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Looking at The Dust Bowl as a Social Scientist

(Historian, Geographer, and Political Scientist)

By

Gale Olp Ekiss

GCU 113 Culminating Project

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What was the Dust Bowl?

• A geographic disaster?• An economic disaster?• A human disaster?• A political disaster?

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Why was there the Dust Bowl?

• Poor agricultural practices

• Sustained drought

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Where did the Dust Bowl occur?Here are some statistics for

Nebraska:• Normally, the state of Nebraska

averages around 20 inches of rainfall a year.

• In 1930, Nebraska got 22 inches of rain, and the state's corn crop averaged 25 bushels per acre.

• In 1934, Nebraska saw the driest year on record with only 14.5 inches of rainfall. The state's corn crop dropped even more to only 6.2 bushels per acre.

• In other words, between 1930 and 1934 rainfall dropped 27.5 percent, and as a result corn crop yields dropped over 75 percent.

The effects of the Dust Bowl were severe in some locations

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When did the Dust Bowl occur?

• 1931--crops died and “black blizzards” begin.

• 1932--14 dust storms

• 1933--38 dust storms

• 1934--dust storms spread to a larger area and the drought covers 27 states

• 1939--rain finally comes

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Who was affected by the Dust Bowl?

The people who lived in the area• Approximately 200,000

migrants moved to California during the Great Depression, most arriving destitute.

• About 25% of the population left the affected states and by 1940, 2.5 million people had moved out of the Plains states.

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Who was affected by the Dust Bowl?

•Emergency Farm Mortgage Act (1933) allots $200 million for refinancing mortgages to help farmers facing foreclosure.•Frazier-Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act (1934) is approved. This act restricted the ability of banks to dispossess farmers•Drought Relief Service (1935) to coordinate relief efforts•Emergency Relief Appropriation Act (1935)provides $525 million for drought relief•Soil Conservation Service (1935) in the Department of Agriculture develops extensive conservation programs that retained topsoil and prevented irreparable damage to the

•Shelterbelt Project (1937)begins. The project called for large-scale planting of trees across the Great Plains, stretching in a 100-mile wide zone from Canada to northern

Texas, to protect the land from erosion.

The farmers of the Dust Bowl area received help in these programs:

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So What?As John Steinbeck wrote in his 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath: "And then the dispossessed were drawn west- from Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico; from Nevada and Arkansas, families, tribes, dusted out, tractored out. Car-loads, caravans, homeless and hungry; twenty thousand and fifty thousand and a hundred thousand and two hundred thousand. They streamed over the mountains, hungry and restless - restless as ants, scurrying to find work to do - to lift, to push, to pull, to pick, to cut - anything, any burden to bear, for food. The kids are hungry. We got no place to live. Like ants scurrying for work, for food, and most of all for land."

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So What?Farming Practices Changed:seeding areas with grassrotating cropsusing contour plowingplanting “shelter belts” of trees to break the wind

As historian Robert Worster wrote, “The ultimate meaning of the dust storms of the 1930s was that America as a whole, not just the plains, was badly out of balance with its natural environment. Unbounded optimism about the future, careless disregard of nature’s limits and uncertainties, uncritical faith in Providence, devotion to self-aggrandizement – all these were national as well as regional characteristics.”

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So What?Role of Federal Government Changed Through New Deal Programs:President Herbert Hoover, underestimated the seriousness of the crisis, called it “a passing incident in our national lives,” and assured Americans that it would be over in 60 days.Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected in a landslide victory in 1932. During the first 100 days of his administration, Roosevelt laid the groundwork for his New Deal programs that would save the country.The Great Depression and the New Deal changed forever the relationship between Americans and their government. Government involvement and responsibility in caring for the needy and regulating the economy came to be expected.

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So What?Congress passed many programs to assist the public. These New Deal programs still exist today in some form:Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation--insures that customers are compensated against loss if the bank should fail.Federal Housing Administration--provides loans for home construction.Securities and Exchange Commission--protects investors from stock market fraud. Social Security Administration--created a pension fund and provides unemployment insurance, and public assistance programsTennessee Valley Authority--built dams, increased agricultural production and revitalized the Tennessee Valley region.

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Annotated Bibliography of SlidesPrimary SourcesSlide 2 PhotoLange, Dorothea. (1938). Dust bowl farm. Library of Congress American Memory. Retrieved August 8, 2012 from

http://memory.loc.govThis photo of a farm shows how desolate this geographic area became. It adds to the mood of hard times during this historic

period.Slide 3 PhotosRothstein, Arthur. (1936). Cattle in cornfield ruined by drought and grasshoppers. Library of Congress American Memory.

