Period+8

//Of Mice and Men

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/afctschtml/tsme.html//

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/peopleevents/pandeAMEX08.html

[|www.livinghistoryfarm.org]//

= //__"The land just blew away; we had to go somewhere."__// =

-- Kansas preacher, June, 1936


 * __The Dust Bowl__**

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The Dust Bowl lasted for a decade in the 1930's. It mostly affected the south western states of Texas, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Oklahoma, but the agricultural devastation was felt throughout the United States. Although the dusk bowl was in the south, the north was also affected by the drought, windblown dust, and agricultural decline. The effects of the crop devestation helped lengthen the period of the Great Depression. What caused the dust bowl was poor agricultural practices and years of sustained drought.

The plains grasslands were mainly used for planting wheat, and during the years when there was a plentiful amount of rainfall, the land produced bountiful crops. As the droughts of the early 1930s deepened, the farmers noticed that their crops would not grow. The ground cover that held the soil in place was gone completely, and when the wind blew, it whipped up huge clouds of dust that covered the skies. The skies would be darkened for days and even the best sealed homes would have a thick layer of dust on the furniture. In some places, dust would drift like snow, covering farmsteads.

The Government, in my opinion, did all it could for the refugees of the Dust Bowl. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Vice President Herbert Hoover were challenged with earth's most fatal weapon, weather. Back in the 1930's, technology was still undeveloped to the full extent, even today technology isn't developed fully, so they did not know of this huge drought closing in on the mid-west of the United States. The federal law was in a haze. They didn't know what to do until Hoover and Roosevelt thought of the idea of "The New Deal." "The New Deal" was the title that United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave to a sequence of programs and promises he initiated between 1933 and 1938 with the goal of giving relief to the poor, reform of the financial system, and recovery of the economy during the Great Depression.
 * __Government Response__**
 * The "First New Deal" of 1933 aimed at short-term recovery programs for all groups. Based on the assumption that the federal government could solve the financial problems, the Roosevelt administration promoted: banking reform laws, emergency relief programs, work relief programs, and agricultural programs.
 * A "Second New Deal" (1935–36) was a more comprehensive redistribution of power and resources; which included: union protection programs, the Social Security Act, and programs to aid tenant farmers and migrant workers. The Supreme Court ruled several programs unconstitutional; however, some parts of these were soon replaced, with the exception of the National Recovery Administration.

Then, the U.S. Government formed the Soil Erosion Service in 1933, which is now known today as the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). It's an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that provides technical assistance to private land owners and managers. In making this organization, Roosevelt and the government thought they could help the Dust Bowl victims. It contributed to all the land owners in that era.

The country was in desparate straits while Franklin Roosevelt was in office. He took quick steps to declare a four day bank holiday, during with congress came up with the Emergency Banking Act of 1933. The Act of 1933 stablized the banking industry and restored people's faith in the banking system by putting the federal government behind it.

The state government developed programs for soil conservation like NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service), SCS (Soil Conservation Service), and DRS (Drought Relief Service). The SCS sets a soil conservation district law, if it is passed by the state government, it would allow farmers to set up their own districts to enforce soil conservation practices for five-year periods. The federal government formed a Drought Relief Service (DRS) to organize activities in 1935.

In 1937, many farmers could not maintain their operations and were forced to leave their land even with the government's help.

I hope the U.S. does not have to witness such an event again. Even though hurricanes and droughts, both, have the same effect, the leave a nation behind in the same state mostly everytime. So sorrowful.

