3-11, Dust Bowl and Migrant Families DBQ

3-11, Dust Bowl and Migrant Families DBQ

Use Power Point Slides to view photos and documents to answer guided questions for this DBQ Assignment.

Open Ended

1) Describe what you see in this picture.

2) When and where do you think this picture was taken? Explain your answer

The Dust Bowl

The Dust Bowl refers to a period of severe dust storms and soil erosion in the Great Plains during the 1930s.

This region included parts of Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado, and smaller parts of New Mexico and Nebraska

The Dust Bowl

 Dust Storms. There were more than 300 dust storms, also known as “Black Blizzards,” between 1933 and 1938. These storms often featured fast moving clouds of dust several miles wide that covered farms and homes, destroyed crops, and made people sick. One of the hardest hit areas was the Oklahoma Panhandle

Dust Bowl- Displacement and Migration

Many people left the Dust Bowl region, abandoning their homes and to look for work in Western states, such as California. However, many stayed behind

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is a cause of the Dust Bowl?

• Overmechanization

• Over production

• Drought

• All the above

DBQ- Central Historical Question

• Since the 1930s people have debated what caused the Dust Bowl. Historians continue to address this question: Was the Dust Bowl a natural disaster or was it caused by people’s actions? 

• Today we are going to analyze and compare a set of primary and secondary sources to better understand what caused the Dust Bowl

 Svobida Account (Modified)

Open Ended

According to Svobida, how did the dust and wind affect crops?

Open Ended

What exactly does Svobida mean by the phrase “power farming”?

Open Ended

What, according to this Svobida, were two causes of the Dust Bowl?

 Government Report

The passage is an excerpt from the Report on the Great Plains Drought Area Committee. This report was created by was a government committee set up to analyze the causes of the Dust Bowl. Morris Cooke, Administrator of the Rural Electrification Administration, chaired the committee, but the leaders of eight federal agencies, including the Department of Agriculture and Soil Conservation Service, signed it

Open Ended

What problem is this report addressing?

Open Ended

What, according to this report, were three causes of the Dust Bowl?

Open Ended

What, according to this report, were three causes of the Dust Bowl?

Open Ended

What do the photographs of the Thompson family suggest about life as a migrant worker?

Open Ended

Describe the advantages of owning a car from the migrant perspective.

Open Ended

According to the mother in this quote, what are the benefits and drawbacks of moving to California?

Open Ended

What were the key criticisms to FDR's New Deal Programs?