| Description |
1 online resource (streaming video file) (52 min. 1 sec.) ; 296955580 bytes |
| Summary |
Filmmaker Ken Burns chronicles the environmental catastrophe that, throughout the 1930s, destroyed the farmlands of the Great Plains, turned prairies into deserts, and unleashed a pattern of massive, deadly dust storms that for many seemed to herald the end of the world. It was the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history.The Dust Bowl is also a story of heroic perseverance against enormous odds: families finding ways to survive and hold on to their land, New Deal programs that kept hungry families afloat, and a partnership between government agencies and farmers to develop new farming and conservation methods.Filled with seldom seen film footage, previously unpublished photographs, the songs of Woody Guthrie, and the observations of two remarkable women who left behind eloquent written accounts, the film is also a historical accounting of what happened and why during the 1930s on the southern plains.By 1933, the people of the southern plains were already weary of the year-long drought that had withered their crops and turned their fields to dust. The prosperous years of bountiful harvests and high wheat prices were still fresh in the memory, with farmers remaining optimistic even as the Great Depression gripped the country and farm prices collapsed. Unfortunately, the worst was yet to come. (From the US) (Documentary Series) (Part 2 of 4) PG (A) CC Follow the conversation on Twitter #SBSdoco |
| Event |
Broadcast 2013-03-08 at 20:35:00 |
| Notes |
Classification: PG |
| Subject |
Agriculture -- Effect of drought on.
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Droughts -- Social aspects.
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Dust Bowl Era (1931-1939)
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Dust storms.
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Environmental disasters.
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United States.
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| Form |
Streaming video
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| Author |
Burns, Ken, director
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Coyote, Peter, cast
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