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The Dust Bowl chronicles the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history, in which the frenzied wheat boom of the Great Plow-Up, followed by a decade-long drought during the 1930s nearly swept away the breadbasket of the nation.

Watch • 1:55:45
The Dust Bowl
Reaping the Whirlwind
The storms and the Great Depression continued.
Episode: S1 E2 | 1:55:45
Watch • 5:16
The Dust Bowl
Government Reform Programs
By 1937, the Dust Bowl farmers are asking for government help.
Clip: S1 E2 | 5:16
Watch • 5:45
The Dust Bowl
The Depression Comes to the Southern Plains
Wheat prices continue to fall and a drought begins the farmers look to FDR for relief.
Clip: S1 E1 | 5:45
Funding is provided by Bank of America, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, National Endowment for the Humanities, The Rockefeller Foundation, Wallace Genetic Foundation and members of The Better Angels Society, including the Dana A. Hamel Family Charitable Trust and Robert and Beverly Grappone.
Latest Episodes
Watch • 1:55:45
The Dust Bowl
Reaping the Whirlwind
The storms and the Great Depression continued.
Episode: S1 E2 | 1:55:45
Watch • 1:55:16
The Dust Bowl
The Great Plow-Up
The southern Plains were rapidly turned from grasslands to wheat fields.
Episode: S1 E1 | 1:55:16
Extras
Watch • 4:43
The Dust Bowl
Reform
In the summer of 1936, Roosevelt takes a whistle-stop tour across the Midwest.
Clip: S1 E2 | 4:43
Watch • 6:43
The Dust Bowl
Relief
Social worker Dorothy Williamson describes her experiences in the Dust Bowl
Clip: S1 E2 | 6:43
Watch • 6:20
The Dust Bowl
Okies
Woody Guthrie sings “I Ain’t Got No Home” and talks about migrant families traveling.
Clip: S1 E2 | 6:20
Watch • 4:20
The Dust Bowl
Recovery
In 1935, 850 million acres of topsoil are swept off the Great Plains.
Clip: S1 E2 | 4:20
Watch • 1:50
The Dust Bowl
Hugh Bennett
Hugh Bennett went on a fact finding trip through the Great Plains in search of a solution.
Clip: S1 E2 | 1:50
Watch • 1:30
The Dust Bowl
Heading West
Some people packed up their families and headed west.
Clip: S1 E2 | 1:30
Watch • 1:33
The Dust Bowl
CA Work
People who moved to CA were known as Okies.
Clip: S1 E2 | 1:33
Watch • 3:39
The Dust Bowl
New Deal Programs
Help came to the Great Plains by way of New Deal programs.
Clip: S1 E2 | 3:39
Watch • 3:34
The Dust Bowl
Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie moves to Los Angeles in the second half of the 1930s.
Clip: S1 E2 | 3:34
Watch • 1:39
The Dust Bowl
Psychological
Dorthy Williamson discusses working in the southern Great Plains during the dust bowl.
Clip: S1 E2 | 1:39
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