Hi guys! We're going to try something new for Grapes of Wrath: an on-line discussion forum. The first question you must answer (YOU CANNOT REPEAT ANYONE ELSE'S ANSWER) is Tell me one fact about the Dust Bowl. Answers must all be posted by January 22. Your first quiz will come from your postings so be sure to re-read everyone's responses before January 22. Have fun!
Open this Power Point about the Dust Bowl. Review all the pictures and return to this forum to respond to one or more pictures as they relate to Grapes of Wrath. You cannot repeat anyone else's answer.
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The southern Plains was the area that the Dust Bowl had the significant impact on--places like Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas.
The Dust Bowl was during the time of The Great Depression.
Katie and Rachel, you both have skipped the part about responding to the Dust Bowl PowerPoint. Please go back and add that to your posting.
The effects of the Dust Bowl left many American farmers in the Mid-West devastated. Due to over worked soil, the top layers of the earth became very dry and useless. With storng winds this resulted in huge dust storms that engulfed entire homes, as seen in the power point. Victims of these storms were left covered in a layer of dirt.
people often got traped in their cars because of the unknown dust storms coming. They would come and go with no warning, like seen in the picture of the truck with packages and also the pictures of the dust clouds.
The Dust Bowl was partially accelerated by irresponsible farming methods that left the soil depleted and loose. As seen in the slide show's fourth photo, farmers tried to adjust their farming methods to utilize dry soil, but for the most part, these efforts were largely unsuccessful (as referenced by the farmer's sole plant).
The early 1930s opened with prosperity that declared by NATION's BUISNESS magazine the Oklahoma and Texas were the most proporous places. Then the dust bowl hit throwing all prosperity out the window. Once it hit many were devastated and were forced to leave their home in search of better success some along route 66 as in Grapes of Wrath, demonstrated in pictures 6, 7,and 11.
Due to the Dust Bowl, many people ended up umeployed and in poverity. In an effort to restore the nation's economy the Works Progress Administration was formed and budgeted 5 billion dollars to create jobs. Between 1935 and 1943 it employed over 8 million America. The picture of the mother and her two children on the powerpoint represents the devastation of being umemployed and poor during the 30's. The picture is entitled "Migrant Mother" by Dorthea Lange, and was the most famous picture of the Dust Bowl.
The first few photographs show the immensity of the dust storms which plagued the Midwest. Dust billowed in the sky to form ominous clouds. Many people thought that the world was ending when they first witnessed this event. Although the world was not ending, the dust clouds poured anywhere between an inch to several feet of dirt. The dirt was known to completely cover cars, homes, land, etc.
There is a picture of a family loaded up in a car with all their possessions. This relates to the Grapes of Wrath because the family in the novel loads up all their possessions to move to California and escape the Dust Bowl.
When a decimated rural family decided to move in search of a better life, many would not bother trying to sell their home and land, this left many abandoned homes dotting the prairie, as in in picture 6.
April 14, 1935, is known as "Black Sunday." One of the worst dust storms of the Dust Bowl occured on this day, for the giant "black blizzard" was traveling at about 60 mph. The next day, a writer for Associated Press named the series of dust storms the "Dust Bowl," and the name stuck (obviously). Photo #6 relates to the novel because the character Tom Joad returns home to find that his home has been deserted, just like the one in the photograph.
During the Dust Bowl, families would hang wet rags or cloth in the doors to catch some of the dirt, as well as turn bowl, cups, and plates over on the dinner table to keep dirt from their food. The powerpoint showed the constant struggle by capturing their expressions. The pictures look like a war zone with mother nature, and even like the end of the world.
On the powerpoint the pictures of the mothers showed a distint hardness in their features. With all they had to suffer through they had to be tough or die. It looks like some hung on just to see their children grow older.
The Dust Bowl issue began during WWI because demand for crops was high to send to the Allied troops. This caused farmers to begin farming in prairie states with few trees, which led to dust storms causing massive movement to the west.
The family in slide eight FILLED their car and covered every inch of it in belongings as they prepared to settle in California where conditions were not as promising as promised. The car seems cramped, dirty, and unsafe for travels yet,many families traveled in the same manner as the one shown.
The Dust Bowl issue began during WWI because demand for crops was high to send to the Allied troops. This caused farmers to begin farming in prairie states with few trees, which led to dust storms causing massive movement to the west.
The family in slide eight FILLED their car and covered every inch of it in belongings as they prepared to settle in California where conditions were not as promising as promised. The car seems cramped, dirty, and unsafe for travels yet,many families traveled in the same manner as the one shown.
Because of the consequences of the loss of topsoil the U.S. Government was forced to form the Soil Conservation Service to help people demonstrate better farming practices.
If it wasn't for the houses in picture two i would have thought that resembled pictures of storms on other planets, where life does not exist.
As seen in slides two and three dust storms were literally walls of eroded topsoil that could surround a town for days. To protect their belongings, families often stuffed blankets and mud in the cracks of their homes to keep the dust from entering. They also turned all of their dishes upside down so no dirt would get in them.
Even though the Dust Bowl was only in Kansas,Oklahoma,Texas, Colorado,and New Mexico, it strongly impacted all of the United States. The economy was severly affected as unemployment reates rose. Slide 7 shows the areas that were refered to as Dust Bowl. In actuality those were not the only ares affected.
The Dust Bowl left thousands of farmers in financial ruin. President Roosevelt tried to help farmers by creating The Emergency Farm Mortgage Act to help refinance mortgages to prevent the foreclosure on farms. While this act allowed around $200 million dollars to help refinance mortgages, it was not enough for many farmers.