**__The Migrant Workers__** Migrant workers are people who work outside of their home country. Also, the meaning of a migrant worker can be someone who migrates within thier country to pursue work. Normally, migrant workers are paid very low wages. During the Dust Bowl, all of the southeren plains became dried and lost its soil content. It was a seven year drought, which brought many dust storms. As a result of this, many families moved to California in order to find work. This is why there were so many migrant workers at this time. They moved to California because there were plenty of jobs. Some of the jobs that migrant workers did were farming, harvesting crops, picking cotton, and lating down railroads. The migrant workers worked for very long hours and it was very hard and tiring. They were exposed to many pesticides which can give you cancer, can cause birth defects, and damage your reproductive system. Also, they are exposed to toxic substances from the bacteria in the air and from the work they are doing. Children can also become exposed to the pestisides from the residue off of their parents clothes, the soils in the playgrounds, and dust in the house from the parents working outside. Some of the materials that the workers use to protect them from these things are gloves, long pants, goggles, work boots, coveralls, long sleeved shirts, and face masks. They would leave their protective materials outside so they wouldn't be tracking anyhting in the house.

//**Facts About Migrant Workers**//
 * most of the workers who worked on the farms lived below the poverty level
 * 38% only have 4 years of education
 * 4 out of 5 workers are men
 * the average age is about 29 but more than half are 15-19 years old
 * 45% of them have children
 * most of the populated workers are from Mexico
 * 320,000 kids that are ubder the age if 6 live on farms


 * __Influential movies, novels and arts__**

When you here the 1930’s, you first think about the “ The Great Depression ,” but the people's music was important, too. The depression was a time when many people were without jobs, money and food was scarce. People looked to their music for inspiration. The music of the 1930's wasn’t sad, and depressing like some music we have now. It was jazzy, and happy, so it gave people something to cheer them up. Two of the most famous musicians of the 1930's were Duke Ellington, and Louis Armstrong. Duke's songs were all very inspirational. His most famous song was written in 1932, and is called " It Don't Mean a Thing." Louis Armstrong is considered by many as the most influential jazz musician of all time. Like many, living during the Great Depression was very hard for Louis. He had many great songs, but his most famous was, " When the Saints Go Marching In."

In the 1930's, people were facing rough times due to "The Great Depression." People did whatever they could do to lead happy lives. Novels played an important role in accomplishing this. Famous authors of the 1930's included F. Scott Fitzgerald, Erskine Caldwell, and John Steinbeck. John Steinbeck's novel, //The Grapes of Wrath//, was popular during the 1930's. This novel was about an Oklahoma family who lost their farm to the drought of the Dust Bowl. People of this time period enjoyed this story because they could relate it to their own lives. //Tobacco Road,// by Erskine Caldwell, is another popular novel of the 1930's. //Tobacco Road// was about poor people living in the rural south. People could also relate to this story because it was similar to what they were going through. Novels were so important to people during this time period because it gave them a chance to take a break from their stressfull lives of the depression. People looked foward to reading novels because they could relate to the stories, and novels made their lives more enjoyable.

The 1930’s was a major part of “The Golden Age of Hollywood”. During this time, technology allowed great advances to be made in the movie industry. Sound and color were both introduced during this decade and the movies of the 1930’s became much more similar to the movies of today. With the advancements in technology, patrons of the movie theater saw a change in the genres presented before them. People saw more comedy, horror, and musicals being produced. The number one box-office film of the 1930’s was “Gone with the Wind”. The movie was directed by Sydney Howard. Howard bought the rights to the script from the author of the book, Margaret Mitchell. The rights to the script were bought for $50,000, which was a record at the time. The book and movie are still immensely popular today.

__**Miscellaneous - Interesting Facts**/__ Some people who lived in areas affected by the drought actually died because of the dust.There would be so much dust in the air that it would fill people's lungs and suffocate them. This was called "dust pneumonia." Californians turned their backs on their fellow Americans who tried to come to California to get away from the dust. "Okies" were turned away at the border and not allowed to enter the state even though they were answering postings for job offerings. There was so much dust that blew around that it would come through the smallest of cracks. It would always be there even if the windows and doors were closed. People had to sleep with moist cloths over there mouths to keep the dust out of their mouths, or isk getting dust pneumonia. Farmers were hit hard no matter if they grew crops or animals. The drought killed the plants, the dust killed the animals. Static electricity would build up so much that it would kill rabbits and other small animals! They would touch a fence and were electrucuted and killed.