The Dust Bowl
Overview
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.
Key Crew
Director: Ken Burns
Writer: Dayton Duncan
Producer: Dayton Duncan, Ken Burns, Julie A. Dunfey
Top Cast
Patricia Clarkson
Hazel Lucas Shaw
Peter Coyote
Peter Coyote
Carolyn McCormick
Caroline Henderson
Seasons
Season 1 (2012)
No overview available.
2 episodes
Episodes
Episode 1: The Great Plow Up
2012-11-18The grasslands of the southern Plains were rapidly turned into wheat fields. Then following the early years of the drought, storms killed crops and livestock and literally rearranged the landscape. The worst storm of them all was on April 14, 1935—Black Sunday—a searing experience for everyone caught in it, including a young songwriter from Pampa, Texas, named Woody Guthrie.
Runtime: 118 minEpisode 2: Reaping the Whirlwind
2012-11-19Black Sunday was only halfway through the decade-long crisis. The storms continued. The Great Depression still affected people. Government programs were instituted to help. Learn what FDR’s administration did to try to keep the southern Plains from becoming a North American Sahara desert. Find out why some residents finally decided they had to give up and move somewhere else and how some held on.
Runtime: 118 minVideos
Ken Burns: The Dust Bowl 2012 Movie Trailer
