today we're looking at the Dust Bowl
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you'll find more resources that go with many of the bellringer videos the Dust Bowl was a
severe drought during the 1930s that stretched through the Southern Plains of the United States
all the way up to Canada sometimes called the Dirty 30s winds picked up dry topsoil creating
massive dust storms many times referred to as black blizzards that swept through the region
and on several occasions reached all the way to the east coast this drought served to only
intensify the impact of the Great Depression several factors contributed to the onset and
severity of the Dust Bowl in the wake of the American Civil War the Homestead Act was passed
to encourage Americans to settle in the Great Plains the ACT offered free land to Americans
who settled and farmed in the region a majority of these settlers were inexperienced farmers
who did not know how to proper really plant and manage the land over planting and over grazing by
livestock became a problem as under the Homestead Act over 250 million acres of land were given out
millions of Acres of previously until land were suddenly broken and tilled during World War One
the demand for wheat increased causing the value of wheat to go up which in turn prompted American
farmers on the plains to till up more land and plant more wheat then after the war ended the
price plummeted causing many farmers to believe they needed to plant even more to maintain their
profits so more Acres were tilled in the areas of Northwest Texas and Eastern New Mexico the number
of Acres being cultivated doubled between 1900 and 1920 and then tripled again between 1925 to
1930. the rapid breaking and removal of the natural topsoil combined with the typically
dry climate of the region set the stage for an Agricultural disaster beginning in the summer
of 1930 the Great Plain began to experience below normal amounts of precipitation some of
the driest regions were in the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles and Western Kansas millions of acres of
land that had previously been opened grasslands now were bare soil the hot sun dried out the top
layers of soil and then high winds swept across the land causing severe erosion erosion is the
wearing away of topsoil by wind or water and can result in the land becoming depleted of minerals
and nutrients and unable to support crops it is estimated some 35 million acres of land were
determined to be unusable for farming by 1934 due to severe erosion giant dust plumes covered farms
and towns dust blizzards blacked out the Sun for days and dust found its way into every crack and
crevice of vehicles farm machinery and homes people had to wear face coverings and shovel
dust just as we shovel snow today on April 14 1935 the worst dust blizzard recorded occurred
in what many called black Sunday a dust plume hundreds of miles wide and thousands of feet
high kicked up in Western Oklahoma and then proceeded to sweep through Northern Texas and
Kansas thousands had to seek shelter and it's estimated that dozens if not hundreds of people
were killed by the storm survivors reported shoveling roads covered in two feet of dust
and dunes up to 20 feet high piled against buildings in the aftermath of the storm the
soil conservation Act was passed which was aimed at helping Farmers to maintain healthy amounts
of topsoil and fighting erosion the drought conditions across the Great Plains of course
caused millions of Americans to migrate out of the region Farms that had been profitable just a
few years earlier were now bust and Americans had to seek work elsewhere it is estimated that close
to two and a half million Americans migrated Out of the Dust Bowl states of Oklahoma Texas
Kansas and Colorado it was the largest migration of Americans in history hundreds of thousands of
dust bowl migrants headed for California looking for work many of these Americans were forced to
live in Shanty towns and endured poor treatment once they reached California President Franklin
Roosevelt attempted to help displaced Farmers as part of his new deal in 1935 Congress established
the soil erosion service and the Prairie State's forestry project these New Deal programs helped
put Farmers to work planting trees to serve as wind breaks across the Great Plains additionally
the government formed the drought relief service that came in and purchased livestock from farms
that had been ruined eventually by the late 1930s and into the early 1940s precipitation in the
region began to increase and conditions improved across the Great Plains the Dust Bowl however left
a lasting imprint on the American experience as it displaced millions and forced Americans to live
through terrible conditions so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching