the dust bowl years

8/7/2019 The Dust Bowl Years

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Lesson Number: Six (This will take 2-3 days.)Lesson Title: The Dust Bowl YearsUnit Title: The Great Depression and New DealGrade/Subject: Eighth Grade U.S. History from 1880Teacher: Debra Krawetz

1. Expectations

From reading first hand accounts/articles, and viewing photo images of theDust Bowl period, students will be able to:Identify the causes that led up to the Dust Bowl, empathize with the impact it had on people livingin the Dust Bowl region, and understand the response of New Deal program, the AgriculturalAdjustment Act (1933).

2. Engagement:Day One:

Students will be introduced to the Dust Bowl by use of a series of overheads. Display

handouts #1 and #2 on transparencies. Have them make hypothesize about how the DustBowl will have an impact on people, and how the federal government will respond. Theprediction page is handout #3.

Distribute Vocabulary Sheet, handout #3.

Show images of the dust bowling using the pictures provided, or making a slide show onPPT. Handout #45 To extend this part of the lesson, ask students to select one image, andto write about what happened before, during, and afterthe photo was snapped.

Articles: Students will read the two articles (handouts #6 & #7.) FLEE DUST BOWL FORCALIF., and ALONG THE ROADin small groups, discussing and writing answers to thequestions at the end of each article. After reading the two articles, students will write lettersto the editor ofBusiness Week, orFortune responding to the one of the pieces. In your

letter, students will comment about the conditions of the migrant farmers and what theythink must be done for them.

Day Two:

The New Deals, Aka, Roosevelts, response to the farm crisis and Dust Bowl. Explain tostudents that the Agricultural Adjustment Act and Agency, attempted to run programs toteach \ better farming techniques and provide relief subsidies for farmers. Read Handout #9and #10, and discuss the questions at the end of each page. Examine with students thecartoons portray FDR. Which ones were supportive? Critical?

Activity: Ask students to draw their own cartoons showing the benefits of the AAA and the

help it will give to farmers, or cartoons critical of the AAA.

Day Three:

Critics of Farm Relief: Introduce the two articles (Handouts # 11 and #12) one form the St.

Paul Pioneer Press and The New York Times. Read and discuss the articles with the classor in small groups and analyze why the farmers lost faith in the promises made in the NewDeals AAA program. Ask students if they feel that it was realistic to think that the NewDeal would be able to provide for everyone.


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Assignment (Handout #13) Have students write two articles, one supporting the New Deal

and farm relief programs, and the second critical of the support.

Note: Also see supplemental pages3. Explanation:

After an introduction to the Dust Bowl, tell the students that they will view several images of theDust Bowl era, and make inferences about life in that time-period was like. Information will bepresented on how the New Deal addressed the massive drought through the AgriculturalAdjustment Act and Agency, and students will read articles on the Dust Bowl including storiesabout storms, migrant work, and life in Calif., and articles and political cartoons from the mid tolate 30s more critical of the New Deal and FDR. Each student will complete an assignment wherethey will write two Dust Bowl era news articles, one in support of the New Deal and one morecritical of it.

4. Evaluation

The teacher will grade the articles the students write. Students will share their letters at the end ofclass. The work will be collected, and will be graded on the following criteria:

Demonstrates an understanding of period.

Writes in a journalistic style, answering the 5 -Ws in each article

New vocabulary Usage

Grammar/Spelling..

5. Differentiation

Enlarged copies of handouts and transparencies will be made for students who have visualdifficulties. For note taking, students who have difficulty writing will be required to record lessinformation in their notebooks. Students articles will reflect their best understanding of the

material.. The students will be allowed to work with a peer or educational assistant if they choose,or to only complete one news article.

