Heard of The Grapes of Wrath? Sure you have. Me too. Even if you haven’t read it (and I haven’t), most likely you know it’s about the Okies who were forced to relocate because of the 1930s Dust Bowl.
Very ashamedly, that’s about the sum total of my knowledge about the Dust Bowl until I read The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl 
This is a gross oversimplification, but starting in the 1870s the grasslands in parts of Colorado, Kansas, Texas, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Oklahoma were removed as farmers moved in and, well, started farming. WWI and the need for wheat, combined with good years of rain, stripped the land of the ability to protect herself when the rains stopped and a ten year drought started. If you think I’m exaggerating and surely it wasn’t that bad, you are not alone.
“Many in the East did not believe the initial accounts of predatory dust until a storm in May 1934 carried the wind blown shards of the Great Plains over much of the nation. In Chicago, twelve million tons of dust fell. New York, Washington – even ships at sea, three hundred miles off the Atlantic coast—were blanketed in brown.”
Read that again. How many million tons of dust? How far off the Atlantic coast? I know, it’s hard to grasp.
Whenever I complain about the spring dust storms in Beijing, you have permission to tell me to get a life and remind me:
“Cattle went blind and suffocated. When farmers cut them open, the found stomachs stuffed with fine sand. Horses ran madly against the storms. Children coughed and gagged, dying of something the doctors called ‘dust pneumonia.’ In desperation, some families gave away their children. The instinctive act of hugging a loved one or shaking someone’s hand could knock two people down, for the static electricity from the dusters was so strong…nothing compares to the black dusters of the 1930s, a time when the simplest things in life –taking a breath—was a threat.”
I have lived in Colorado and Kansas. My grandparents and great aunts and uncles lived through some of these hard times; because I thought it was just about Oklahoma and some John Steinbeck novel, I never talked to them about the storms or the drought or their experiences.
We can’t know everything. But this book reminded me of the vastness of what I don’t know. It also challenged me to ask more questions. This summer when I am back in the States I’m going to talk with my parents (and anyone else of a certain generation) and ask them what stories they recall people telling about that time.
Mom, Dad, world, you’ve been warned!
Poll on the Dust Bowl: Had you heard of blind cattle? Stomachs stuffed with dust? Muddy snow, not from melting, but from falling that way from the sky?
I too, like you, was amaze at how little I really understood about the ‘dust bowl’ times. I have read “Grapes of Wrath” and seen Henry Fonda in the movie version and I realized how misinformed I was. A ‘must’ read – pass it on.
Definitely! Who wants it next?
I read the “Grapes of Wrath” in Middle School but don’t remember much about it. Sadly it seems so much of our history is being forgotten, or maybe it’s just me that feels as if I haven’t paid enough attention to the older generations and all they can teach us. I hope more people take the time to listen and to learn so we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past.
Yes, I’m eager to ask people about the Dust Bowl!
James Michner has a great section on the dust bowl and colorado (spoiler alert, it ain’t pretty) in Centennial, which you can read or even watch the mini-series (both are good) and I have read the Grapes of Wrath (in high school)
Thanks for the tips! I’ll have to check the book and the mini-series out.
Great suggestion!!! I think another lesson to be taken from the book is the importance of preparedness……..preparedness for both the known and unknown, for the spiritual, natural and man-caused events in our lives. We may not be able to prevent events from occurring, but we can minimize the impact with thought, planning, research, study, and the right actions!!
True! There are many lessons this book has to offer. Thanks for sharing Paula!
I’m guilty about not even reading Grapes of Wrath (or even watching the movie). It seemed so depressing, but yes, that stuff is real life and sticking my head in the sand doesn’t make it go away. I’m sure your parents and others will be blessed when you ask to hear their stories.
Wow. That stuff is intense!!! I knew things were bad, but not THAT bad. Yikes.
I just finished reading a similar kind of book which you might be interested in, too. It’s called The Great Influenza by John Barry (2004). It’s about what happened around the world, but mostly in the US, during the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919. It’s similarly eye-opening, and really made me wish that I could ask my grandfather, who was born in 1900 and died in 1997, all kinds of things about that time.
Thanks for sharing about this book & how it altered your perspective.
I KNOW. I wish I could have good long chats with my grandparents. Sigh. Thanks for the book recommendation!