The Dust Bowl

Overview

The "Dust Bowl" describes both a time in American history (mid-1930s) and a region (the Great Plains). Severe weather, misuse of land by farmers, and economic pressures from the Great Depression meant that farmers and families in a large area of the central U.S. were faced with loss of usable land, lack of work, and poverty. This is their story, told in their words and in photographs. Included are newspaper accounts, letters, interviews, memoirs, songs, government documents, FDR's Second New Deal, and an excerpt from Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath."