A couple of weeks ago, my daughter told us about Kanopy, a video streaming service where one can watch movies for kids and adults free of charge with a library card or a university login.
Here’s what Kanopy says that it offers: documentaries, foreign films, classic cinema, independent films and educational videos that inspire, enrich and entertain. We partner with public libraries and universities to bring you an ad-free experience that can be enjoyed on your TV, mobile phone, tablets and online. https:/www.kanopy.com
So we opened an account–super easy–and since my daughter mentioned she’d watched The Dust Bowl by Ken Burns, we did, too. We were able to keep the documentary for 72 hours.
I’d heard about The Dust Bowl for years, and while it’s not the most popular documentary Ken Burns has directed (The Civil War is), the show was riveting and informative. The video contains amazing film, photographs, and–my favorite of all–input from survivors who shared their memories as children.
How the Dust Bowl Started:
During World War I and continuing into the 1920s, the Great Plains enjoyed a wheat boom where the crop was plentiful and prices were high. Buoyed by this prosperity, farmers attained even more acres and plowed them under, a plan they couldn’t have foreseen would lead to the biggest man-made ecological disaster in America’s history.
Those deep-rooted grasses had held the soil in place for centuries. When the rains stopped in the 1930s, the exposed land turned to powder–literally–and the constant wind wreaked havoc. Crops failed, cattle
suffocated, and children were sickened from breathing dust-filled air. People stuffed wet rags around windows and doors, yet the dirt still came in, coating dishes, beds, and even babies in their cribs. The film doesn’t shy away from the horrific emotional toll, either. Some who were so overwhelmed from the stress, poverty, and unrelenting hardship, took their own lives to end the despair. Including a seven-year-old boy.
Unimaginable heartbreak.
On April 14, 1935—Black Sunday—a massive dust storm rolled across the region, causing blizzards so thick they blotted out the sun. People hid inside their homes and truly believed it was the end of the world. Can you blame them?
Our president at the time, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was dedicated to doing what he could to help. He brought on Hugh Hammond Bennett, a soil scientist known as the “father of soil conservation.” Bennett urged farmers to abandon harmful plowing methods and adopt practices that would save the soil before more of the Plains blew away.
How the Dust Bowl Ended:
Eventually, farmers–who initially resisted Bennett’s advice to change their plowing methods–eventually came around to give them a try. And they worked. The land didn’t heal overnight, but his soil saving practices helped reduce erosion, hold more moisture in the ground, and made farming more sustainable. Bennett gave people hope that, with better care, the Plains could still produce crops instead of simply blowing away.
At last, the rains began to return in 1939, bringing relief and signaling the end of the worst years the Plains had ever endured.
The worst of the Dust Bowl struck the southern Great Plains, especially southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, northeastern New Mexico, and the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas. By 1940, about 2.5 million people had moved out of the Plains states, making it one of the largest migrations in American history.
Did anyone in your family ever share stories about the Dust Bowl years?
Have you ever heard a personal story from someone who lived through the Great Depression or the Dust Bowl?
Pam has written 30 romances, most of them historical westerns, but she's proud of her contemporary sweet romances featuring the Blackstone Ranch series published by Tule Publishing, too! Stay up on the latest at www.pamcrooks.com
I heard more about the Great Depression from my grandparents–they had gone north for a few years to find work in the mushroom houses of Chester Co, PA, and they returned the the South before WWII. Many of our distant relations in the South had jobs provided through the WPA.
Good morning, Denise! The documentary mentions the WPA (Works Progress Administration) and how it literally saved families from complete destitution The WPA provided much needed jobs for millions and built infrastructure–streets, parks, roads and so on. Even teenagers could get jobs. It truly helped save the Great Plains and is a testament to FDR’s determination to help Americans. It’s just too bad it took awhile for it to be put into place. 1935, I think. By then, folks had been suffering for a good 4 or 5 years.
My grandparents never talked about it. Paternal grandparents lived on the east coast. But my maternal side live just west of where the dust bowl was. I think they were too busy surviving on a reservation. My maternal grandfather never did say what his title was when working on the reservation. He was close to half indigenous.
Hi, Kim! I’m sure your grandparents could tell stories of hardship. It’s so like that generation to keep things private in their later years. I guess they just soldiered on and accepted those hard times.
My husband’s aunt talked about having a sheet over the food on the table and they would reach under to take out some, still was gritty. They lived in south west Kansas.