6. Handouts and Materials

Films/Videos: *Add one more day to show a filmThe Plow that Broke the PlainsSurviving the Dust Bowl (PBS)

Audio Interviews:http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/filmmore/reference/interview/index.html

General Dust Bowl Websites:

Dorothea Lange, The Forgotten People:http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm016.htmlWikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_bowlFSA Photograph Collection: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsowhome.htmlNew Deal Network: http://newdeal.feri.org/nchs/lesson02.htmRoute 66: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug02/carney/paving.htmlHumanities Interactive: http://www.humanities-interactive.org/texas/dustbowl/Walther W. Stiern Library: http://www.lib.csub.edu/special/dustbowl.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/filmmore/reference/interview/index.htmlhttp://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm016.htmlhttp://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm016.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_bowlhttp://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsowhome.htmlhttp://newdeal.feri.org/nchs/lesson02.htmhttp://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug02/carney/paving.htmlhttp://www.humanities-interactive.org/texas/dustbowl/http://www.lib.csub.edu/special/dustbowl.htmlhttp://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm016.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_bowlhttp://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsowhome.htmlhttp://newdeal.feri.org/nchs/lesson02.htmhttp://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug02/carney/paving.htmlhttp://www.humanities-interactive.org/texas/dustbowl/http://www.lib.csub.edu/special/dustbowl.htmlhttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/filmmore/reference/interview/index.html


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Lesson Six: Handout #1

The Dust Bowl (1931-1939)was a series of dust stormsin the central U.S caused bya massive drought anddecades of bad farmingtechniques. During the DustBowl, swirling black stormclouds (some 800 ft. high)appeared for days triggering

thunder and lightening, and making the sky appear black, at times allthe way to Chicago. This disaster left about 500,000 people mainly

from Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Kansas homeless.Many took Route 66 to California to seek migrant farming work.

One of the worst days of the Dust Bowl was April 14, 1935, a daycalled as, Black Sunday. On this day, black blizzards occurredthroughout the dust bowl region, causing extensive damage, turningday to night, at times making it hard to see beyond five feet away.

Black Sunday, 4-14-33 QUOTE: a yellowish-brown haze from the South

and in rolling walls of black

from the North. The simplest

acts of life - breathing, eating

a meal, taking a walk - were

no longer simple. Children

wore dust masks to and from

school, women hung wet

sheets over windows and

farmers watched helplessly as

their crops blew away.


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Lesson Six:: Handout #2

Dust Bowl Years: 1931-1939The Dust Bowl extended the Depression, and affected 2,000,000Americans. About 200,000 people were left homeless and migrated

out west to look for work. It affected the southern plains statesprimary, but the northern plains experienced some drought, dust, andfarming decline as well. Roughly, 75% of the country was affectedby the drought. The states most severely hit were: OK, AK, TX, KS,CO, and NM. Rain fell in the fall of 1939 ending the drought.


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Vocabulary List #3: The Dust Bowl

1. Black Sunday

April 14, 1935, the worst day of the Dust Bowl with

black blizzards that turned day into night. Thisstorm caused extensive damage.

2. Dust Bowl

Dust storms in the southern plains states caused bya massive drought and decades of bad farmingtechniques, from 1931-1939

3. Dust StormsA severe windstorm that sweeps clouds of dustacross an extensive area, especially in a dry region.

4. ErosionThe gradual wearing away of rock or soil, by wind,water or ice.

5. FSA Photographers Federal Security Administration photographerssuch as Dorothea Lange were recruited to give acloser look at rural life during the Great Depression

6. Hoovervilles

A camp built on the outskirts of a town during theGreat Depression to house the homeless, namedafter the then President Hoover who was blamed forthe poor economic

7. IrrigationBringing a water supply to a dry area in order tohelp crops

8. Migrant FarmersFarmers who move from one region to anothersearching for work or better opportunities.

9. Okie

A derogatory term used in the 1930s and 1940s todescribe migrant farm workers forced to flee theirfarms; Residents from Oklahoma; Slang

10. Route 66A major migratory path west, used during the DustBowl years, that went from Chicago to California

11. Shantytown

A settlement consisting of crudely built shacksduring the Great Depression, appearing in citiesacross the United States because of the massiveunemployment.