Retrieved August 8, 2012 from http://memory.loc.govLange, Dorothea. (1935). Dust storm. Library of Congress American Memory. Retrieved August 8, 2012 from

http://memory.loc.govThese are both primary sources. They are photos taken by photographers during the Great Depression. These historical photos

set the scene for how the environment was disrupted by geographic factors.Slide 5 PhotoStaats, Wilbur. (1937). Wind erosion is covering remains of unsuccessful farm in Idaho. Library of Congress American Memory.

Retrieved August 8, 2012 from http://memory.loc.govThis historical photo shows the drought has completely taken over a farm by year 1937 and the people have left.

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Annotated Bibliography of SlidesPrimary SourcesSlide 6 PhotoLange, Dorothea. (1937). Four families, three of them related with fifteen

children. Library of Congress American Memory. Retrieved August 8, 2012 from http://memory.loc.gov

Slide 7 PhotoLange, Dorothea. (1937). Dust Bowl farmers in west Texas town. Library of

Congress American Memory. Retrieved August 8, 2012 from http://memory.loc.gov

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Annotated Bibliography of SlidesSecondary SourcesSlide 2 InformationCroft Communications, Inc. (2012). Effects of the Great Depression. Great Depression: What happened

and how it compares with today. Retrieved August 8, 2012 from http://www.thegreatdepressioncauses.com/effects.html

This site gave me historical information about the migration to California during the Great Depression some of which was a result of the Dust Bowl.

Slide 3 InformationIllinois.edu. About the Dust Bowl. Modern American Poetry. Retrieved August 8, 2012 from

http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/dustbowl.htmThis site gave me geographical information about the causes of the Dust Bowl. Slide 4 MapSussex County Technical High School. (2011). Map of the Dust Bowl. Out of the Dust. Retrieved August

8, 2012 from http://library.sussex.tec.nj.us/dacunto/Picturing%20the%20Unfamiliar/map.htmThis map of the area of the Dust Bowl built in a geographic perspective to the Dust Bowl.

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Annotated Bibliography of SlidesSecondary SourcesSlide 4 InformationWessels Living History Farm. No water, no crops. Wessels Living History Farm

York, Nebraska. Retrieved August 8, 2012 from http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/water_03.html

This historical and geographical information about Nebraska gives the power point more substance as to how horrible the drought was during this time period.

Slide 5 InformationIllinois.edu. About the Dust Bowl. Modern American Poetry. Retrieved August 8,

2012 from http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/dustbowl.htmThis site gave me the historical timeline for the drought events. This completes

the stage for how Dust Bowl happened and when it happened. Slide 6 InformationCroft Communications, Inc. (2012). Effects of the Great Depression. Great

Depression: What happened and how it compares with today. Retrieved August 8, 2012 from http://www.thegreatdepressioncauses.com/facts-about-dust-bowl-migration.html

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Annotated Bibliography of SlidesSecondary SourcesMontana, Sam. (2009). Facts about the Dust Bowl. Knoji Consumer Knowledge. Retrieved August 8, 2012

from http://history.knoji.com/facts-about-the-dust-bowl/These sites gave me historical, geographical, and political information about the effects of the Great

Depression some of which also applied to the Dust Bowl.Slide 7 InformationIllinois.edu. Timeline of Dust Bowl. Modern American Poetry. Retrieved August 8, 2012 from

http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/dustbowl.htmThis political information shows how the government becomes involved in the welfare of the farmers. Slide ????? MapSkittlisous. Dust Bowl. Glogster.com. Retrieved August 8, 2012 from

http://www.glogster.com/skittlisous/dust-bowl/g-6mpt2e6kmfn6mhlga9c3va0?old_view=TrueThis map of human migration tells visually the “So What” to the Dust Bowl. Most of these people that

moved west never returned to live in the Plains area again.

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Annotated Bibliography of SlidesSecondary Sources

Slide 5 Information

Illinois.edu. About the Dust Bowl. Modern American Poetry. Retrieved August 8, 2012 from http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/dustbowl.htm

This site gave me the historical timeline for the drought events. This completes the stage for how Dust Bowl happened and when it happened.

Slide 6 Information

Croft Communications, Inc. (2012). Effects of the Great Depression. Great Depression: What happened and how it compares with today. Retrieved August 8, 2012 from http://www.thegreatdepressioncauses.com/facts-about-dust-bowl-migration.html

Montana, Sam. (2009). Facts about the Dust Bowl. Knoji Consumer Knowledge. Retrieved August 8, 2012 from http://history.knoji.com/facts-about-the-dust-bowl/