Wow. Southwest Kansas would have been in the worst of the Dust Bowl. I can’t imagine having to lay a sheet over the food!!! It makes me think those houses weren’t built real tight that the dust could come in. I’d go crazy from having my house dirty (literally) all the time!!
My great-grandparents lived in Liberal, Kansas, during the dust bowl days, but never talked about their experiences to me. My great-grandfather worked in the oil industry all of those years. Now I wonder what they endured through those challenging years.
Hi, Karen! Like I mentioned to Kim, our great- and grandparents kept stories like that to themselves. Not sure why, really. Sure would make for some fascinating dinner table conversation decades later!
My grandparents, too, lived through the Depression–not the Dust Bowl so much since they lived in eastern Nebraska–and they lived frugal lives up until they died. Going through that would change a person for sure.
All of my & hubs parents lived through the depression here in IN and remember the coupons for gas, groceries, etc that they had to use = esp when the margarine was invented to replace butter! FIL says it came in a tub and was white with a yellow color packet to make it look like butter – he said his Mom tried it once and threw it in the trash and told him they were going to milk the cow and make butter like always!
I had no idea about the margarine invention, Teresa! So interesting!
They must have perfected it, because we never had butter. And my mother was a farm girl. But I think it was just cheaper, and my old recipes all called for oleo, never butter.
I bought oleo for the longest time until my dad commented margarine was just liquid plastic, and it ruined it for me. I’ve been a butter girl ever since!
Wow but this is interesting. No I only know for sure what I learned in text books. Thanks so much for sharing. My family for a very long time were from the Ohio area.
Glad you enjoyed the information, Lori. Being from Ohio, your family was spared from the dust. Thank goodness!
I watched the Ken Burns documentary also. It was so heartbreaking. Thanks for sharing about Kanopy, I’m going to set up an account. I love documentaries and it looks like there are some great ones on there.
Great to hear, Kim! I love that all the films are free for your choosing. That doesn’t happen often these days!
I have heard of the Dust Bowl but have no experience with anyone who survived it,
I would sure love to sit down and hear memories from those who went through it, Debra.
I have heard of the Dust bowl, but I don’t think I know anyone who experienced it.
Thanks for stopping by, Bridgette. Hope you enjoyed the extra info on the Dust Bowl.
Both of my parents were born in the early 1920’s. Daddy was born in GA, Mom in AL, so they didn’t go through the Dust Bowl, and didn’t realize much about the Depression because of their ages.
That would be true, Trudy. Your parents were young and probably sheltered from the Depression worries. They likely wouldn’t have known life could be better. Ignorance is bliss, eh?
I have read a lot about the dust bowl days but haven’t personally heard any stories.
Thanks for being here as always, Barbara. Maybe some day you’ll catch a conversation from someone who knew someone . . .
My Grandparents lived in Southeast corner of Colorado where the Dust Bowl took place. I remember her saying how awful everything was-dust everywhere, It came in under the door and any small crevice of the house. She also remarked about the sound of it-the constant droning of the swirling dust.
Oh, gosh, Joye. Yes, the wind was insufferable. I can’t imagine going through such a thing and to be absolutely helpless to stop it.
Never heard of that before! Here in South Texas there is a time of year where there is Sahara dust coming in making it worse for those with allergies.
Good morning, Laura! I had to Google Sahara dust, and the name is just what it implies – dust from the Sahara desert!! It’s just simply infallible to comprehend! Here’s what Google said about it: transported thousands of miles across the Atlantic to the Caribbean, Gulf Coast, and Southeastern U.S. during late spring and summer.
Wow. Just wow.
I have heard about it and read things about it, but no , I have not been told stories about it from people I know. I have watched the movie The Grapes of Wrath and the family leaves their home because of the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma.
You’re the second one to mention “The Grapes of Wrath”, Alicia. Now I want to watch it. It sounds like the perfect follow-up to the Dust Bowl documentary!
My mom and dad lived through this and became migrants. They never forgot the Great Depression. I remember when I still lived at home in SE New Mexico how the skies would turn brown and we’d be unable to see. Those usually only lasted one day and one time the sand completely stripped the paint off our car. That’s no joke. I’d hate to live when those dust storms never ended. People died of dust pneumonia from inhaling so much sand and it filled up their lungs. Here in Lubbock we get horrible haboobs (sandstorms) that turn the sky brown. I hate those days. There’s no way to keep the sand out of my apartment. Just horrible. I can see how that would lead to depression.