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DUST BOWL: PREDICTIONS

Predict how the eight year drought

will affected the lives of southernplain states residents and how will itimpact the entire U.S..

What do you think the federal

government should do to helpfarmers, and respond to thedestruction caused by the Dust Bowl?

Lesson Six: Handout # 5 (Five pages) Migrant MotherBy Dorothea Lange


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Dust Bowl Image, FSA Photographers

The photographs of the Farm Security Administration (FSA)

documented the Great Depression, showing Americans athome, work, and play, with an emphasis on rural and small-town life. These images portrayed people making their wayout West or large cities to seek a better life. FSAphotographer Dorothea Langes image of Migrant Motheris one of the most famous photographs from this period.

Dust Bowl Headline Montage:


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Land and Sky Images of the

Dust Bowl


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Dust Bowl Faces


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Route 66 to California by, Foot or Car:Well if you ever plan to motor westJust take my way that's the highway that's the bestGet your kicks on Route 66. Route 66

Farmers Receiving Relief Checks


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Ad to Advertise jobs for farmers.


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Lesson Six: Handout # 6

Dust Bowl News ArticleFLEE DUST BOWL FOR CALIFORNIA, Business Week, July 3, 1939

CALIFORNIA, California business men are watching with mixed emotions the current influxof families from the Dust Bowl which, since Jan. 1, has brought more than 30,000 persons intothe state. . . . The influx is now averaging one immigrant outfit every ten minutes, and the trekhas only begun. . . . Many of the newcomers are competent farmers who have lost out in thedrought and are seeking greener fields in California. They're eager to work for wages on thefarms, to save what they can, and eventually buy land of their own. They're decidedly in theminority. The rank and file are out to seek their fortunes in a land where, so they have beentold, living is easier. The relief office is the objective of many of these, and relief costs,especially in the San Joaquin counties, are rising . . .. When the Dust Bowl people show up atthe San Joaquin farmer's door asking for work, they're usually welcome, especially asheretofore employers have had to transport most of their laborers to the fields. Experience hasshown, too, that most of the newcomers won't have anything to do with farm labor organizers

for a time, at least, and this condition may tend to relieve the pressure of the agricultural unionson California farmers during this harvest season . . .. The addition of so great an army ofimmigrants to the farm areas is stimulating certain lines of retail business . . . The newcomersmust eat. They must buy a certain amount of clothing (shelter, water, and wood are furnishedby employers to those who work on the farms). The wages these people receive are providingmany of them with the first real cash they've had in months, and they're eager to buy.Observers point out that much of this buying is not "healthy," that wages are going for downpayments on radios, automobiles, cheap jewelry, rather than for necessities. On the other sideof the picture, Mr. John Citizen, of the San Joaquin Valley, when questioned on theunprecedented immigration throws up his hands. For every worker that presents himself at the

farmer's door asking for a job, another goes on relief with his entire family . . .. Countyhospitals are crowded with free patients, many of them maternity cases, neatly timed for arrivalin California at the crucial moment. Schools are overwhelmed with new pupils . . .. A socialworker asked one man why he had come to California. He pulled two newspaper clippingsfrom his pocket, one from an Oklahoma paper and another from Texas. In them were unsignedadvertisements painting in glowing terms the wonderful opportunities to be found inCalifornia. Are certain interests exploiting these people as ruthlessly as the steamshipcompanies did during the days of the great immigrations from southern Europe two or threedecades ago? Is here any doubt of it?

Questions to answer in your notebook:

1. What are the problems associated with the influx of large number of migrant workers inCalifornia?

2. What services are provided for migrants in California communities?3. What is the effect of large numbers of migrant laborers on union organization in the state?4. What comparison does the writer make between the migrant workers and the immigrants

that arrived two or three decades earlier? Is this comparison accurate? *Last sentence ofthe article


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Dust Bowl News Article

ALONG THE ROAD,Extracts from a Reporter's Notebook, Fortune, April 1939

CALIFORNIA- In April 1939, Fortune reported on its findings about the migrant problem in alengthy article entitled "I Wonder Where We Can Go Now." The magazine sent a reporter to Californiato live among migrants in order to gather information for the article. The April issue of Fortuneincluded excerpts from the reporter's notebook with the feature article. The following are from thereporter's notes.