One of the most striking photos, was that of an ominous black cloud of dust coming to swallow a house whole. The most surprising thing for me was that it was a photo taken in Dodge City, Kansas less then 90 years ago. I find it surreal to think years ago people, not far from Salina, were engulfed in a sea of dirt. It seems impossible for me, that people were dying of dirt. Whether from inhaling dirt and getting dust pneumonia, or starving from lack of food.
Because of the effects of the Great Depression and poor farming methods families and farmers were devastated by the Dust Bowl. The unempolyment rate rose to 25% during this time period. As seen in the powerpoint, "hoovervilles" also called shanti towns sprang up across the country. A "hooverville" was an extremely poor community where houses were constructed with crude mateirals such as boxes,waste lumber, or trash. Most of the residents of these communities were unemployed. They were named "hoovervilles" to show the people's disgust with how President Hoover was handling the economic decline.
Hugh Hammond Bennett, one of FDR's advisers, was in Washington D.C. to talk about the need for soil conservation legislation. A dust storm arrived in Washington all the way from the Great Plains. The Dust cloud shrouded the city and Bennett explained, "This, gentlemen, is what I have been talking about." Congress passed the Soil Conservation Act within the year.
Pictures four and five show the magnitude of destruction tot he top soil during the dust bowl. The term the dust bowl could not be any closer to the truth; the soil lacks any nutrients or moisture.
The Dust Bowl was a period of time in which drought and the Great Plains winds produced immense storms of dust which suffocated both plant and animal life. Picture 13 in the PowerPoint portrays dozens of families fleeing from the area, refugees in their own country. It seems unreal to believe that such an event has happened in the United States, because we make ourselves believe that our free nation cannot have such despair living within it.
The Dust Bowl had a greater impact on the Mid-West then just covering it with enormous amounts of dirt. Many people lost there jobs causing them to pick up and leave their homes in search of a new life. Conditions were especially difficult for African Americans and Latinos. With unemployement rates higher then most other Americans their struggle to find work was difficult. Racial violence grew as whites competing for the same jobs attempted to convince the government to deport the Latinos and Africans back to their homeland. Even native-born Americans of these races were some times sent back to their country.
As shown in picture 16, many families were forced to live in "hoovervilles", where unemployed people lived in mostly shacks and tents.
This is a correction to what I previously posted: The Dust Bowl was partially accelerated by irresponsible farming methods that left the soil depleted and loose. As seen in the slide show's fourth photo, farmers tried to adjust their farming methods to utilize dry soil, these efforts were unorganized until the government passed the Soil Conservation Act. However, the farmer in the picture clearly is unsuccessful at that point in time.
When people hear of the Dust Bowl, they immediately conjure images of Americans literally dying of dust. However, Europeans were affected by the Dust Bowl and its economic consequences on a large range scale as well. Since the dust was eroded top soil (the part of the soil that held the nutrients for plants to properly grow) America's bread basket could not grow crops. The crops that were supposed to be grown in the midwest went to America and Europe alike. Without the topsoil, no plants grew. This affected Americans, of course, but in the same token, it also affected the Europeans who had to try to find another source of grain products.
Photos four and six greatly accentuate the bareness of crops. In photo four, the farmer is throwing dirt on a shriveled up plant that definetly will not produce any food to help the farmer's family survive. In photo six, an abandond house stands cripped amid a sea of dying crops that are so wilted, the stems droop in defeat to the dirt that once provided them life. Very striking turn of events.
The second picture of the powerpoint is shocking. It is almost implausible to think that people were able to survive in such horrific conditions. The menacing cloud of dust looming overhead foreshadows a hugely devastating storm and the fact that the picture contains a caption describing the date and place of the storm makes the horrors of the Dust Bowl more tangible to us today.
The pictures represent a theme of complete desperation. This desperation was fueled by the wonder whether times would ever end. Even though the Dust Bowl has ended by now, we still see its effects today, particularly in the slowest natural changes like evolutionary responses of animals. For example, during the Dust Bowl, many migratory birds had to fly at a higher altitude. Even though the Bowl isn't going on now, some birds still fly at these levels.
This relates to the powerpoint in the feeling of permanence the dust gives. For example, the photo of the man squatting on the field with the plant shows the true killer of the dust storms: it's long term effects.
The Joad family is also quite aware of the long term effects of the Dust Bowl which is why they choose to leave rather then fight anymore.
The dust bowl official began on April 14th, 1935. Contrary to common belief, the cloud was a menacing black, not as red as the dirt in the affected states. The pictures of the mother with the hardened facial expression reminded me of where Steinbeck talked about the women who had to stay strong for their families, and let their husbands take care of it.
The Dust Bowl caused mass migration along Route 66 to California. The enormous amount of automotive travel that resulted was extremely beneficial to the companies specializing in used car sales. Many corrupt, profit-based car companies sprung up all over the Midwest to sell used cars to migrants.
In the PowerPoint, the two images of mothers holding their children conjure thoughts of women who have witnessed their men breakdown and lose all hope of pulling through the depression and holding onto the farm. Watching this happen to the man that they depend on would have caused extreme depression and loss of hope among themselves.
The photograph of the man cradling his depleated crops shows just how bad the agriculture was effected by the storms of the Dust Bowl. Many farmers faced this problem and were forced to abandon their lifestyle. Many went from prosperous to desolate.
The Dust Bowl was an environmental disaster that occurred from about 1935 to 1938. The Dust Bowl was a series of destructive wind and dust storms that hit the Midwestern states and Southern states. The storms damaged about fifty million acres of land and left most people without crops. Pictures two, three, four, and six show how much disaster the dust storms left and how much it damaged the fields.
The droughts and ill practices of the 1930's caused the dust bowl. The farmers would leave the depleaded soil loose on the ground and the wind would catch it and whip the dirt around in the air. The picture of the children trying to eat supper during the disatorous dust storms shows how hard it would be to live and learn in those circumstances.
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