Oh, wow, Linda – I know your family went through some really hard times. How horrible to have sand strip paint off a car. Yikes! And you are so right about the dust pneumonia. People got so sick. Many died.
Haboobs. Now that’s a new word for me. LOL
Thanks for a very well done summation/explanation of the dust bowl! I have seen that sort of windstorm over the desert and it is sobering.
Sobering is a good word, Elissa. And like Linda Broday said, it’s so very easy to become depressed from such misery.
My Grandma lived through the depression and she talked about how nothing was ever thrown away. Find a new or old use for everything. She lived on a small farm. She’d always talk about the antics of the chickens. lol
As she aged and Alzheimer’s got worse, she was even collecting her housemates medicine cups used for water. Before that she was a bit of a hoarder in her tiny apartment. I dearly miss her.
What a sweet remembrance of your grandmother, Carrie.
Thank you Pam for such an interesting blog. I would hate to experience such a horrible situation as a dust bowl.
Hi, Kathy. With today’s technology, I can’t imagine we would ever have to go through a dust bowl again. Surely the scientists are much smarter now, right? Yikes.
I have had the dvd of the Ken Burns film about the Dust Bowl for several years. Living where highways sometimes are closed because of blowing dust, even interstates, I was most surprised by the many people who suffered from or died from dust pneumonia. Central and Eastern Washington were not part of what’s considered dust bowl but there have been many severe dust storms here also. My mother-in-law shared stories with us of dust sifting into everything in the house. Part of what made it so bad in the thirty’s was the economic depression along with the ecological nightmare. If you were able to grow a decent crop you would have been lucky to get paid enough to cover the cost of the seed you had planted in the spring. Today more and more farmers are using low or no-till farming methods that have greatly reduced the number of dust storms. The Conservation Reserve Program(CRP) that pays farmers to plant grasses and leave them for at least 10 years has also helped. CRP grass has also increased the number of deer and coyotes in our area. The trade off is we now have fewer pheasants.
Thanks for sharing this information. It is a very well done documentary.
Alice, you sound so knowledgable! Thanks for sharing your insight. All so true! The Dust Bowl and the Depression were a double-whammy for sure. Makes me sad how so many suffered. They just couldn’t catch a break.
Yes, Ken Burns is a brilliant director!
My Grandmother always talked about the Great Depression when I was a little girl
Hi, Sarah. I wish now that my grandparents were still living. I would go right over there and have a long conversation about their memories. Like I said this morning, that generation really tended to keep things to themselves, at least later on with their children and grandchildren.
We always lived in the South so didn’t hear about the Dust Bowl but my parents and my husbands lived through the Great Depression. I know my mother and mother-in-law were always thrifty women, saved everything from aluminum foil to plastic bowls that anything like margarine came in. They both worked very hard always. There were seven of us children so it took everything to keep us fed and clothed. We always laughed about Mother saving aluminum foil but the way things are today I might need to start saving everything too.
Well, shoot, Sarah. *I* save aluminum foil!!! Ha! I truly do if it hadn’t touched food – just covered a bowl or something. 🙂 And then I recycle it afterward.
And I must admit I get a twinge when I throw away plastic containers that cottage cheese, sour cream, or whatever comes in. They’re sturdy with snug-fitting lids. Perfectly good – but of course, we just can’t save everything. Thank goodness for recycling!
My dad talked about the ‘return migration’ of farm families to the area he grew up in (Northwestern PA), … I had no idea that it involved so many people ‘returning’ across our nation.
It’s mind-boggling, isn’t it, Abbie?
All our families were from the Northeast, so no ties with the Dust Bowl. My paternal grandmother did share somethings about the Depression, but not much. I wish now I had thought to ask her more. My parents were born in the mid-1920’s, so would have been tweens. about then. The families lived on the Canadian border and there were members on both sides. I do know my maternal grandfather was involved with rum running from Canada to NYC during Prohibition. That would have brought income during the early Depression. On my father’s side, my grandmother had a garden and sewed for her family, as did my other grandmother. About the only thing she ever said about the depression was that her uncle was a butcher. He would give them meat that was going bad – sausages with spoiled spots – and she would cut off the bad parts, fixing the rest for dinner. Hard times, you do what you can and hope for the best. She always had a garden, even into her 80’s.
You’re right, Pat, about doing what you had to do during hard times. People were less judgmental back then, too. Everyone understood about survival and caring for families. There was probably a lot of pride-swallowing back then as well.