History Brief: Black Blizzards

Get the 1930s History Brief series on Kindle: Get the Teacher’s Resource Manual here: The following video provides a short introduction to the dust storms of the Dust Bowl era, which became known as black blizzards. The worst of these events became known as Black Sunday, which occurred on April 14, 1935. *** Like our Facebook page: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter: Check out our TpT store: Check out our website: Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for fair use for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational, or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. *** -Weather History: 1935 Black Sunday Dust Storm -On Sunday, April 14, 1935, the “Black Sunday“ dust storm rolled across the Central Plains turning afternoon sunshine to complete, utter darkness. -Black Sunday refers to a particularly severe dust storm that occurred on April 14, 1935, as part of the Dust Bowl. It was one of the worst dust storms in American history and it caused immense economic and agricultural damage. It is estimated to have displaced 300 million tons of topsoil from the prairie area in the US. -On the afternoon of April 14, the residents of the Plains States were forced to take cover as a dust storm, or “black blizzard“, blew through the region. The storm hit the Oklahoma Panhandle and Northwestern Oklahoma first, and moved south for the remainder of the day. It hit Beaver around 4:00 p.m., Boise City around 5:15 p.m., and Amarillo, Texas, at 7:20 p.m. The conditions were the most severe in the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles, but the storm’s effects were felt in other surrounding areas. The storm was harsh due to the high winds that hit the area that day. The combination of drought, erosion, bare soil, and winds caused the dust to fly freely and at high speeds. The loose dust flying around was enough to inhale, and many people suffocated with the dust filling their lungs. -The destruction caused by the dust storms, and especially by the storm on Black Sunday, caused hundreds of thousands of people to relocate, and some people were killed in the storm, too. Poor migrants from the American Southwest (known as “Okies“ - though only about 20 percent were from Oklahoma) flooded California, overtaxing the state’s health and employment infrastructure. -In 1935, after the massive damage caused by these storms, Congress passed the Soil Conservation Act, which established the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) as a permanent agency of the USDA. The SCS was created in an attempt to provide guidance for land owners and land users to reduce soil erosion, improve forest and field land and conserve and develop natural resources