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.
DirectorKen Burns
WriterDayton Duncan
The Great Plow Up
Nov 18, 2012
The 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, 1935โBlack Sundayโa searing experience for everyone caught in it, including a young songwriter from Pampa, Texas, named Woody Guthrie.
Reaping the Whirlwind
Nov 19, 2012
Black 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 FDRโs 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.
