The Dust Bowl

Synopsis

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.

First Air Date: 2012-11-18

Last Air Date: 2012-11-19

Number of Seasons: 1

Number of Episodes: 2

Networks: PBS

View Technical Specifications on IMDb

Top Cast

Patricia Clarkson as Hazel Lucas Shaw
Peter Coyote as Peter Coyote
Carolyn McCormick as Caroline Henderson

Seasons

Season 1 (2012)

No overview available for this season.

Episodes:

Ep. 1: The Great Plow Up (2012-11-18)

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, 1935—Black Sunday—a searing experience for everyone caught in it, including a young songwriter from Pampa, Texas, named Woody Guthrie.
Ep. 2: Reaping the Whirlwind (2012-11-19)

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 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.