The Great American Dust Bowl

John Steinbeck wrote books about it.  Dorothy Lange photographed it.  Woody Guthrie wrote ballads about it.  It was the Great American Dust Bowl.  In the 1930's, the American west was struck by Black Blizzards. Dust choked people's lungs and blinded their eyes.  It invaded people's houses and destroyed their crops. It stopped automobiles and derailed freight trains.   The resulting drought drove tens of thousands of families from their farms.  Read about the Dirty Thirties in Don Brown's picture book The Great American Dust Bowl.

Note:  For more information:

1.  Watch Ken Burn's documentary "The Dust Bowl" (2012).

2.  Read John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath or Of Mice and Men.

3.  Listen to Woody Guthrie's "Dust Bowl Blues" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQYKJaWuj0Y