What was Oklahoma like during the Dust Bowl?
In Oklahoma, the Panhandle area was hit hardest by the drought. The land of the southern plains, including Oklahoma, was originally covered with grasses that held the fine soil in place. Settlers brought their traditional farming techniques with them when they homesteaded the area and they plowed the land deeply.
Was Oklahoma affected by the Dust Bowl?
Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Kansas were all a part of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. In Oklahoma, the panhandle cities and towns suffered the worst droughts and dust storms (map courtesy of PBS).
How many people died in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl?
7,000 people
In the Dust Bowl, about 7,000 people, men, women and especially small children lost their lives to “dust pneumonia.” At least 250,000 people fled the Plains.
Who took the pictures of the Dust Bowl?
Dorothea Lange
Over the course of seven years, as the agency became part of the Farm Security Administration, Stryker would launch an unprecedented documentary effort, eventually amassing more than 200,000 images of America in the 1930s taken by a talented cadre of photographers, including Walker Evans, Russell Lee, Marion Post …
What was daily life like in the Dust Bowl area during the 1930s?
Life during the Dust Bowl years was a challenge for those who remained on the Plains. They battled constantly to keep the dust out of their homes. Windows were taped and wet sheets hung to catch the dust. At the dinner table, cups, glasses, and plates were kept overturned until the meal was served.
What were black blizzards?
During the Dust Bowl period, severe dust storms, often called “black blizzards” swept the Great Plains. The worst dust storm occurred on April 14, 1935. News reports called the event Black Sunday. A wall of blowing sand and dust started in the Oklahoma Panhandle and spread east.
When did the Dust Bowl happen in Oklahoma?
Results of a Dust Storm, Oklahoma, 1936. Between 1930 and 1940, the southwestern Great Plains region of the United States suffered a severe drought. Once a semi-arid grassland, the treeless plains became home to thousands of settlers when, in 1862, Congress passed the Homestead Act.
Which led to the dust storms of the 1930s?
Economic depression coupled with extended drought, unusually high temperatures, poor agricultural practices and the resulting wind erosion all contributed to making the Dust Bowl. With the help of mechanized farming, farmers produced record crops during the 1931 season.
How many years did Dust Bowl last?
The Dust Bowl, also known as “the Dirty Thirties,” started in 1930 and lasted for about a decade, but its long-term economic impacts on the region lingered much longer. Severe drought hit the Midwest and Southern Great Plains in 1930. Massive dust storms began in 1931.
What was photography like in the 1930s?
The federal photos of the 1930s were often simple, stark, and powerful. Taken in black and white and by photographers with superb abilities to frame and compose images, the photographs spoke louder than words.
What did Californians call the newcomers from the Dust Bowl?
hillbillies
Californians derided the newcomers as “hillbillies,” “fruit tramps” and other names, but “Okie”—a term applied to migrants regardless of what state they came from—was the one that seemed to stick, according to historian Michael L. Cooper’s account in Dust to Eat: Drought and Depression in the 1930s.
What were the basic causes of the 1930s Dust Bowl?
There were two main causes that created the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. First, there was a drought that lasted several years, but that alone did not cause the Dust Bowl. In addition to the lack of precipitation were the farming techniques used at the time. Today, farmers rotate crops.
What were the dangers of the Dust Bowl in 1930?
The Dust Bowl was the name given to the drought-stricken Southern Plains region of the United States, which suffered severe dust storms during a dry period in the 1930s. As high winds and choking dust swept the region from Texas to Nebraska, people and livestock were killed and crops failed across the entire region.
What circumstances led to the Dust Bowl of the 1930s?
The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s; severe drought and a failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent the aeolian processes (wind erosion) caused the phenomenon.
What were causes of the Dust Bowl in 1930?
The ‘Dust Bowl’ of the 1930s saw high winds and choking dust snarl their way across the Great Plains of the USA. The disaster was a result of both manmade and natural causes. As farmers sought to grow their way out of the economic hardship of the Great