Surviving the Dust Bowl

This week on PBS I watched an American Experience program titled, "Surviving the Dust Bowl". The film used footage from the thirties in the Southern Plains as well as interviews with people who were children who lived through this time. It was interesting to see how the dust bowl actually looked. The documentary went from how the Southern Plains in Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and New Mexico from very fruitful in the beginning, to how the Dust Bowl eventually ended and shaped the plains. People were encouraged to farm in these lands because they produced so well. After the drought hit in 1931, the winds picked up the top soil and began to blow the dust all over the dust bowl. The drought lasted much longer than most people expected and after the worst storm in history, "Black Sunday", there was an exodus out of the plains for the west coast. Those who stayed had to deal with disease and death as well as exterminating jack-rabbits that ate what little crops were left. The government used New Deal programs to try and help struggling farmers, and when soil conservation was suggested, the government paid farmers to implement the changes. This film was really interesting to watch and I especially enjoyed the interviews and the footage that was shown.

Megan Fotheringham