Out of the Dust

The Dust Bowl. My husband's grandparents were children growing up in Oklahoma during that time. Yesterday, I talked to Grandpa, now 91,  about his experience.

(image from Wikiedia)

He said he was probably about 12 years old and he remembers they had a hard time making a living because there was no rain. It was "terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible." He said people were "going to California in droves", but no one he knew personally. They were "going to try to get work. They'd lost everything they had. Maybe they had a few dollars, so they headed to California and maybe on the way they had to find work." They'd stop for a little while and earn a little more money to continue on their way to California. "The dust was really bad," he repeated several times.

Watch Surviving the Dust Bowl on PBS. See more from American Experience.

American Exeperience has a movie called Surviving the Dust Bowl that is available online for free. It's an hour-long movie, but this clip is only about 8 minutes. They also have a Teacher's Guide, interviews, and much more!

(photo by Dorothea Lange - found at Wikiedia)

Of course, you can't forget the documentary photographer of the time, Dorothea Lange! She photographed migrants, many who had come from Oklahoma, and used those photographs to show how badly these people needed help.

I always recommend the books by Mike Venezia, and he has one about Dorothea Lange!

Once again, I recommend Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. It's an incredible Newberry Award winner for Young Adults that left me in tears at times. It is a well-written, quick read that really helps you to exerience the Dust Bowl of the 1930's.