What was the dust bowl and what hardships did it create? – Neketha P.

During the Great Depression, the dust bowl became a place associated with the harshest of atmospheres. In this area, the land was unforgiving and so the people soon became the same, choosing to work hard to create a living in an environment which only bred resentment and hard times.

The “dust bowl” was a series of destructive wind and dust storms that hit the U.S. from 1931 to 1937. Farmers were enticed by the high prices of wheat to convert millions of acres of grazing land to farmland to plant wheat. After years of drought, the wheat crops had withered and nothing was left to hold the soil down. The dust bowl started when the wind picked up the dry and loose soil. The dust bowl was mainly in Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, and Texas. The name “dust bowl” began on April 15, 1935 after a report characterized the series of destructive winds and dust by this name. The hardships created by the dust bowl were The Great Depression, economic overexpansion, poor land management for farmers, bank closures, business losses, physical and emotional hardships. Many farmers lost their land and had to leave temporarily to seek work to provide for their families. In fact, a bulletin from the Works Progress Administration reported that in 1937, 21% of all rural families in the Great Plains were receiving federal emergency relief.

Citations:
www.mindsring.com/jwar/dust/bowl.htm
History1900s.about.com/od/great_depressionpictures.htm