GDWW - The Dust Bowl Lesson
The Dust Bowl
New machinery and improved farming techniques made U.S. farmers very productive. By producing more food each year, farmers thought they could earn more money. Instead, this overproduction helped drive down the prices of their products and made it harder for them to make a profit. In response, farmers tried producing even more food by taking out more loans to buy more land and farm equipment. As a result, most farmers were very vulnerable to economic and environmental disasters when banks started foreclosing on farms owned by farmers unable to repay their loans. To make matters worse, the Great Plains states were experiencing a severe drought. When a series of severe dust storms hit the prairies, they picked up the dirt loosened by the drought and the poor farming practices that had eroded the soil. This ecological disaster was called the Dust Bowl. Dry conditions and high winds made farming impossible. Tenant farmers and sharecroppers were among the hardest hit as their landlords evicted them and sold the land. Over 500,000 Americans were left homeless. Many farmers from Oklahoma, Texas, and the surrounding Dust Bowl states migrated to California in search of work.
Look through the photographs of The Great Depression using the arrows at the bottom of the presentation below.
RESOURCES IN THIS MODULE ARE OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (OER) OR CREATED BY GAVS UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. SOME IMAGES USED UNDER SUBSCRIPTION.