In an effort to get located I went to the county camp near Shafter but when they found I did not have atent but was living in my car they refused me admission on the grounds that it would be embarrassingto the people around me. I was just as glad as this camp was one of the dirtiest that I had seen. Idecided to stay on the desert but I found that the health authorities were driving them off the desert andtrying to get them into the county camp. I tried to get space in a pay camp. There I was told . . . I'dlike to rent you a space but I'm full up. I charge $2 a month. I've had to turn away seventy-five peoplein the last few days. . . . So I decided to see if I could make it on the desert. The idea was to drive outabout a mile or two from town sometime around dusk and then set up camp. There would generally be

a dozen or more others coming on right up until dark and soon their campfires could be seen.

One night I talked to a group of family people. There were three in the family, husband and wife,nineteen and eighteen respectively, and the boy's seventeen-year-old sister.. They gave the following astheir yearly routine: spuds at Shafter, 'cots other side of Merced, Marysville for prunes and hops, thento the Big Valley (couldn't remember the name of it) for tomatoes. This took about six months of theyear, which was their full working period . . ..

The costume of the men is almost uniform. The trousers are invariably blue jeans. These, like the restof their clothes, are many times patched and mended, usually very neatly. The clothes of the youngboys are replicas of their fathers' except that they may go barefooted occasionally.

Several cases of typhoid have appeared in the area [Imperial Valley] since I have been here. This is dueto their habit of drinking "ditchwater," or that water which flows through the irrigation ditches. Anepidemic was avoided only because a great many were vaccinated. There are at least eight, andpossibly more, cases of pellagra in the camp. The cure for this disease, which may be fatal, is greenvegetables or red meat. However, they have eaten starchy foods for so long that they no longer have ataste for meats and vegetables. When the doctor told one woman to feed meat to her family, she repliedthat they didn't like meat and wouldn't eat it.

These people aren't relief-minded. I've seen them around where relief was being given out. They'd askwhat the line-up was about, then say, "I've got two bucks left, I expect to get work next week, I don'twant no relief.

Questions to answer in your notebook:

What is the reporter's impression of conditions among the migrants?Describe the migrants account of their lives.What is mentioned about tell the importance of sanitation and diet?Explain the journalists statement, These people aren't relief-minded.



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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Directions:

After reading the two articles, ALONG THE ROAD and FLEE DUST BOWL

FOR CALIFORNIA, write a letter to the editor ofBusiness Week, orFortune responding to the one of the pieces. In your letter,comment about the conditions of the migrant farmers and what youthink must be done for them. Do you agree with the content of thearticles? Mention who (community, State of Calif., or federalgovernment) you feel should take care of these farmers.

Write from one of these roles:

1. A social worker or public health professional working withmigrant farming families.

2. A teenage migrant farm worker.3. A migrant worker new to California who has six children who

lives in a shantytown.4. A farmer who hires hundreds of migrant laborers and feels the

conditions and work hours of the migrant workers are sufficient.5. Mayor of a town where migrant farmers reside.6. A migrant farmer who became a labor union organizer.7. A spokesperson for the Associated Farmers Organization.


15/20

Lesson Six: Handout#9

RESPONSE TO DUST BOWL & FARM CRISIS

FDRs Statement on Signing the Farm Relief Bill, May 12, 1933

I have just signed the Farm Relief Bill, which includes the refinancing offarm debts. The Act extends relief not only to farmer borrowers, but to

mortgage creditors as well.

Holders of farm mortgages will have the privilege of exchanging them forFederal Land Bank bonds, the interest payments upon which are to be guaranteed by theTreasury of the United States. Farmers whose mortgages are to be exchanged for these bondswill reap the benefit of lower interest rates and more liberal terms of payment.

It is to the interest of all the people of the United States that the benefits of this Act should beextended to all who are in need of them and that none should be deprived of them throughignorance or precipitate action. For this reason, I appeal particularly to mortgage creditors andall others who have money claims against farmers. Every effort will be made to administer theAct promptly, considerately, and justly.

All preparation that could be made in advance by officers of the Federal Land Bank system hasbeen made. However, applications cannot be acted upon instantly. Time for examination,appraisal, and perfection of records will be necessary.

I urge upon mortgage creditors, therefore, until full opportunity has been given to makeeffective the provisions of the mortgage refinancing sections of the Farm Relief Act, that theyabstain from bringing foreclosure proceedings and making any effort to dispossess farmerswho are in debt to them. I invite their cooperation with the officers of the land banks, the

agents of the Farm Loan Commissioner and their farmer debtors to effect agreements whichwill make foreclosures unnecessary. This is in line both with public duty and private interest.

The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) of 1936:

The Agricultural Adjustment Act (Public law 73-10 of May 12, 1933) restricted productionduring the New Deal by paying farmers to reduce crop area. Its purpose was to reduce cropsurplus to raise the value of crops, thereby giving farmers relative stability again. The farmerswere paid subsidies by the federal government for leaving some of their land idle. The Actcreated a new agency, the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), to oversee thedistribution of the subsidies.

Questions:

1. Give 3-4 concrete examples of how FDR tried to supportfarmers from the statement he made when signing the Farm Relief Bill of1933?


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2. What were the main goals of the Agricultural AdjustmentAct?


Political Cartoons on Farming Crisis Cartoon #2

Cartoon #1

Cartoon #3

Questions:

1. In cartoon #1, what is the view ofcongress on how much thegovernment should help in the farmcrisis and depression? Why iscongress rushing out the door?

2. In cartoon #2, what is the attitude ofthe farmers to FDR? Giveexamples. Explain the caption,Sure, Ill try anything once.


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3. Explain why FDR is dressed as a painter in cartoon #3? What doesthe paint symbolize here? Is this a positive portrayal of FDR or not?

Farm Relief Response Lesson Six: Handout #11St. Paul Pioneer Press, Jan. 1937

This article below from the St. Paul Pioneer Press states that the edifice thatFDRs administration build to help farmers has collapsed, and that farmrelief has to go back to the drawing board. The newspaper states, They [thefarmers] have built up a prosperous commercial agriculture in the past, andwill not believe that this prosperity is beyond recapture. Many farmersbecame critical of the New Deal and Roosevelt that he wasnt followingthrough with its promises to them.

What can you infer from this article, written 4 years afterthe AAA was established, about what happened with the New

Deal and FDRs efforts to help farmers? How is the Pioneer

Press critical of Roosevelt?


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Farm Relief Response Lesson Six: Handout #12New York Times, August 1936

This article is critical of the New Deals promises to farmers

What can you infer

from this NYT piece,

published 3 years after the

AAA was established,

about why the farmersbecame major critics of

the New Deal? What went

wrong?


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Lesson Six: Handout #13 *Optional. This can be enrichment or and homework assignment.

THE DUST BOWL NEWS:Directions: Below are (2) Dust Bowl photos. TITLE and WRITE a 1-page news articleto accompany each picture. Date your articles some time in 1936 or 1937, a few yearsafter the AAA agency was established. Use information from the articles read in class.

Article #1 will be in support of the New Deal and help FDR is providing farmers.

Article #2 will be critical of FDR because hes forgotten his promises to thefarmers.

Photo #1: SUPPORTIVE ARTICLE

Farmers receiving their Farm Relief checks.The feel that FDR has made good on hispromises.

Photo #2: CRITICAL ARTICLEDust Bowl damaged farm in Oklahoma, with atractor stuck in dust. This farm is abandoned,and there is no help in sight.

Title: Title:

Article Ideas: Article Ideas:


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Supplemental Resources: Lesson Six: Handout #14

Dust Bowl News Articles:From Historic NYT

the dust bowl years

Documents