consider declaring martial law. For many farmers who had previously demonstrated independence and suspicion of government, this is a substantial ideological turnaround.

  • Jack Rabbits: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Jack Rabbits

    S1 - 33s

    Plagues of jack rabbits swarmed the great plains destroying everything in their path.

  • Gas Money: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Gas Money

    S1 - 1m 4s

    "Do you have enough gas money?" Some people moved west to get away from the storms.

  • Sanora Babb's Account Beat Out by the Grapes of Wrath: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Sanora Babb's Account Beat Out by the Grapes of Wrath

    S1 - 1m 16s

    Sanora Babb sent chapters of her book back to New York, but John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath is so popular, that her editor recommends holding off on publication. It is eventually published in 2004, a year before her death.

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