The Grapes of Wrath, the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl of the 1930s

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The Grapes of Wrath, the Great Depression and the
Dust Bowl of the 1930s

• Brother can you
• spare a dime?

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STOCK MARKET CRASH OF 1929

• Black Thursday,
• October 24, 1929
• Black Tuesday,
• October 29, 1929

3
STRUCTURE OF AMERICAN SOCIETY DISINTEGRATES

• Factories and mines close
• Banks are worthless
• Consumer buying comes
• to a standstill

4
DROUGHT BEGINS TO PLAGUE THE MIDWEST

• 1931- Severe drought hits the midwestern and
  southern plains. As the crops die, the 'black
  blizzards" begin. Dust from the over-plowed and
  over-grazed land begins to blow.
• 1932 The number of dust storms is increasing.
  Fourteen are reported this year next year there
  will be 38.

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1932 AMERICAN DREAMS ARE SHATTERED

• 14 million Americans are jobless (almost 1/3 the
  workforce)
• Banks foreclose on houses and farms
• No food, no clothes, no jobs
• Recycled lifestyle

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Hooverville, 1933
A squatter settlement built by Seattle,
Washingtons homeless.
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1934 THE DROUGHT WORSENS

• 1934 MayGreat dust storms spread from the Dust
  Bowl area. The drought is the worst ever in U.S.
  history, covering more than 75 percent of the
  country and affecting 27 states severely.

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DUST BOWL (DUST STORMS) OF THE SOUTHERN PLAINS
1934-1935
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Dust Storm Approaching Startford, Texas, 1930s
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Black SundayApril 14, 1935

• 24 hours of a blinding dust storm
• Dreaded black-blizzard covers entire disaster
  area
• Drought adds further devastation

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Map of Erosion and Dust on the Plains
The "Yearbook of Agriculture" for 1934 announces,
"Approximately 35 million acres of formerly
cultivated land have essentially been destroyed
for crop production. . . . 100 million acres now
in crops have lost all or most of the topsoil
125 million acres of land now in crops are
rapidly losing topsoil.
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THE VICTIMS OF THE DUST BOWL

• Colorado
• Kansas
• Oklahoma
• New Mexico
• Texas

• Devastation of their cropland
• Respiratory health issues
• Unsanitary living
• Rampant crime
• Debt-ridden families

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DUST BOWL ORPHANS

• Mass exodus to California
• Opportunities in Russia
• Migrant workers become source of cheap labor

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Traveling from South Texas to the Arkansas Delta,
1936
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FDR - Leading the U.S. from out of the Depression
1932 - FDR elected - First New Deal (the
hundred days) 1934 - FDR approves the Emergency
Relief Appropriation Act, which provides 525
million for drought relief, and authorizes
creation of the Works Progress Administration,
which would employ 8.5 million people.
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Second New Deal - Works Progress Administration
poster
NRA - National Recovery Administration AAA -
Agricultural Adjustment Administration CCC -
Civilian Conservation Corps RFC - Reconstruction
Finance Corporation NHA - National Housing
Authority
20
The rise in union membership
This chart traces the percentage of workers
claiming membership in unions between 1860 and
1989. The total number of U.S. union members
doubled (from four million to eight million
members) between 1930 and 1940.
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Strike patterns
This chart traces strike patterns, including
worker involvement in strikes, between 1881 and
1970. There is a sharp increase in the number and
percentage of workers involved in strikes between
1931 and 1940.
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Sit-down strike in Flint, MI
23
UAW organizers Walter Reuther and Richard
Frankensteen pose for press photographers, River
Rouge Plant, May 26, 1937
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They were approached by Ford Service Department
men
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Ford men attacked
26
Reuther and Frankensteen immediately after the
incident
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The Hilo Massacre, August 1, 1938
Demonstrators were driven into Hawaiis Hilo
Harbor trying to escape police gunfire on the
morning of August 1, 1938. In support of striking
Honolulu workers, more than two hundred Hilo
trade unionists had peacefully gathered to
protest the unloading of the SS Waialeale.
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1937-1939 - FDR Shelterbed Project
The project called for large-scale planting of
trees across the Great Plains to protect the land
from erosion. Native trees were planted along
fence rows separating properties, and farmers
were paid to plant and cultivate them. The
project was estimated to cost 75 million dollars
over a period of 12 years. In 1938, the extensive
work re-plowing the land into furrows, and
planting trees in shelterbelts resulted in a 65
percent reduction in the amount of soil blowing.
However, the drought continued.
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1939 The Drought Ends

• 1939 In the fall, the rain comes, finally
  bringing an end to the drought. During the next
  few years, with the coming of World War II, the
  country is pulled out of the Depression and the
  plains once again become golden with wheat.

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John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

• Novel published in 1939
• Film in 1940 (closely follows the novel)
• Reinforced the belief that migrants fled the
  dust storms
• In fact, they fled for varied reasons, including
  drought, falling agricultural prices, and
  mechanization of agriculture

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John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

• 16,000 farmers fled dust storms
• 400,000 migrated, from a larger area in the
  Southwest and Midwest
• Famous scene farmer confronts a man who is
  about to level his house, used the plight of
  farmers to convey a sense of unfocused outrage
  shared by many others during the Depression -
  people couldnt figure out who was to blame for
  the disaster.